When Victoria Beckham launched her eponymous makeup collection with Estee Lauder last year, the bronzer – in its ribbed leather compact – was one of my top picks. But boy was it a bronzey bronzer. Java was (is), for someone of my particular colouring, a proper “two weeks in the Maldives” sort of bronzer rather than one of those easy-to-wear brush-on-sunshine sort of bronzers.
Read: Victoria Beckham x Estee Lauder Makeup Collection Review
Don’t get me wrong; Java looks gorgeous. It gives great shape to my face and makes me look very polished and pulled-together and, with a slick of red lipstick, a bit like I’m one of the girls from a Robert Palmer video, but it requires care during application. It’s dark, and it’s warm in tone, so it’s easy to go overboard.
The new release, Saffron Sun, brings a more foolproof bronzer offering to the table. Loads lighter and slightly less warm in tone, you can bung this on willy-nilly and it will still look pretty natural, giving a healthy glow to the skin and a touch of uncontrived contour where needed. It’s so foolproof, in fact, that when I applied five layers of it to half of my face (don’t ask, my dog was doing my makeup!) it still didn’t look half bad.

The finish is on the velvety-matte side rather than anything shimmery or glittery, which makes this a good all-season bronzer rather than one of those spangly ones you can only wear after you’ve had a week...