Having red hair and yellow undertones makes finding bronzers quite a challenge. Anything yellow toned (think Benefit Hoola Lite) will make me look like I have jaundice and that’s the last thing I need. On top of that, the more neutral tone the more muddy it can look on my skin and despite its cult following, Marc Jacobs Omega Bronze in Tantastic is very much borderline too neutral to look flattering on me so I’ll say I was fairly intrigued when Tantalize came out because I’ve often reached for darker toned bronzers because the undertone turned was more of what I was looking for.
First of all, let me start of by saying that these bronzers are not my favourite formula wise. The powders are fully matte and I don’t find them to be as blendable as bronzers that have more glow to them. Neither of the colours can be used to contour with and I don’t really see any benefit in them being matte. Although these feel and go on quite creamy and smoothly when swatched, when used with a brush, they can look quite unevenly if you just happen to pick up a little too much product. It’s a bit of a strange formula and despite me purchasing Tantastic and Tantalize two months apart, they behave differently. Tantastic has a dome (don’t know if it was there when I first got it but this is definitely not how it was meant to be since the elevated portion leaves marks on the mirror) and is creamier to the touch. Tantalize is completely flat and has similar amount of pigmentation when swatched but feels drier to the touch. My other gripe with these is unlike my other favourite bronzers, I often find them wearing off throughout the day.
Why I think Tantastic is so popular, is because it’s by no means orange and I think that’s what most people look for. It’s a light brown with a balance of pink and yellow undertones and the final result is right in the middle of the bronzer spectrum in my eyes. The depth of colour allows me to be quite liberal with the application but it pulls so neutral on me that I would never wear it without blush. I will say it doesn’t pull orange and on a good day if I can enjoy the effect but it’s far from flattering my skintone.
To bring Tantalize into the picture, it’s darker, warmer and very much in the reddish brown spectrum. I bought this online having only seen it in videos beforehand and was quite shocked at how it turned out to look in person. I definitely hoped it would have a bit more pink in it and while it does have more red than Tantastic so it looks more authentic as a tan colour on me, it’s very much borderline too neutral. While I would wear Tantalize without a blush because it’s quite a bit darker, I find that it can build up quite unevenly on the skin and can look more patchy than Tantastic.
Overall, for me Tantastic is a bit too muddy and Tantalize, while being darker and warmer, still doesn’t quite give me that slightly sunburnt effect I look for in a bronzer. Admittedly, I fell for this product because of all the hype surrounding it but as I was swatching these two side by side, I realised that I already had the two perfect alternatives in my collection. Now, these products are both superior because of their slight pink undertone and the jelly type formula which doesn’t swatch well (unlike Marc Jacobs) but always goes on your skin as a sheer, seamless and less flat matte veil of product. The Tantastic alternative is my most beloved Tom Ford Bronzing Powder in Terra which I can use both as bronzer and contour and by comparison, it just has the additional amount of pink and never looks muddy on my skin. Then of course, I realised that the Nars Sun Diffusing Bronzer in Falaises was exactly what I wanted Tantalize to be. It’s a similar depth but it has more cool undertones. Now, neither Terra or Falaises are overly cool toned but they have the cool undertones I need to counteract the sallowness in my skin so I pretty much fell for the hype of Tantalize and Tantastic while I already had much better performing alternatives in my collection.
I sat on this review for a while because I prefer to talk about products I love (hence why I had to squeeze in a bit of love for Tom Ford Terra and Nars Falaises) but if you were looking into the Marc Jacobs bronzer or perhaps trying to decide between the colours, I hope this was somewhat helpful. I still think these are good colours if you are darker or more pink toned than me but I haven’t found them the easiest to work with. Did you try the Marc Jacobs Omega Bronzers? What did you think?
Style On Film 
[…] has coolness in it (I feel like this really came out when I compared this to Marc Jacobs Tantalize here). I think this can be layered effectively to show up on medium skin but it’s definitely quite […]
I own the tantastic from last years release of the rose gold collection. I must admit I have to build it up in order for me to even see anything on my tan skin. I have noticed that it can be a little patchy, I thought it was just the foundation I was wearing. I put it aside to test it out thoroughly with other foundations and make sure. Thanks for the comparisons!
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