If you haven’t tried self-tanning lotion in a year or more, it’s time to give it another shot. Unlike Dell or CompUSA, beauty brands have actually listened to their customers and changed their products to make them better—Eureka! Just in time for summer, a slew of new self-tanners is hitting the shelves, many of them moisturizers that gradually tan your skin. Here’s a test drive of new releases from the most popular brands.
Dial It Up Aveeno Active Naturals Continuous Radiance Moisturizing Lotion (1) ($14.99) comes in an ingenious dispenser that you can dial up or down depending on how dark you want the color to be. (Of course, it would be a little more ingenious if it didn’t owe a lot to Revlon’s design.) There’s a bit of a chemical smell when you first apply it, but that quickly fades into a citrusy scent. L’Oreal’s new Sublime Glow Daily Moisturizer and Natural Skin Tone Enhancer (2) ($7.99 on sale) has a really liquid-y texture, but it’s by far the best-smelling self tanner—all mango butter and none of the telltale self-tanner scent. You would still smell great if you wore this all day, every day.
The Sweet Smell of Vanity? Not so for Neutrogena’s Summer Glow Daily Moisturizer (3) ($8.99). The scent of this one screams: I’m wearing self-tanner! But with a nice, creamy texture and Helioplex SPF 20, it would be a great option for the beach. While we appreciated the fact that Nivea Body Sun-Kissed Firming Moisturizer (4) is supposed to firm up your flab, the scent is just bizarre: chemical undertones mixed with pineapple top notes.
For That St. Tropez Tan It’s terrifying to apply the dark-as-mud L’Oreal Sublime Bronze Tinted Self-Tanning Lotion (5) ($7.99 on sale), but once it’s on, it looks very Bain-de-Soleil-circa-1988. With a bit of shimmer, it seems calibrated for nighttime wear, but the scent would be a dead giveaway that you were wearing self-tanner…were that special someone to get a little closer. At the prestige level, Clarins has packaged several of their self-tanning products into the Pure Bronze Collection Kit (6) ($40). It’s handy to get an exfoliator and a product for body and face all in one package, and it includes Clarins Liquid Bronze Self Tanning potion, still one of the best facial self-tanners on the market.
Malibu Barbie Mystic Tan started as the go-to spray tan destination for Hollywood celebrities prepping for the red carpet. Now the company has packaged their magic for plebians with the Perfect Tan Kit for Face (7) ($54). A spray seemed like a foolproof way to go for face, but while the resulting tan was a nice nut-brown color, the eerie uniformity of a spray application created an unwanted Paris-Hilton-Malibu-Barbie effect. Better to stick to towelettes for face. But Mystic Tan’s spray can be used for your body: read, “your back,” for those of us who don’t have a B.F. ready and willing to slavishly slather us with lotion every morning.
Catch the Express
Last but not least is one of our favorite products, Jergens Natural Glow Express (8) ($7.99). Not as strong as a straightforward self-tanner but more powerful than the usual gradual tanning lotion, this pretty floral-scented lotion delivered an authentic-looking tan in just two applications.
The Results Are In All the new lotions delivered good color except for orangey Nivea. The most natural golden glow came from Jergens Natural Glow Express, Neutrogena’s Summer Glow Daily Moisturizer, and, surprisingly, the Bain-de-Soleil-esque L’Oreal Sublime Bronze Tinted Self-Tanning Lotion. But the trick here is not just in product selection but in application – make sure you apply all the lotions with a circular buffing motion, palm flat, fingers hyper-extended away from your skin, to avoid any streaking. And never, ever, ever spray tan your face, unless you plan on accessorizing that look with a miniature Chihuahua named Tinkerbell.
I OWN A CLOTHING STORE AND I HAVE WOMEN ASKING ME ABOUT TANNING LOTIONS, I'M GLAD YOU DID A PIECE ON THIS. NOW I CAN SHOW THEM THE INFORMATION ON YOUR SITE.
5/6/2008 4:10:39 PM
Sandy S. says:
Your article about Bronzers was right on. Informative and up-to-the-minute recommendations. I really appreciated hearing ab out both the good and the bad..........us girls have enough to buy without spending on foul smelling products. Keep up the good work!
5/6/2008 9:33:32 PM
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