Welcome to the final entry in the Summer Bronzer Series where I post a bonus review every week in the month of July! Linked in blue are Part 1 and Part 2, plus Part 3.

Kess Berlin 365 Bronzer in Tan to Deep

The majority of what I buy is makeup that generates a lot of hype, but I knew nothing about Kess prior to making this purchase. The 365 Bronzer popped up on the Douglas and Niche-Beauty websites in May, and how the texture appeared in photos is what caught my interest. It looked like a baked gelee product, which I tend to love, and indeed it has a “patented gel-to-powder formula.”

I expected it to look a bit shimmery in person, but I was surprised to see only a few gold specks here and there, and not an obvious sheen. The mica is something I couldn’t see until I used it enough to wear away some of the embossing on the surface.

From the moment I first dipped my brush into the bronzer, I was instantly reminded of the Huda Beauty Glowish Soft Radiance Bronzing Powder and the Hatice Schmidt Bronzer (which is quite similar to Nabla’s Skin Bronzing). The formulas aren’t the same, but they share some ingredients in common.

The bronzer from Kess feels smooth and picks up as well as the Hatice and Huda bronzers, and is better than Nabla’s. It has a little bit of a creamy feel, but it’s not as emollient and doesn’t have as much slip as the others. This may be due to Kess not using dimethicone, unlike the others. The brand’s website specifically touts being “Talc-, silicone- and perfume-free,” so they may be intentionally avoiding all the “-cones.”

When I first used this bronzer, I was so impressed with how smooth it looked on my skin, and the amount of luminosity, but when I started using my new and older favorites, I was reminded that those are even smoother than this one.

This looks the best on me when I apply a light layer with the amount of product I first pick up on my brush, but it can get out of hand sometimes in the process of trying to slowly build it up, combined with my lack of patience. The color is neutral leaning warm and dark enough to have a simultaneous bronzing and sculpting effect.
In the set of swatches below, one can see how Tan to Deep is similar in color to Deep Bronze from Dior’s previous bronzer line, and I always mixed that shade with another to get it to appear lighter. I tend to not use bronzers darker than Nars Laguna 6. However, it’s not the darkest in my collection. I can make this work, but it’s not as effortless of a process purely because of the shade. A darker bronzer will usually require more effort, even when it blends nicely.
And this does blend well, but I have bronzers that are even better performers. That being said, I still liked this enough that I scoured the website to see if there was anything else of interest to me by Kess. When I find a good product, I usually want to try something else from the brand in the hopes of discovering another gem.

Regarding longevity, how it looks when I put it on early in the day is how it will look at the end of the day. There’s zero fading, not that it’s difficult for powder products to be long lasting on me, but I still have to give credit where credit is due.

Overall, this would place somewhere within the Top 25 of my bronzers. That might sound low to some people, but between all the individual bronzers I own, duos, and face palettes, I have an absurd number of bronzers to begin with. So, this is really good!

I compared this to Nabla’s Skin Bronzing (discontinued in some countries already), the Glowish Bronzer (discontinued), and the Hatice Schmidt Bronzer. The Hatice Schmidt brand (formerly Hatice Schmidt Labs) technically completed its multi-years long rebrand, but has been slow to progress since the influencer running it is going through many life changes. I’m not sure if she plans to bring the bronzer back once the remaining stock with old packaging is gone. I’m not even sure how much longer the brand will stay in business. So, I consider the Kess Bronzer to be the closest alternative that I can recommend for all of these disappearing products!

I’m not sure how readily available Kess/Kess Berlin is outside of Germany. I believe Niche-Beauty offers worldwide shipping, so that’s at least one option for those interested.

So, that’s everything! I hope you’ve enjoyed the bonus bronzer posts this month!

Thanks for reading!

-Lili ❤