In recent years, I have become a bit skin obsessed and as we all know "fun in the sun" is sadly a nightmare for our skin and will eventually leave us looking like this Valentino Bag that I really want. Anyway, the point is faux tans are the only acceptable option if you want to be tan, "the safe way" (a.k.a. look good in your forties). I will be completely honest, I have yet to find a self tanner that I am completely enamored with. I have tried so, so many and even my favorites have their trade offs. When it comes to self-tanning we can't have it all yet. It just is what it is. Being hot is a ton of work. Accept it, laugh about it, and read about my favorite faux products below that honestly change your tanning game. Before we get into at-home products, lets discuss your best option, which is one thousand percent an airbrush tan. No, not the booth. I am talking, strip down and get one-on-one with an artist that sprays you. Getting an airbrush used to be crazy expensive, but then it became something that every salon wanted to offer and boom, supply and demand - price went down. Remember when this happened with laser hair removal? It's always glorious. Give your local salon a call and see if the price has changed or if they are offering package deals. Gotta love a custom airbrush that only costs $30. The negatives of an airbrush tan are: ruining your sheets if you don't put down ghetto ones or your boyfriend making jokes that you smell like cat pee or chicken. Boys think they are hysterical.
Anyway, I personally don't care about the smell as it usually only lasts until you do your initial wash, but for those of you who do you are gonna want to try Tanceuticals, which I used for these photos. Yes, if you are psycho and analyzing my feet you will see some tanning errors, but like I said that's kinda psycho. I like tanceuticals, but I won't lie you have to be on freaking point with the application. You must use the application Mitt (which I basically use for all of my self tanner applications now) AND you have to pay close attention because the color does not show up right away and that can lead to streaking. To avoid this, I try to do two thin layers - opposed to one thick one. Tanceuticals also takes about 7 hours to show up so I usually do a thin layer at night and then another in the a.m., which allows me to correct any errors I have made. The smell is my favorite of any self tanner ever... it's like that coconut sun-block smell. I did not have any boy complaints about smell or any color transfer to my sheets or clothing.
Another great smelling tanner is bareMinerals Faux Tan. It dries quickly, is easy to apply, isn't greasy and creates an even tan. I often apply BareMinerals a few days after my airbrush tan. It is literally the perfect solution to keeping the life in your airbrush tan. It also creates this a deep brown color when applied over my spray, which is nice because my spray can pull a bit red or orange. I always, always bring it on vacation as it probably the best tanner out there for a quick fix. It also works as a great everyday tanner, but if you are going to use it on your face, buy the face option as the body one will clog your pores. It is a legit product and a tie for my favorite, along with the St. Tropez mousse.
Finally, I would probably give the best in show award to St. Tropez Tanning Mousse. I love it because you can see the color as you apply, which eliminates errors and personally, that is my biggest concern when choosing a faux tanner. St. Tropez mousse also goes on easily (get the application mitt, its worth it). It dries quickly, isn't greasy and creates a natural looking tanning. My only complaint is that it's hard to get super dark using this product, but I can get pretty close after 2-3 applications. It's literally neck and neck with the BareMinerals, but at the end of the day St. Tropez is the easiest, quickly application.
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