This blush-bronzer is the perfect summer beauty product

Times

05-07-2025

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I am very pleased with today's column because I think I have found the perfect summer product. It is a blush-bronzer hybrid, It Cosmetics Glow with Confidence Sun Blush (£33, johnlewis.com), and it is so good — the best thing I've come across in years when it comes to making you look healthy, natural and sunkissed.
It's a cream and it comes in five shades. The one that I am raving about specifically is called Sun Warmth. I am reasonably confident that it is almost a universal shade, though you might need an extremely light hand if you are the colour of photocopying paper. (Do people still photocopy things or just scan them with their phones? I am old enough to remember when people photocopied their bottoms at drunken office parties. Good times.)
On the other hand, IT Cosmetics knows what it's doing and so presumably the shades it deems best for fairer or darker skin work just as well. But Sun Warmth! Sun Warmth is literally perfection. It's a sort of brickish terracotta shade, and on the skin it is exactly — exactly — the colour skin goes just before it burns: that optimal shade that looks amazing for one night only, before it goes red and peels. Do you know what I mean? It's a colour that looks like your skin has absorbed all the heat and sunlight of the day, and that makes everybody much better looking than they actually are, because it evokes fresh air and light and carefreeness and joy.
Also, lack of effort. This is a product that looks like the results just happened without any input by you. Products that do this are my favourites and they're also few and far between. In this instance, genius colour aside, the texture has a lot to do with it. It presents as solid in the pot, but it melts on to the skin like a sort of balm — I think we could technically call it a balm, except that 'balm' suggests something that will slide off and this won't.
Anyway: its balminess means that you could apply it with your eyes closed and it would still look great. Don't, obviously — apply it with your eyes open a) on your cheekbones and/ or cheeks (higher is better if you're older, because otherwise the colour is too low down when your face is in repose), b) on your temples, c) wherever the sun would naturally hit, including maybe the tip of your nose. The brickish colour of this means that I like applying it in a sort of blurred-out stripe across the centre of my face, from cheekbone to cheekbone and across the nose. With a light hand! Honestly, it is so flattering that I almost laughed out loud in delight. I would suggest using quite a stiff brush rather than anything superfluffy, in a dabbing/stippling motion — but do whatever works best for you.
It contains skincare too. To be honest I wouldn't care if it contained weasel pee and chopped up worms, so pleasing is its effect on the skin, but skincare is a nice thing obviously. Skincare is the cherry on the cake. Here we have hyaluronic acid for hydration, vitamin E to feed the skin and our trusty friends peptides, who do everything helpful. What a product! I could not love it more. The pot is huge, by the way, and will last you for ever. PS If you're looking for something to wear underneath, the same brand's CC+ Nude Glow (£38, boots.com), which I have written about before, is very good.
Cook For the Love of Lemons by Letitia Clark (Hardie Grant £28) is a single-theme — lemons! — cookbook that is summer between hard covers. The recipes are Italian or Italianish and lend themselves particularly well to lunch outside under a parasol. timesbookshop.co.uk
The Sunday Times Style Beauty awards are back for 2025. You could win a luxury five-star holiday at Sani Resort in Greece, plus we have more than £25,000 worth of beauty prizes up for grabs. To be entered into the prize draw, vote for your favourite products at thetimes.com/stylebeautyawards