Disappointing Products: 17 Instant Glow Bronzing Powder

Forever the cosmetics optimist, I like to see the good in everything. Sometimes a product isn't everything you hoped for but it still has a place or needs a little work to get it to perform. Occasionally some are just plain dreadful. Only the hoarder in me prevents me from turfing it straight into the bin.

The 17 Instant Glow Bronzing Powder is one such product.

Strictly speaking I can't complain too much as I got this free with a Boot Advantage Card voucher. I doubt I would've chosen it otherwise. But visually it was quite attractive when I first saw it, so first impressions were good.

The 17 Instant Glow Bronzing Powder is described as a maxi-bronzer - in other words the packaging is a wide pan and you get 20g of product. The bronzer also had a gold leopard print pattern in the powder too. I really liked this when I saw it - I thought the gold would give a nice shimmer to the product.

The fading animal print on the 17 Instant Glow Bronzing Powder

But here was the first disappointment. On the first use the brush immediately wiped the pattern away (as you can see in the photo above). I hoped the pattern would go right through the product but it is just a very thin superficial layer on the surface.

The second disappointment was that there was no gold shimmer to it at all. I suppose because the gold part just forms a thin section of the top layer.

The third disappointment was the texture when you tried to use it on your face: It was hard to blend and powdery, too much product came off onto the brush and it seemed to puff and float around everywhere rather than sit nicely on your skin.

17 Instant Glow Bronzing Powder swatch

My fourth (and believe me - not final!) disappointment was the colour. It just looked like a dirty muddy colour against my complexion. Granted this could be just my fair colouring but it did not warm my skin like I expect a bronzer too - it looked like a dirty smudge. In the spirit of a balanced review I will concede that the dark-dirty colouring may have been from the dark sections of the animal print in the top layer. Perhaps the product under the top layer would give a nicer warmer colour on the skin.

The final failing was the lasting power - there was none. Within a really short period of time the bronzer had floated off of my face in all of its powdery glory. Mind you, given the colour disaster of the bronzer perhaps this is the only positive about this product...

You see I told you I was forever the optimist!!!

Have you tried the 17 Instant Glow Bronzing Powder? Did you manage to get this product to work for you?

17 (or Seventeen as they seem to have re-branded to) have other, hopefully better, bronzers available for £4.59 HERE