This ‘Blonzer’ Is the Next Best Thing to a Beach Vacation

March 19, 2021 | 05:40pm

It's like if blush and bronzer had a baby.

This ‘Blonzer’ Is the Next Best Thing to a Beach Vacation

There are some makeup products I covet because of a brand name or Instagrammable packaging, and those that simply pique my curiosity. The new BareMinerals Blonzer falls squarely into the latter category.

While at first I was drawn in by the ridiculous-in-a-good-way name—a “Blonzer” is a combination of blush and bronzer, by the way—the more I thought about it, the more a product like this made sense in my routine. I am full-on obsessed with blush, and I'm not alone in that—blush is the third most-searched beauty product in the U.S. right now, and blush “face lifts” are trending on TikTok.

I'm also more in need of a (safe) tan, both mentally and physically, than ever. And despite having more free time to do my makeup, I'm interested in both streamlining the process, and wearing as few products as I feel comfortable with under my mask. Enter the Blonzer.

BareMinerals describes the Blonzer as “combining the glow of a bronzing powder with the flush of blush in one step," all while smoothing out the look of your skin. It comes in three shades of varying levels of pink, but all three have a coral/peach base and subtle shimmer.

I usually prefer a cool pink blush with no shimmer, but recently I've been craving summer and a more sunny flush, and this definitely delivered. The powder is smooth and fine, but surprisingly pigmented. Just one swoosh of my blush brush gave me a vibrant—but not clowny—kiss of peachy pink across my cheekbones. If you're a blush fiend like me, it's super easy to build up to a more punchy cheek without the powder looking cakey or heavy.

Shimmer products scare me since they can emphasize my pores and acne scarring, but despite how shimmery this looks in the pan, there were no glitter specks to be found. Instead, it just adds a pretty luminous glow. I've mostly been skipping highlighter since I don't find it as necessary as blush or bronzer, so I like that this wraps all three products into one simple step—though I would consider this more of a blush than anything else.

I've been looking and feeling a little dead inside, and I know it sounds silly, but this blush instantly remedied that. The second I have some color on my face it's easier to imagine myself on a beach downing Piña Coladas instead of being stuck in my Brooklyn apartment in the middle of a pandemic.

Wearing shade Kiss of Pink.
Bella Cacciatore

Basically, this blush is as close as I'm getting to a vacation any time soon, and while it's not as good at curing my winter blues as a bikini would be, it's pretty damn close.