24 Comments

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Briony e Avatar

Avon’s regular tan. The stuff is appalling. It’s patchy, smelly, doesn’t sink in quickly enough and the facial tan they used to do made me break out badly. Not worth it.

AnGeLwInGz Avatar

All self-tanners suck. Nothing looks worse than streaky orange flaky skin. OK Skincare Police, I’m gonna say it… the only tans that look good are the ones that come from the sun, the tanning bed, or your own natural melanin (which is brought to the skin’s surface by the sun or tanning beds). I used to be a tan-oholic, in the beds literally EVERY day for 6 months at a time until my memberships ran out. I stopped going because I know it causes damage and I’m proud to say I’ve been tanning salon free for over a year! I’m not advocating overexposure to the sun, but it is necessary for vitamin D. There is no need to wear a hat and long sleeves all year round!

Julia Avatar

I am going to have to disagree, I know a lot of girls love the way a tan from the tanning beds looks(and I was one of those girls for years), but you can definitely tell the difference between a tan obtained in a tanning bed and one from the natural….natural suntans are so much prettier. Back onto the topic, I have never found a self tanner that I like and I have tried just about everything. I have a friend that swears by the Jergens gradual tan lotions but I thought it was terrible, my skin had a strange chemical smell. I have been using the Versa Spa tanning spray both at a local tanning salon (no UV beds ever again!!!) and the results are beautiful,affordable and non-streaky. I reccommend it. 🙂

sophie Avatar

i have to agree with anGeLwinGz!
Self-tanners are the worst! i tried a view and it was horrible! and all those girls on the beach with self-tanners on their faces and body’s and the sun just melts it, and you get a nice brown towel! that’s a big laugh for everyone!
The best is the sun! good thing i live in Greece 🙂

Yuki Avatar

I used to bake my skin every summer to a nice golden brown. I worshiped the sun but stopped because of all the horror stories. I don’t know about the worst but I used to use the Estee Lauder self tanner and thought it pretty darn good. The look was very natural and I didn’t have to wear hose in the summer.

ttfn 🙂 Yuki

Julia Avatar

Agreed. And to think this product got so much hype when it was first released. Really wish I would have had Christine to review it back then so I would have never wasted my money on this junk.:(

Cindy Avatar

Yes, the Avon ones are appalling!!!

The best one I’ve tried is Sugar Baby’s self tanner… The mousse one. It gives a natural looking tan. I’m not necessarily pale, I’m actual a little tan naturally because I am South East Asian. After winter (months and months of wearing leggings, jeans etc), my legs and chest area were lighter than my arms and face so I started using self tanners and I’ve tried sooo many, but the Sugar Baby ones work the best.

Sri Avatar

Banana Boat, didn’t work at my mom’s skin..
I didn’t use self tanner, I inherited natural tan genes from my dad,
which made my mom jealous of me.. (She’s way too pale)
Little exposed to the sun can made me tanned,and it lasts for years.. 😉

Jenna S. Avatar

That stuff was how I discovered that if you use a spray, you need to wear socks. The spray settled on my dark carpeting, which I then stepped on. The bottom of my feet were a very, very dark orange.

DisneyDana Avatar

true…the only way to use the aerosol types is to go on the porch! I had to clean my entire bathroom. there was brown mist on everything!!! What a mess!

Charlotte Avatar

Johnsons Holiday Skin – it’s one of those ‘gradual tanners’ but actually I put it on at night and woke up with streaky legs and stained hands! It also makes your skin smell gross =\

Mel Avatar

I’ve never tried any self-tanner, but the worst thing for me is to still see in 2010 that women (and the beauty industry) equate beauty and tanned skin. Personnally, I think every skin tone is beautiful. I am very pale and I don’t like how my skin looks when it’s tanned. Every summer, still, I have to hear “Oh wow you are so pale you should tan” or “Look I’m darker than you!”. Good for you? My skin is sensitive and when I stay in the sun for too long, it gets all red and itchy. I’ve seen so many women looking orange or streaky from self-tanner, it made me not want to try it. Tanning beds are dangerous. Tanning is not for me, but I hope the “perfect” self-tanner gets invented for all the others who like to get a tan and are concerned about their health. Sorry if this was a little off topic lol!

Ceriene Avatar

While this might be a little off topic, I like your view on this. I don’t understand some people may think that tanning is necessary for women to consider their complexion beautiful. Every skin tone can look lovely, and whether you want to tan is a matter of preference, not necessity.

Anyway, I’m glad that you’re confident with your fair skin, and that you take the health precautions. If it’s any consolation, I live in Asia, where fair skin is really, really sought after, to the point where women will buy whitening beauty products in the hope of lightening their skin tone.

Sorry for being off-topic again. Just felt the need to add my own 2 cents.

A Avatar

Well said. I’ve been subjected to similar comments for 22 years. Being told constantly “OMG You’re f**king whiter than white” by very many naturally tanned people around me has given me body dismorphic disorder (for reference, I’m NC10 on average through the year, winter: NC05 and summer NC15). Though I’m more confident now than I was in high school, I still hear those comments in my head. It’s hard to shake something so trivial. Being “pale” isn’t “unhealthy” – it’s genetic. It’s not a flaw and it’s not a crime. Being pale is having a skin color on the other side of the skin-color spectrum and it should be treated as one of every other beautiful skin colors out there (everything from NC05 to NC50+!).

I totally understand the feeling of that pressure to fit in if you’re a visible minority – skin wise. Lightening skin and darkening skin to the extremes because of peer-pressure or industry-pressure is unhealthy and definitely dangerous to the health of the skin. The skin is an actual organ and it too can fail if subjected to so many *radical* changes that aren’t natural to it…over the top UV exposure and over-bleaching are equally bad.

Sorry for the off-topic comment too, but Mel’s comment moved me to say something as well about a topic that’s been close to me. If I’ve offended anyone, I apologize.

DisneyDana Avatar

I am exactly the same! If I get sun on my chest it feels like little needles poking me and I feel like I’m going to come out of my skin! I would give anything for a self tanner that wasn’t orange.

Amanda Avatar

Mary Kay’s self tanner – got it as a gift 🙁
It smelled like dog pee after being applied! Nevermind the color, the smell killed it!

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