The first argan oil (USA / Canada) I ever tried was Josie Maran‘s—a friend had got some, and as a gift she gave me the bottle with the last few remaining drops to try out. As I’m sure you can surmise, it was instant love. Anyhow, since then, Josie has really beefed up her line of, err, argan inspired products that bear her name. Some are a bit of a stretch (her magic markers don’t even contain any argan oil (USA / Canada)), but some are pretty cool, containing mostly natural ingredients.
This argan bronzer is marketed as “Argan oil with radiance“, and it’s basically argan oil (USA / Canada) with some fragrance and bronzer ingredients in it—micas, oxides, and titanium dioxide. It’s also nearly $50, about $1/mL. Yowza. I can do better—and for far, far less.
To start with, my base is argan oil (USA / Canada). I use New Direction’s unrefined stuff, and it rings in at just over $12 for 100mL here in Canada. I’ve been using it for years, and it’s great. It absorbs quickly, moisturizes beautifully, and boosts healing thanks to its high Vitamin E MT-50 (USA / Canada) content. I also added in a tiny amount of capuacu butter to boost the viscosity of the argan oil (USA / Canada) to help the colourants stay suspended.
Up next, a wee bit of oil-soluble titanium dioxide for a small amount of brightness and opacity. Then, some bronze mica. I chose bronze, but if gold or copper suits your skin tone better, feel free to use a mica of that colour instead.
And that’s pretty much it. Shake the bottle to stir the mica up before use, and you’re off to the races with your newly bronzed, moisturized face 🙂
Argan Oil Bronzer
10g | 0.35oz argan oil (USA / Canada)
1g | 0.03oz cupuacu butter (USA / Canada)
1/64 tsp titanium dioxide
1/32 tsp sericite mica (USA / Canada)
7/64 tsp bronze micaMeasure the argan oil (USA / Canada) and capuacu butter out into a small dish. Place this dish in a slightly larger dish that contains some just-boiled water. Stir the oils mixture until the capuacu butter melts from the heat of the water bath.
Stir in the titanium dioxide and sericite mica (USA / Canada). Then, slowly add the bronze mica. Begin testing the mixture on your skin after you’ve added 5 nips of bronze mica, adding more as needed to achieve the look you want.
Decant the mixture into a 15mL glass bottle with a dropper top. To use, spread over the skin and blend in with your fingertips.
Unblended, like a football player or something 😛
Obviously I’m not wearing much here, but you can put on more or less to suit your skin.
Just telling my daughter that I have been mixing my own. Never thought to use the powders-I’ve just been using argan and mixing it bronzing argan oil. Ill have to try this! Does it stay fairly mixed as bonzer in mine likes to sink to the bottom of the bottle. Thanks!
Hi Laura! Part of the reason I included a wee bit of cupuacu butter was to give the argan oil a bit of thickness to help suspend the powders. That said, they still do tend to concentrate towards the bottom of the bottle, though that’s nothing a quick shake won’t fix 🙂
Awesome! Your recipes always amaze me! :0)
Thanks Kathryne! Enjoy 🙂
You did not mention the sericite mica in your instructions. I know it is a small amount, so can I leave it out? Reason being, I have none. Anything with argan oil I love. Thanks for all the recipes/formulas.
You add it with the titanium dioxide (at the start of the second paragraph). You can leave it out if you’d like—all it does is help your skin look a bit smoother 🙂 Enjoy!
What exactly is a “nip”?
Love your stuff. I was going to ask you about a tinted moisturizer. I guess this would work, or do you have something else?
Hi Linda! A “nip” is equal to 1/64 tsp. I got a great set of wee measuring spoons from Amazon to help me accurately measure nips, dashes, and other tiny amounts. They’re super useful.
This makes a nice tinted moisturizer, and you can also check out my airbrushing cream 🙂
Thanks! Love your stuff!
🙂
Would shea butter work instead of cupuacu butter to keep the color suspended? Can I leave out titanium dioxide and serecite mica?
You can try shea, but it isn’t as smooth as cupuacu and will likely leave your face looking a bit greasier than the cupuacu would. If you leave out the titanium dioxide you will be sacrificing brightness and opacity, and the sericite mica helps improve the appearance of skin by optically obscuring fine lines and pores. You can leave them out, but it will effect the performance of the final product.
Hi Marie! I am curious, could I add some titanium dioxide, serecite mica, and a bit of iron oxides or a bit of the mineral foundation or airbrushing powder to my argan oil? I would love to make a tinted moisturizer with this, I have been wearing even less makeup now and would love to find something that I could work with! Otherwise I will get a few samples of micas and some cupuacu butter, neither of which I currently have. Thank you!
Hi Ashlynn! You can try, but I will warn you that my experiments in this realm have resulted in sad eraser-shaving/peeling skin looking results if the powders are over-done… which is, unfortunately, very easily done.
Hi Marie!
I am also hoping this can maybe be used like a year-round, very lightweight tinted moisturizer and was wondering if I could switch up the powders as long as the overall amount was the same as your recipe (5/32 tsp) and all the powders are oil-soluble/dispersable? I would probably just eliminate the bronze mica and add a blend of iron oxides to match my skin tone. I am not generally fond of sparkles 🙂
Do you think that would work without peeling, or do I need to just bite the bullet and experiment to find out?
Thanks, and happy new year!
Hey Téa! If this is the sort of thing you want to do I highly recommend purchasing my book—it’s got instructions for exactly what you are looking for 🙂 Plus loads of other makeup recipes!
Do you sale the products you make as I would not have a clue of where to find any of the ingredients around my area.
No, I don’t sell anything. There are links to all my suppliers in the big box above the comments, though, including a few in the USA. That should help you get set up with ingredients 🙂
Hi. Just came across your website through Pinterest and have been really enjoying your posts. This one in particular is really great. Where do you get the bronzing pigment? I was on ebay and saw a couple but wouldn’t want to choose too dark a color. What color is yours if you don’t mind my asking? Thank you.
Check out the links in the big box above the comments 🙂 My micas are all from NDA.
Hi lovely! I have a question. What might you suggest for an all-over type of illuminating primer? Like the Jose Maran illuminating primer (only without so many ingredients!) I am wondering if this might be a good one using a different color mica? Thank you!
Have you checked out my Winterlight argan serum? That might work 🙂
I do not have Cupuacu Butter, what would you recommend as a replacement? I have a few different butters, would any of these work? Cocoa, shea, avocado, mango, kokum, raspberry & soy.
Thank you for the great recipes!!
Mango or shea would be the best replacement 🙂
Is it possible to use zinc instead of titanium dioxide ?
Wendy
Hey Wendy! Maybe? I’d always choose TD over ZO in situations like this because TD is oil dispersable, whereas ZO is not—so TD will mix into the oil base better and has better adhesion. Point of Interest has some great articles on the differences between the two here and here.
I love that you have a love affair with Argan oil! I do as well 😉
Great article and wonderful recipes. Even though I am a formulator, I make a point to give some DIY recipes to our fans sometimes too.
Long Live Argan!
How could anybody not have a love affair with argan oil!? 😛
Hi Marie,
Is it possible to add Polysorbate 80 to help to maintain all ingredients together?
No; Polysorbate 80 helps combine oil AND water, and there is no water in this recipe 🙂
oh I see.. Glad I asked you 🙂 Thanks Marie!! Learning a lot from your blog — Greetings from Brazil!
Thanks for reading and happy making!