Who's ready to finally show off their perfectly sunkissed noses and cheeks now that we're polishing off the final weeks of summer?

Not me. After several years of tanning beds in my early 20's which led to premature wrinkles in my early 30's, I duck, dodge, dive, dip, and dodge the sun any chance I get. It's all sunscreen and hats over here. You might say my face is a lovely pasty white... until recently.

A few weeks ago Mary Kay®  sent me a box of goodies so that I could try my hand at creating a bronzed glow look. We're talking bronzer, blushes, mineral eyeshadows, eyeliner, mascara, and makeup brushes. I basically felt like a princess. But then I remembered that I rarely wear makeup and I have next to no clue as to how to apply said makeup.

Luckily, my sister was here visiting to show me a thing or two. Her makeup knowledge combined with Mary Kay® instructional videos paved the way to creating a natural, lovely sunkissed look.
It was actually a lot simpler than I had made it out to be. When I first saw the box of Mary Kay® makeup goodies that had been sent, I was a little overwhelmed. How am I ever going to pull off a bronze glow without looking like a complete train wreck? 

Good news: not only does Mary Kay® have fun makeup and labeled brushes (so you aren't putting eye makeup on with a powder brush), but they also have instructional videos on how to work on the look you're hoping to achieve. People--you can't go wrong with that. Additionally, the Mary Kay® Project Runway page features professional makeup artist, Luis Casco, who demonstrates different looks that were featured on the show!

Really, it was so simple. I started with moisturizer and covered up several blemishes on my face. I wanted a neutral pallet to get things started.

Second, my sister took the powder brush and the bronzing powder and ran it over all the spots the sun would naturally hit. Then, because I'm so so white, she may have been generous and may or may not have put a second coat on.

Next was blush time. I can't lie about this--normally I wear a pinky-pink shade right on the apples of my cheeks. That's it. Yet the instructions told us the blush should highlight the cheekbones and run from temple down (not to mention the color was so so orange and bright). 
We ran the brush loaded with mineral cheek blush duo (in spiced poppy) down my check and highlighted with the lighter color and it looked absolutely lovely! We were both shocked. 
I really did look sun kissed!

We followed the cheeks up with three different shades of Mary Kay® mineral eye color: Amber Blaze, Gold Coast, and Precious Pink.

The Eye Brush was grabbed and dipped into the Amber Blaze and my sister covered the outer portion of my eyelid. Gold Coast was then brushed over top that and dragged into the inner part of my lid as well. Next, the Precious Pink was placed in the crease of my eye, and just like that I had eye shadow on for like the third time in my life.

And guess what! I liked it. Who would have thought pairing three shades of eyeshadow would look more natural? Give me the eye shadow and make me feel pretty.

The final steps were easy. Have you ever used gel eyeliner? You know, the kind where you dip a tiny brush into a tiny jar full of jet black gel? I had never, but it was super simple!

Here I really did want to go with less is more. I didn't want to go for the black eye look. All it took was a tiny dip as I ran the brush along the base of my upper eyelid and 20 seconds later I had some lovely eyeliner set in place. The best part? IT DIDN'T RUN, SMEAR, SMUDGE. Even hours later it was still exactly as I had applied it. I've NEVER experienced that in an eyeliner. 

The final step was to throw on a couple of coats of Mary Kay® Lengthening Mascara and some Nourishine Plus lip gloss in bronze and that was that! Totally bronzed. Totally sun kissed. 

Friends! What do we think? How do we feel? 

I have a super hot anniversary date planned for my farmer this week and I should probably try and look as smoking hot as possible. Right? The plan is to pull off this bronzed // glow look paired with some short shorts. I think my farmer will be pleased with five years of marriage.

For more beauty looks and information on Mary Kay® products, you can visit their website, visit the Mary Kay® Project Runway page, follow them on Facebook, and watch their videos on Youtube!
Finally, I'm so excited to share that Mary Kay® is giving a September F A R M reader a chance at a Mary Kay® prize pack! 

Tell me in the comments below: Where you would wear the Mary Kay® bronzed glow look on a date? 

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This sweepstakes runs from 8/31/2015 – 9/27/2015
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