What Is The Best Cream Bronzer? * Always In High Heels

One of my favorite summer makeup products is cream bronzer. So far, I’ve done reviews on three cream bronzers so far and have one more in the works. Although I love cream bronzers, I had no idea how much you guys do too! In fact, my Huda Beauty Tantour Contour & Bronzing Cream, Fenty Beauty Cheeks Out Freestyle Cream Bronzer, and Tarte SEA Breezy Cream Bronzer reviews were all in the top 10 blog posts for all of 2020! Since cream bronzers are so popular, I got to thinking… How are you supposed to decide which one is the best cream bronzer?

Best Cream Bronzer - Chanel, Fenty Beauty, Tarte Cosmetics, Huda Beauty

With that in mind, I decided to create a “Beauty Battle” series. In this series, I’m putting several versions of the same type of product against each other and comparing them to a set of criteria. In this criteria, I’ll compare cost, value, shade range, and any additional benefits like clean, vegan, fragrance, etc. If you have any products you think should battle it out, let me know in the comments below!

If you don’t want to read the whole blog post, you can always check out my YouTube video comparing the Fenty, Chanel, Huda, and Tarte cream bronzers.

First let’s start with a quick overview of all four products.

Huda Beauty Tantour Contour & Bronzer cream

Huda Beauty Tantour Contour & Bronzing Cream

Huda Beauty Tantour Contour & Bronzing Cream is $30 for 12 grams, comes in 5 shades, and is available at Sephora and the Huda Beauty website. In this review, I’m using the shade Light. If you’re interested in more information, you can read my full review here.

Fenty Beauty Cheeks Out Freestyle Cream Bronzer

Fenty Beauty Cheeks Out Freestyle Cream Bronzer is $32 for 6.23 grams, comes in 7 shades, and is available at Sephora and the Fenty Beauty website. In this review, I’m using the shade Amber If you’re interested in more information, you can read my full review here.

Tarte SEA Breezy Cream Bronzer

Tarte SEA Breezy Cream Bronzer is $29 for 16 grams, comes in 3 shades, and is available at Sephora and the Tarte website. In this review, I’m using the shade Seychelles. If you’re interested in more information, you can read my full review here.

Chanel Les Beiges Soleil Tan Bronze Universel

Chanel Les Beiges Soleil Tan Bronze Universel is $50 for 30 grams, comes in one shade, and is available at Nordstrom and the Chanel Beauty website. This review is based on the original formula that I have had for several years. However, I got a lot of comments on my YouTube video that they changed the formula. So I just purchased the new version and I will be doing a comparison soon. Of course I will update this post as soon as I have more details.

But, as far as my experience with the original formula…. It is super smooth, looks like it might have a hint of shimmer in the package, but that doesn’t show up on the skin. As for the packaging, it is stunning and is unsurprisingly my favorite of the bunch. Plus, it contains a lot of product and lasts forever.

Which cream bronzer is the most expensive?

Let’s start with an easy one. Which of the four most popular cream bronzers is the most expensive? Chanel. At $50, it’s far from cheap.

Which cream bronzer is the least expensive?

The least expensive cream bronzer is Tarte. At $29, it’s just over half the cost of the most expensive Chanel option. Plus, they have a travel size in the shade Seychelle for $14. I do wish they had the mini in every shade though. However, cost isn’t everything. Which leads me to…

Which cream bronzer has the largest pan size?

Another important buying factor is how much product is in the package. The winner of the largest pan size is Chanel with 30 grams.

Which cream bronzer has the smallest pan size?

On the flip side, the Fenty Beauty Cheeks Out Freestyle Cream Bronzer has the smallest pan size at 6.23 grams.

Which cream bronzer is the best value ($ per gram)?

Sometimes straight up cost isn’t the best reason to buy something. There are times where something is less expensive but has a tiny pan size. Which means you have to buy a second one faster. With that in mind, one of my favorite beauty battle criteria is which product has the best value. To determine the “value”, I divide the cost by the number of grams of product. In this case, the breakdowns are as follows:

Huda Beauty Tantour Contour & Bronzing Cream – $2.50 per gram
Fenty Beauty Cheeks Out Freestyle Cream Bronzer- $5.14 per gram
Tarte Cosmetics SEA Breezy Cream Bronzer – $1.81 per gram
Chanel Beauty Les Beiges Soleil Tan Bronze Universel – $1.67 per gram

Which means, the cream bronzer with the best $/gram value is Chanel.

Which bronzer has the largest shade range?

When it comes to the product with the most shades, Fenty is the winner with 7 shades. Which I think is a pretty impressive for a bronzer. I love that so many skin tones are represented.

Which one has the smallest shade range?

Unfortunately, Chanel comes up very short on this one with only one shade. Honestly, there are very few products anymore that I think a shade range of one is appropriate. Except maybe a clear gloss. But this is super disappointing, as I think 3 shades (light, medium, and deep) should be the bare minimum.

Anything else to set these cream bronzers apart?

The Tarte SEA Breezy bronzer is clean, vegan, cruelty-free, gluten-free, and is also waterproof. But the packaging is noticeably “cheaper” in feel and vibe than the others. The Fenty bronzer is vegan, cruelty-free. Although the Huda Beauty bronzer didn’t win any of the categories, it still has a really impressive shade range of 5 and cute Chanel-esque packaging. So she shouldn’t be ruled out. As I said earlier, I got several comments on my YouTube video about the new Chanel formula not being as good as the OG. One of the main comments is that it now includes coconut oil. Which is also an ingredient in the Tarte bronzer as well.

Another question I get asked when I do these battles is if any of the products have fragrances. According to all of the ingredient lists, none of the bronzers in this beauty battle blatantly say “fragrances” or “synthetic fragrances”. It’s mostly just a bunch of words I can’t pronounce. However, I smelled each of the products in my collection, and none had overwhelming or noticeable scents.

Best Cream Bronzer - Chanel, Fenty Beauty, Tarte Cosmetics, Huda Beauty swatches comparison — L-R/Bottom-Top – Fenty Beauty – Amber, Tarte Cosmetics – Seychelle, Huda Beauty – Light, Chanel – Universel

Which one is the best cream bronzer?

Honestly, all of these bronzers are amazing. They are all pretty interchangeable. There’s really nothing in the formulas or the products themselves that would push me to choose one over the other. Really, it all comes down to your personal preferences, budget, and needs/wants. If you want a great value and have fair skin, the Chanel is great and looks gorgeous on your vanity. But if you’re looking for shade range, stick with Fenty Beauty (and Huda has 5 shades too). Whereas if straight up price is your deciding factor, Tarte is your girl.