Self-Tanning Tips

Tired of winter yet and feeling all pasty white from lack of sunshine? Cathy asked me about self-tanner before she left for a warmer location/winter break and I saved my notes to share with you - this is how I do it, and if it's wrong or doesn't work for you please don't blame me for your streaky orange skin LOL! PS: she asked me about self tanning because I do not tan naturally from the sun...I burn...and that's if I even go in the sun since usually I stay in the shade! Self-tanning saves me from looking sickly in the summer ;) 

-exfoliate really well first, shave your legs…

If you’re using tanning lotion:

-very lightly and sparingly rub moisturizer over your ankle bones, knees, and elbows. These areas tend to pick up too much color. 

-I start with my feet and work up, because if you do top of legs first and then bend forward to do your shins and feet you might get tanner on your torso.

-do the tops and sides of your feet or else there will be a weird break between your leg and foot!

-I do one leg from knee down, then the other leg under knee down, then do thighs and above (once again you need to at least blend it a bit at the top of your leg or it looks weird - even if no one is going to see it you don’t want to have that haha!). After applying to whole leg I rub the residual of what’s on my palms over my knees and ankle bones.

-If you are only doing legs make sure if your arms touch your legs while applying the tanner that you wash your arms or tanner will show where you touched.
-If putting on my face I mix a small amount of tanner with a small amount of moisturizer in my palm before applying. Doing your face is hard so I make the solution pretty weak to avoid weird streaks!

You do not want to have any lotion not rubbed in, it’ll leave nasty streaks. Go sparingly with the tanner and apply to small areas at a time. Make sure you are blending it in really well and don’t do more than one coat - and don’t keep going over the same areas. I tend to rub it in in small circle motions rather than up and down to try to keep the streaking down. If doing your arms remember to do the underside or you’ll see the tanner line.

If you’re using spray tanner:

follow the directions on the can. I can’t remember how many inches away to spray, and you aren’t supposed to rub it in but I feel like if you miss a spot with the spray you get weird white patches so I do lightly pat it around. Spray is nice for areas you can’t reach like your back...if just doing legs I would use lotion. 

Wash your palms with soap when you are finished!

I personally like the daily tanner/moisturizer that doesn't develop a full on tan in one application. I'll do that for a couple days and then use spray overtop every now and then. That way you can bring a small thing of the daily tanner/moisturizer stuff and use thru-out your trip to maintain the color. Otherwise one application of self tanner is going to fade pretty quickly!

Oh, and if you're wearing jeans and leggings the tan rubs off way faster than if you are wearing lightweight clothes!

Happy moment ~ wearing jeans and not having to worry about self-tanning for now...looking for the bright spot of winter haha!