How to find success with bronzer, according to one of Rihanna’s favourite make-up artists
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4th Jun 2019
It took Rihanna and her Fenty Beauty team two years to perfect the brand’s first bronzer, ensuring the product family fit in with the label’s ethos of ensuring everyone can find something to match their skin tone.
“We created two bronzers per family, one on the neutral side, one a little bit warm. It took two years because we needed to stabilise a formula, make it easily buildable, and then transfer-resistant, and make the tones right so that anyone could find a bronzer,” Hector Espinal, Fenty Beauty’s Global Make-up Artist tells Vogue of the long journey to create the Sun Stalk’r Instant Warmth Bronzer.
“When you get to the fair side, it’s hard to find a bronzer that doesn’t look orange or blotchy,” says Espinal, acknowledging that equally, when you head towards the darker side of the spectrum there’s usually very little on offer because there’s a misconception that “bronzer is supposed to make you tan.”
“No! Tan is an even colour. Bronzing is hitting those high points where the sun kisses you. So it almost has a little flush in it,” the maestro advises.
Espinal was hand-picked by Rihanna to work on Fenty Beauty and now his job involves working on product development as well as travelling the world spreading the Fenty gospel. Which is how we found ourselves sitting opposite Espinal in Hotel Ravesis discussing the brand’s Sun Stalk’r Instant Warmth Bronzer and summer collection.
“This is not a contour. People get it mixed up. Contour’s supposed to be underneath the cheeks, around the nose, making it like… it’s like wearing Spanx: you have them on but you don’t want to see them,” says Espinal, adding, “now bronzer on the other hand – you want to see it!”Aim for specific points of your visage: the bridge of the nose, the cheeks, forehead and chin. But take a light hand to the application. Available in eight shades, the bronzer is smooth, creamy and buildable, designed to give you a subtle flush rather than an orange glow.
“It’s like an inner glow, like you were sitting in the sun, natural blood pumping up to your skin,” says Espinal.
And don’t think that you have to stick to one shade of Rihanna’s bronzer offering, that’s not how she’s designed it: “[At] Fenty, we don’t believe that anything should be limited to one person. If you want to use a deeper, deeper bronzer as an eyeshadow, why not?” Espinal advocates, adding Rihanna herself trialled and tested the bronzers, sending them back until they were perfect during the arduous development phase.
“When we did the bronzers, one of the reasons why we kept on sending them back was because she didn’t feel like the formula was perfect, or she thought it was too red, or too neutral, or whatever the case was… I feel like for Fenty, it’s not a gimmick to be creating these shades and products [people need]. It’s very much because Rihanna believes in it, because she’s obviously had that problem herself,” Espinal continues.
What Rihanna wants, Rihanna gets and that’s to satisfy you, so you know it must be good.
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