The Bronzer for People Who Don't Use Bronzers: Makeup Geek Bronze Luster in Tawny

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Hey everyone!

Today I have a review on the Makeup Geek Bronze Luster in Tawny. Of all the things I've talked about on the blog, you might have noticed (or not noticed) the fact that I don't talk about bronzer that much. If I'm honest, I think I could count the number of bronzers I've owned in my life on one hand. Makeup Geek had a great Mystery Box deal where you could get a bunch of their products for a great discount so I wanted to give it a try, even knowing the set came with a bronzer. 

The Makeup Geek Bronze Luster Bronzer was released as part of their In the Nude Collection earlier this year; there are three shades available: Sun-Kissed (for light skin tones), Tawny (for medium skin tones), and Burnished (for deeper skin tones). 

Click thru to read my review, see photos, and my swatch!


The Bronze Luster is $22.00 for 9 grams/0.31 oz. The bronzer comes in a square compact with a sturdy clasp, gunmetal top, and matte black bottom. The packaging does look quite sleek with the debossed logo but beware that the top is a fingerprint magnet.

Makeup Geek says: 

• "The perfect bronzer should give your skin a sun-kissed glow. Makeup Geek has combined silky mineral pigments with a delicate kiss of pearl powder to wrap your skin in a radiant, healthy Bronze Luster."

The product description doesn't give you that much information. The use of "radiant" and "healthy" makes it seem like the bronzer is shimmery or glowy, but the bronzer actually has a satin/natural sheen finish, not too matte that your skin looks dry but not actually shimmery. It works very well on the skin, adding the bronzing effect without making it look too artificial.

The swatches on the website don't do the product justice, that type of heavy swatch only serves to make it seem too pigmented/not user-friendly. In reality, the formula is wonderfully versatile; using a fluffy brush does a great job at blending out the color while using a more dense brush can pack more color on. Tawny in particular manages to be a neutral-warm bronzer, not so brown that it looks like dirt but not too red that it looks orangey on my warm skin tone. There are some super fine shimmers in the formula but it's enough to make the formula have a satin finish instead of a flat matte; your skin won't actually look shimmery.

I did more of a sheer swatch so I could show that it's very buildable and can look super natural.

I knew I liked the formula when I didn't realize how much I had on until I went to take it off; that sentence might sound confusing but I mean that the bronzer never looked too obvious or unnatural on my skin. The formula is actually buildable so I didn't go from nothing to "oh yeah I'm totally wearing bronzer" in one application. It's just a formula that lets you get precisely the effect you want without over-doing it.

Wear time was also quite good, it lasted eight hours on me without looking patchy by the end of the day.

My two negatives are the pricing and the shade range. 

When you compare the pricing of the bronzer to the Makeup Geek lip products and highlighter, the price is pretty fair but I think so many of us are used to the $6.00 eyeshadows and $10.00 blush/contour pans that $22.00 feels like a huge jump, even in a compact. $22.00 is more expensive than drugstore but less than products available at Sephora. I hope Makeup Geek considers releasing this formula in pans like their blush and contours to make it more accessible for people who are on a budget.

Three shades in the range is more than some brands offer but I do think the deepest bronzer (Burnished) is too light if you're trying to appeal to deep skin tones (think someone like Nyma Tang).

Final Thoughts

I thoroughly enjoyed using this bronzer and dare I say it, it's made me into a bronzer convert. Winter is coming and though I tend to be in perpetual sunlight here in California, I'm hardly ever at the beach so I might as well figure out a way to fake that beachy glow. It's almost winter here in California (though the weather would fool you) and it's almost summer in Australia so everyone could use a good bronzer!

Do you currently use a bronzer? Do you have any favorites?