Y’all, I am very light skinned. Like, Casper the Ghost light. Like, translucent light. My freckles are white. Literal white spots up & down my arms and legs. So self-tanners just seemed out of my league. But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve also gotten bolder, and felt it was time to give a few products a try. What’s the worst that could happen? I turn orange. It’ll fade. At least I hoped, ha!
For reference, here’s a before photo from last summer — summer, y’all — in all of my pale glory!
I wanted to start out trying drugstore products because if a lower price-point item worked, then yay for savings! I started with two, L’Oreal Sublime Bronze Water Mousse ($12) and the Neutrogena Build-A-Tan Lotion ($9).
Both were good and neither had a bad self tan smell but I preferred the L’Oreal Sublime Bronze because it dried quicker, was less sticky, and I thought developed the “tanned” look quicker. In fact, this is the product I came to compare all to!
Next I tried the B.Tan Love at First Tan and it just made me feel like I looked dirty (not even gonna link it ha!). It came out of the bottle a dark mousse and it seeped into every pore and hair follicle and just did not feel natural. It has great reviews so it must work well for some, but not this friendly ghost. Check out how splotchy my arm looks.
Next I tried the Jergens Tanner Towelettes ($14) and this is a great option, especially for travel! You get six individually wrapped wipes per box so at that price-point I wouldn’t want to use them all the time, but super convenient for on-the-go! It gives a natural glow, just be careful to not let the towelette get away from you as it can cause streaks if the corners touch areas you didn’t intend for it to. It was easier for me to control if I kept it folded while I wiped it on…
Finally, I leveled up to a high-end brand, Tanologist. They have a full line of products with sprays, mousse, lotion, erasers, and scrubs, but I decided to start with the drops in medium ($20). What I like about the drops are that you can manage the darkness of the color yourself! And all you have to do is add the drops to a lotion of your choosing so you already know you’re going to like that! It does thin the lotion out a bit, but it still feels the same when applying.
So far I have used two drops mixed with my daily facial moisturizer from Cerave for my face and neck, and five drops mixed in with the CosmoSun Sun Lotion ($14) for my body. You can use any body cream you like, but what I appreciate about the CosmoSun lotion, is that it already has a tint/shimmer to it so you can see exactly where it’s being applied. It also gives me a bit of instant gratification while I’m waiting for the “tan” to develop. 😉 I think this combo does give me the best color, but combined it’s $34 for the tanned look. Whereas the L’Oreal Sublime Bronze at $12 is an excellent alternative! Can you tell the difference in the below photos?
All of these recommended products — and the clothing items, too! — can be found on my shoppable liketoknow.it page!
Peace love & hugs,
Kelli