Bronzer has become one of my most loved products in the makeup world over the last few years. One of the very first bronzers I ever tried that actually worked on me was a Physicians Formula bronzer in the heart shaped pressed powder thingamajig. I loved that thing so much that I actually used up the entire compact rather swiftly. But as with any beauty obsessor, I started to amass more and more bronzers by different brands because I wanted to try them ALL! So Physicians Formula kind of fell by the wayside as I tried any and every brand out there.
And yet here I am, right back to them. Physicians Formula suddenly released their Butter Bronzer about a month or two back and everyone went nuts. It has a beautiful gradient packaging. It has an embossed print on the powder. It smells like old timey sun tan lotion (or bleach, as I so nicely described in my recent favourites video…). I mean, we all knew we were going to be suckers for this compact, weren’t we?
The Butter Bronzer comes in two shades – Light Bronze and Bronze. The one pictured in this post is the darker of the two (Bronze), although the paler (Light Bronze) shade is maybe a HAIR paler.
As with most Physicians Formula compacts, the mirror is actually in the base of the product, alongside a… brush… type… thing. Well… usually it’s a brush. This time it’s some weird mushy sponge applicator that will do NO ONE any favours for application.
Unless you wanted tiger stripes.
This can definitely give you tiger stripes.
Anyway, the brush/sponge/thing is irrelevant to me as I threw it out immediately.
Like honestly. How are you going to blend bronzer with THAT *THING*?
The heavy swatch above shows you that there’s a tiny bit of a sheen to the product, but overall it’s a slightly warm bronzer that blends well.
On my skintone, it’s fairly subtle. I love how it blends out without much work AND it doesn’t look like I overdid it at all. In both the shot above and below, I’m wearing the bronzer on the back of my cheekbones, around my temples, and along my jaw line.
It even seems to match incredibly cool-toned looks, which is a huge blessing.
Final Thoughts
Aside from that ridiculous sponge thing in the bottom of the compact, the Physicians Formula Butter Bronzer is absolutely wonderful through and through. Worth noting though: the scent of the bronzer is pretty potent and you can actually smell it through the compact. So give it a sniff in stores to see if it’s something that will bother you. I personally love the scent, but it will linger on your brushes (not through a good cleansing though!).
The colour is pale and soft, not overtly warm, but warm enough to make it look like you’re sunkissed. This does skew towards us paler folks, so I think if you’re medium-deep, this won’t work for you. (I also anticipate this not working for me when I’ve got some summer colour on my face.) I’ve been reaching for this bronzer practically every single day and I’ve almost already worn away the pattern. It’s been a long time since I’ve fallen for a bronzer so hard!
The Physicians Formula Butter Bronzer is available at various Canadian drugstores, but it can also be purchased online for Americans at Ulta.com for $14.99 USD.
I saw Kathleen Lights loving this but when I see it in stores, the darkest shade Bronze looked too light for my skin tone. 🙁
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Yeah, Physicians Formula does not play nicely with deeper skintones. My darker skin-toned friend swatched on of their darker bronzers on her skin yesterday and it definitely came out as an ashy highlight. EEK!
This looks amazing on you! I have o say though, I kind of like the idea of that sponge thing. I’d need a brush with it, but I dunno, I am curious.
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lol I would want to see you attempt to use the sponge, but I threw the damn thing out!
I really love that it’s called a butter bronzer, for some reason butter products (like butter glosses from NYX) just really appeal to me. that said, I could NOT deal with this scent at all. i was wearing the essence bronzer today and found it strong when i put it on… this is super natural on you though!
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The butter aspect sells it for ALL of us. And yeah, based on the scent, this would be a total no-go product for you.
I want this for so many reasons… packaging, pattern, smell, colour. Argh, I hate being on a no-buy.
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If you do decide to get it, try to get it when it’s on sale. The price tag for it in Canada is over $20 which is just infuriating.
Haha – that sponge is so useless! I wonder who decided that a sponge would be the best applicator? The trouble with physician’s formula is that their products seem to be made for light-skin tones (which doesn’t bother me) but I can assume that it makes others pretty upset, especially when they hear that it’s so good!
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I kind of like that they tried something different since they’ve ALWAYS put a brush in there… but yeah, you and I both know that won’t do anyone any favours!
I’ve had a few comments from people who say they know it won’t work on their skintones because of the fact that PF really only makes products for paler skintones. I wish I knew WHY they did that – their products are excellent and obviously have quite a bit of a following. It’s disappointing for me to love something and try to recommend it… but only for some people. 🙁
Always nice to hear about a soft, blendable bronzer for lighter skin tones! But seriously, what is that applicator?! Weirdest thing I’ve seen come with a face/cheek product!
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Seriously, the most bizarre thing ever. It won’t do anyone any favours at all!
omggggg I neeeeeeeeeeed. It is so pretty – both in compact and on your skin!
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First Joe Fresh… now Physicians Formula… 😉
Ha! Or just ALL THE BRONZERS!
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Wow! The embossing is gorgeous 🙂 The pigmentation seems pretty good as well, it looks great on you <3
It looks like bunched up satin (the embossing) – so pretty!
I feel like we feel the exact same way about this!
We absolutely do!