I consider myself to be fair-skinned, and I like that about me. I don't use self-tanners, and I stay away from the sun as much as I can because I tan very easily.

I never thought I'd ever want to use bronzer. Everytime I read about it in magazines and blogposts, I pass it off as something that the tan girls use, and don't give it a second thought. Some time back, Raudhah and I decided to go with the boys to the musical, 'Wicked'. We stayed over at the guys' house that night, and I forgot to bring my blush with me.

I mentioned before that I am pretty pale without makeup, so I decided to borrow a blusher from Raudhah. She didn't have blusher, but she did have the Body Shop's Bronzing Balls in shade #3. It didn't look too dark, so I decided to use it anyway.

Looking back through the photos, I noticed I looked a little different, but couldn't quite pinpoint the difference until much later. The bronzer was really light, but it managed to give me a very subtle healthy-looking glow.

I fell in love.

I tried looking for the bronzing balls in Malaysia, only to be told that they had phased the product out. Its predecessors have not quite managed to replicate the effect of Raudhah's bronzer.

Since then, I have researched and perfected bronzer techniques. I also found out that the glowing, bright T-zone that I always wanted to replicate was not in fact done by applying copious amounts of luminizer to the T-zone, but by framing the areas outside the T-zone with bronzer.



Just recently, I was looking around for a good, affordable bronzer that I could take with me to Bali. I wanted something portable and long-lasting, too. I stumbled upon Rimmel's 8Hr Mousse Bronzer, and looked up some reviews. They were all positive. I am going to buy it today, and I'm really excited about trying it out!

Anyone interested can buy this on eBay for about AUD 6.30 here. I asked around, and was advised to purchase this in 'Medium Glow', because it is quite sheer and the 'Light Glow' shade is very orangey.
Here are a few tips on how to apply a bronzer.

1. Apply it under your cheeks, not on. A bronzer is meant to sculpt the shadows on your face.
2. Frame your face with a bronzer. Apply it in a '3' motion, from your temples, down your cheeks, and then on your jawline.
3. A great way to slim your jaw and neck is to apply bronzer under your jawline to give the illusion of a slimmer neck and hide double chins.
4. Dab a little bit of bronzer under your bottom lip to make your lips appear larger and fuller.