Moving on! haha! It's officially SPRING (yay!!) and headed towards another hot and wonderful summer here in Kentucky! For those of us with super pale skin, that means it's time to crack out the self-tanners and start a routine so that we don't scare anyone at the pool! LOL - but not really, there's nothing funny about pasty in a bathing suit! ;)
I've tried SOoooo many products over the years, both at home and at salons. I have a love/hate relationship with the spray tan services at the local tanning chain. Sometimes I turn out a splotchy mess, sometimes it looks good. It always looks better if I have at least applied a base coat of tanner myself the day before. It's ALWAYS more expensive than doing it myself. The last time I was there, they were charging $34 for a single spray tan! Yikes. So what home products work the best???
Here are the products I had in my cabinets when I was checking my supplies last night:
The first one, Bella Bronze Golden Chamomile and Goats Milk Self-Tanner, is a daily lotion much like Jergens Natural Glow or the Target brand of the same thing or whatever. At $26 for this bottle, you should pass and pick up the Target brand! I feel like all of these lightly tinted lotions intended for daily use leave kind of a yellow hue on skin so, if you're happy with their results, I've tried them all and you might as well buy the cheap version!
The small box is a product I love, Tan Towel Towlettes. I've had great luck with these! The color is nice, one towelette is sufficient to do my whole bod. Even if you need to use two, the box of 5 is only $24 so you are way ahead of going out and paying for a spray tan!
The yellow box is a product that is relatively new to me, Kate Somerville Tanning Towlettes. I purchased these at Sephora last month after I was informed that they no longer carry Tan Towels (weak). These are more expensive than Tan Towels, $48 for a box of 8, and the instructions even acknowledge that it may require more than one towel to achieve desired color. I've only tried these once and felt like there was basically zero difference in my skin color. Granted, I was in Hawaii at the time and already had quite a bit of color, but I still expected SOMETHING. I'm also wondering if I had residual sunscreen on my skin at the time that blocked the tanner? I will be trying them again after some serious exfoliation but it's already seeming a little too high maintenance to me for the price.
The spray can is Neutrogena Micro-Mist Airbrush Sunless Tan, retail price $11.49. I just received this last week in the Allure Summer Beauty Box. I was excited to try something new but.... meh.... definitely NOT impressed. It sprays in a mist that feels a lot like a stand up spray tan booth and left a slippery mess all over the bathroom floor. I felt like I was having a hard time controlling where the spray was going and, waking up this morning, I was right! Color looks good but I have all kinds of weird swirly places on my legs where there is no color at all. I'll use up the bottle at some point, I'm sure, but won't be purchasing more.
** UPDATE ** After showering, I'm convinced this might be the WORST tanner I've ever used. I say "might" only because I'm afraid I've permanently erased some similarly horrifying result at some point in the past. My legs seriously look diseased - huge sections with absolutely NO color, some sections that are bright orange, no parts that look "right" - and my arms aren't much better. The stuff is a NIGHTMARE. It's so bad it's almost funny. Almost.
And, finally, the WINNER! St. Tropez Self Tan Bronzing Lotion. For several years running this is the hands down best tanner out there. $42 for an 8 oz bottle is steep but a bottle lasts me a LONG time! The two bottles I own have lasted long enough that the packaging doesn't even look like this anymore! LOL! This is the only tanner I use that prompts random comments from people about how much sun I have gotten. Most natural brown color, no orange at all, VERY hard to screw up. If you do it a few days in a row, you will seriously look like you just returned from a couple months in St. Tropez for real! :) The St. Tropez tanning mousse is awesome too, but the bottle definitely ran out much quicker than the lotion!
What do you think? Is there a miracle product that I'm missing??
Sublime by Loreal is my fav. It is all about how you apply. There is definitely a science behind it. I havent tried your fav but will have to do so. I like spray applications the best. Best way to apply any self tanner product is before bed, exfoliate very good let dry completely go straight to bed, so there is no chance in getting yourself wet or smudged. In the morning take a shower. The Sublime is a gradual tanning product so you would do about three days in a row those same steps for desired tan. Touch up once a week. If you are doing an all over body application have someone else spray you to get all areas. $8 @ Target, Walgreens and Kroger. I use this all year long! Hope this helps! ;)
ReplyDeleteI am totally with you on the pre-bed process! Only way to go! Just make sure you have dark colored sheets.... haha! Excited to try the Sublime! Thanks for the info!! :)
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