Community Wisdom: Self-Tanning

Many of us enjoy a summer glow, but, as skincare junkies, we know that natural tanning is a risky business, with increased ageing and skin cancer big concerns for sun worshippers. Here at Skin + Me, we’re big advocates of fake tan, and while many of us head to the salon for a professional job, some of us also choose to DIY. 

When we polled our Skin + Me community, we found that 58% of us prefer to self-tan. That’s a huge percentage of our community with wisdom to pass on. 

Today’s article on The Dose is written for you, by you! We’re taking advantage of all your expertise to share everything from practical advice to the products you swear by. 

Exfoliate and Moisturise

The overwhelming response from everyone who responded to our poll was this: prep your skin ahead of time. Exfoliate and moisturize everywhere you’re planning to apply self-tan at least twelve hours before. Some even say they have best results exfoliating and moisturising every day, three days prior to applying tan. 

Exfoliation removes dead skin cells, revealing the fresh skin cells beneath. These skin cells are able to absorb the tanning solution more evenly, resulting in an even tan that lasts longer. Moisturising well before you self-tan is important as it helps keep those skin cells in tip-top condition, but it’s also worth using a little moisturiser in a few areas just before you tan. Applying some moisturiser around your elbows, knuckles, between your fingers, knees and ankles can help to form a barrier with the tan, as these areas are prone to build up, meaning sometimes they can develop to be darker than other areas of your skin. Can we get a show of hands for everyone who has ended up with orange knees? Yep, probably all of us. 

Use a Tanning Mitt

Skin + Me customers are big fans of a tanning mitt, especially for applying self-tan to the body. A mitt helps protect hands from the tan (no orangey knuckles here please) and also helps you to distribute the formula much more easily. However, if you’re applying tanning drops, you’re better off applying these with your hands. 

Mix With Your Moisturiser

Trying to get a natural-looking tan on your face? The Skin + Me community recommends mixing it in with your moisturiser. Ideally you should use something designed to be mixed with other products, but if all you have is your usual body tan you can mix it with your moisturiser to help buffer it and protect the skin. Just make sure you mix it well so it doesn’t end up looking uneven.

Use Your Makeup Brushes

Always end up with darker hands than anywhere else when self-tanning? Several of you had a genius solution – use a makeup brush. If you regularly apply foundation and buff it out with a brush, the same principle applies to your self-tan. Use a dense brush to buff out the tan on your hands, ensuring a more even finish – just remember to wash the brush thoroughly afterwards!

Your Go-To Self-Tanning Product?

There are plenty of self-tan products on the market, but here are your top-rated…

The Tan-Luxe The Face Drops appeared several times alongside the Isle of Paradise Self-Tanning Drops – they’re the gold standard when it comes to facial tanning drops, they’re easy to build up and simple to apply. 

For the body, you also rate Tan-Luxe Hydra Mousse, not only for the lightweight formula, but also because it doesn’t transfer to your nice clean bed sheets. Influencer Molly- May Hague’s tanning line also performed well in our poll, with several of you nominating it as your number one choice.

St Tropez has been around for a while, but they’ve continued to improve and innovate with their self-tan – which is probably why so many of you love their Advanced Bronzing Mousse.

Honourable mentions go to both Lusso Tan and Vita Liberata. Bondi Sand Liquid Gold Self Tanning Oil had rave reviews as did the trusty Dove Gradual Self Tan Body Mousse.