This is the time of year I consider to be the most perilous when it comes to appearance; Christmas has exhausted us and done away with any residual summer glow, while spring lingers tantalisingly on the horizon — but still too far to expect any perkiness of complexion from it. Add to that the many, many illnesses currently circulating that are leaching what’s left of any colour in most our faces, and it seems a natural turn of events that the internet has given us blonzing — a combination of bronzer and blush, aka the quickest and easiest route to making our faces look like they have a high summer glow.
A little peruse of TikTok, where this trend is currently enjoying a moment, reveals that Hailey Bieber is a proponent of the trick and that Sabrina Carpenter is a perfect example of how blonzing well can add liveliness to a face, but I would like to direct you towards another blonzing icon for inspiration: Olivia Newton-John as Sandy in Grease. Particular attention should be paid to the Hopelessly Devoted to You scene, in which her blonzed cheeks mingle perfectly with sheer glossy lips and gently defined eyes, basically providing a template for idea no-make-up, but-also-make-up for the winter. I’d encourage you to zoom in and linger on those cheeks: perfect blonze, as if she’s never lived through an intensely grey London winter in all her life.
To achieve similar, you must not only apply pretty much equal parts bronzer and blush to the high points of your cheek, sweeping it up towards your temple, but also make sure you remember that while the look is designed to be a hybrid of the two, it’s still worth sticking to certain zones for each.
Celebrity make-up artist Sonia Deveney explains that the best way to proceed is to first apply the bronzer. “You can use a cream or powder formula — but remember that whichever you go for should be the same kind of formula as your blush. Sweep the bronzer onto your cheeks to create natural warmth, but try not to be too heavy-handed, because there’s still blush to come. After that, just place blush where it’s needed to add a pop of colour – and blend, blend, blend the edges so they’re soft-focus.”
For an extra infusion of that healthy lit-from-within thing, introduce a highlighter into the mix, sweeping it on the tops of cheekbones for extra definition, or, if you’re using a cream formula, add a dot of the highlighter into it for a more glazed finish a la Olivia.
