Five Great Tips for the Perfect Faux Tan

In this new day and age it’s getting more and more difficult to bronze your body the natural way.  The sun is just too dangerous.  If you feel like putting on SPF 1000 isn’t doing anything, you’re probably right.  Well, it does something, just not nearly as much as it would have 25 years ago.  So why not go with a “fake” tan?  You can still have a great bronze body but without the health risks.

Here are some great Marie Claire and Body and Soul tips we’ve collected should you decide to go with a faux tan.

1. Prep Work – Avoid oil-based scrubs. The oil can act as a barrier against the tan adhering to skin. Once you’ve dried off, dab rough areas of skin – elbows, knees, ankles, hands, wrists – with some moisturizer, says Sarah Tammer, makeup artist and St Tropez ambassador. “This will stop the tan from catching and building up on these patches,” she explains. “If you’re tanning your face, moisturize your hairline for the same reason.”

2. Exfoliate – We’re sure you’ve heard this one many times before, but we can’t stress enough just how important it is to gently scrub skin before you tan, to lift all those dead skin cells and reveal revitalized, ready-to-tan skin beneath. Applying fake tan to dry, uneven skin will simply leave you patch-tastic and desperate to cover up, not show off those pins.

3. Application – Now it’s time to get down to the business of bronzing.  Do the large areas of the body first: the limbs, stomach and back. Then focus in on the feet, ankles, knees and neck. If you see the tan darken too much in these areas as it develops, simply grab a towel and buff the color down.

4.  Prolonging the color – Stay hydrated!

5.  Wear loose dark clothing afterwards – In an ideal world we would be able to wander around in the buff post-fake tan, but in reality it’s a quick slap of lotion on the pins before we rush out the door. The number one rule of dressing after tanning is to wear dark, loose clothing to avoid marking any wardrobe favorites. So, be sure to throw on a jersey LBD and keep legs bare to optimize your tan potential.