June is now in full swing! It’s the time of year most of us want a tan.
Funny thing about me, I've never had a "real" tan. My skin just is not capable of tanning. My dermatologist refers to it as "Type 1 skin". Simply put, my skin does not produce enough melanin to tan.
When I was a teen and in my early 20's this upset me to no end #youngpeopleproblems. All I wanted was to be golden, but if I did go in the sun, I'd burn, blister, peel ...in that order.
Now that I'm in my 30's, I'm actually glad that I cannot tan. I know that younger me would of been completely irresponsible in regards to tanning. By now, I'd have skin that looked like an old shoe, or worse ....skin cancer.
However, I do still LOVE the look of a nice, golden tan. Because of this, I've tried and tested pretty much every sunless tanner out there. The four that I've listed below are the ones that have truly impressed me. These are the ones that stand out among all of the sunless tanners that I've used over the past 20+ years. In part 2 of this post (coming next week) I'll follow up with what I find to be my "best application" techniques. What good is even the best sunless tanner, if you are not comfortable applying it?
1) St. Tropez Extra Dark
St. Tropez Extra Dark
I'll be the 1st to admit, I find most of St. Tropez's products to be extremely overrated. Don't get me wrong, they are perfectly fine sunless tanners. I just don't find them to be the epic, holy grail like some folks do. EXCEPT for this one. This one, I'm starting to wonder how I ever lived without. I put this on at bed time. I wake up to a tan that is so dark and deep. This gets my skin to a color that I never, ever thought was possible to accomplish with a sunless tan. You truly do look like you just came back from 10 days on the island of Saint Tropez.
2)Vita Liberta pHenomenal 2-3 Week Tan
Vita Libereta 2-3 Week Tan
This one is pricy... $54.00 as of when I'm writing this. There are two things that make this tanner really stand out. The first is how quickly it dries upon application. Your first leg will be completly dry by the time your are applying the tanner to your second leg. The other thing that's quite impressive about this, is how long it lasts and how it fades. One application went a full 10 days for me. Sunless tanner will typically become splotchy when its fading off. This one though, fades the way a natural tan does. It just gets lighter, no splotching at all.
3) Quick Tan by Body Drench
Quick Tan by Body Drench
This gives you an immediate tan upon application that darkens over the course of several hours. This tanner preforms just as well as a professional spray tan.
This is perfect for if you need color ASAP. Its a spray formula , but still I find it applies best if you use a tanning mitt to rub it in. This will assure a perfectly blended tan.
4) Tanwise Tanning Mousse
Tanwise Tanning Mousse
Unless you are going for the extra dark St.Tropez , this is the best tanning mousse that I've found. This blends so easily, the color is dark, yet believable, It has no traces of orange and it lasts. Also, the price cannot be beat. Usually, I can grab it for $10-$15 dollars. It costs less than most of the other tanners out there. Yet, it out preforms them at every pass.
As I had mentioned above, I've been sunless tanning for over 20 years now. These are my "Product Heroes" that I keep in my arsenal at all times.
Be sure to come back next week. I'll be sharing all of the different tips and tricks I've figured out over the years to help attain the most flawless application possible.
Have a lovely weekend, love bugs!
~XO SheShe
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