It's not essential to layer your bronzers, starting with a cream formula and finishing with a powder, but it really helps to lock your colour in place, maximising longevity. Cream formulas can often be so greasy or thick that achieving a smooth finish is difficult, but Charlotte Tilbury's Beautiful Skin Sunkissed Glow Bronzer has just the right consistency. You'll just have to excuse the look of my well-loved compact! The formula has more of a firm gel-balm texture than a wet, slippery feel, which allows you to be quite considered in your application. If you like to use your bronzer to sculpt to the face and almost contour whilst adding a healthy glow, you can strategically apply this one with a smaller, flat brush before blending it out with a sponge or fluffier brush. If you prefer to simply add a wash of warmth to the high points of the face, you can dab a denser kabuki brush straight into the compact, warm the product up on the back of your hand to work the cream into the fibres and gently buff to softly distribute the colour across the skin. Charlotte sells her own Beautiful Skin Bronzing Brush to use alongside her creation, but similar designs work just as well. Either way, the cream applies so easily, literally melting into the skin to give a really natural finish which can be built up to your desired vibrancy with no patchiness in sight. Being sweat and humidity-proof, the formula is also super long-lasting, which is just what you want on hot summer days!

Although the Charlotte Tilbury Beautiful Skin Sun-kissed Glow Bronzer has a matte finish, it doesn't leave your skin looking at all flat. It has a soft-focus blurring effect, just like a smoothing filter, so I end up applying far less base makeup whenever I use it before concealing. Shade 1 Fair is the ideal option for lighter complexions. Perfectly neutral, the colour doesn't contain even a hint of orange, so there's no worry of going overboard. Being the lightest shade in the range, it does look rather grey in the pan compared to the others, but I promise that the cooler tone doesn't translate to the skin. This Charlotte Tilbury cream bronzer also gets bonus points for doing more for the skin than just helping it to look great, as it's enriched with hyaluronic acid to hydrate and skin-conditioning provitamin D3, which helps to support a healthy skin barrier and prevent premature aging. Another plus is that the gorgeous mirrored compact is huge and the generous amount of product lasts for absolutely ages, making the luxury price tag a little easier to swallow.

In the summer months, I like to top my cream bronzer with a powder that adds a touch of radiance - something that will bring my skin to life - and the Pippa of London Afterglow Bronzer in Monte* is the perfect product to do exactly that. The baked powder formula is packed with pearlised pigments and subtle shimmers which add natural-looking illumination but don't leave you resembling a disco ball. Acting as a bronzer and subtle highlight in one, the Pippa of London formula is so brightening. It's like that golden hour glow instantly hits your skin as soon as you sweep it on. You don't have to reserve the Afterglow Bronzer just for your face, either. The powder can actually be used with a damp brush to ramp up the radiance and colour intensity even further, and I love to use it in this way on my body when going all out. Whenever you're flashing some skin, this product can beautifully accentuate the décolletage, collarbones, shoulders and even legs when paired with a nourishing body cream.

Applying powder bronzer can be daunting when you have fair skin as it can be difficult to blend out if the colour's too strong, but this option is totally dummy-proof, especially when used with a soft, rounded brush such as the Pippa of London Studio FX Blush Brush* to diffuse the colour. The finely-milled powder is really smooth and buildable, and the peach-toned hue is so flattering. It doesn't skew orange, and there's no muddy undertone. It's not so subtle that you wonder why you bothered applying any in the first place, but it's not so intense that you immediately regret applying any at all. Just make sure not to swirl your brush into the pan too roughly as the baked powder formula is so refined that you'll end up surrounded by a cloud of bronzing dust! The Pippa of London Afterglow Bronzers are priced similarly to many comparable products, however a little goes a long way. I'm yet to even make a dent in my gorgeous gilded bronzer despite regular use.