Favorite Self-Tanners and Sunscreens
I think most of us know by now that the best way to get a sunkissed look is with self-tanner, not going outside or using tanning beds. However, not all self-tanners are created equally and it only takes one time of looking orange to make you swear off all brands. I’m pretty pale so I feel safe saying that tanners that don’t make me look orange will work for a variety of people/skin tones. Below are my favorite brands.
Tan Luxe: I found this to be the easiest to maintain of all the self-tanners that I’ve tried. I use The Body and The Face in light/medium. I alter the number of drops I mix in to lotion based on what color I’m going for (I do max drops the first 1-2 days and less for maintenance). I love that I can easily add it into my body lotion to maintain the color easily and honestly haven’t had any issues with how it fades. I’ve also used this to prolong other self-tanners. My mom has used the Hydra Mousse and got great color with it so I feel safe recommending that also.
St. Tropez: I tried the Award Winning Kit from Ulta, which had the Self Tan Express Advanced Bronzing Mousse and Gradual In Shower Lotion. I like the self-tan mousse, but it gave me a very natural color (if you want people to comment on how tan you are, this is probably not the product for you). I personally like this because it gave me enough color to not have to add whitening drops to my foundation to get a light enough shade (yes, I am that pale), but didn’t require buying a new foundation. I’ve seen other people get more dramatic results from this brand, so I think if you did multiple applications and/or used one of their other products you could get a more dramatic result.
When looking at cruelty-free blogs (Cruelty Free Kitty and Logical Harmony are my go-to blogs), this brand is listed as a grey-area (no answer either way). However, they have a post from August 2018 stating that they are cruelty-free. This is what I based my choice to buy it on, but if that is not concrete enough for you, this may be a brand to avoid.
Vita Liberata: I love the color I got with their pHenomenol 2-3 week tan (I used medium). It went on easily, didn’t transfer while waiting for it to develop, and lasted a good amount of time (even with my frequent exfoliation). When it started to wear off it was less patchy than other self-tanners I’ve tried. I haven’t tried any of the other products from this line but I’ve heard good things and will probably try them in the future.
I have somewhat sensitive skin when it comes to self-tanners and with this one, I got a small reaction on my forearms. By small I mean it took a few days for me to decide that it was a reaction, but keep that in mind if your skin is also weirdly sensitive.
Another note: This brand is also considered to be in a grey area by Cruelty Free Kitty and Logical Harmony. However, they also have a post stating that they are cruelty-free so I made the choice to use them.
Loving Tan: I got the deluxe mousse in medium and the gradual tan in medium to use for my recent graduation. I left the mousse on much longer than I intended but I didn’t end up with a ridiculous color, I was just nice and bronzed. I used the gradual tan to help prolong the color and it was a great product but my weirdly sensitive skin had a reaction to the lotion- I tried both products separately twice and each time I was fine with the mousse and had a reaction to the lotion. I can’t really speak to how this product fades because I was exfoliating the heck out of my skin to try to stop the reaction I was having.
If you’re using self-tanner to avoid damage from the sun, you should make sure that you’re applying sunscreen. I’ve recently started trying to use not only cruelty-free brands but also ones that make physical sunscreen. This is because of the FDAs proposed legislation but also because of the effect sunscreen can have on the reefs (Allure has a good article on this topic). Below are some of my favorite sunscreens (but if it comes down to it and you have chemical sunscreen on hand, I think it’s better to use that than nothing because the prevalence of skin cancer is on the rise).
Supergoop mineral line: I love this because you can get their powder to reapply sunscreen on the face even if you’re wearing makeup, which is something many of us makeup wearers forget about.
Coola mineral line: I’ve only tried their sunscreen for the face but it sits beautifully under makeup and their body sunscreen was one of Allure’s recommendations so I’m betting that is pretty good too.
First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair sunscreen: Like their ultra repair cream, this has the same nourishing ingredients that don’t make my sensitive skin go crazy.
Beautycounter sunscreen: Lots of options including mist (tinted or not), lotion, and stick formulations.
Hopefully these recommendations help you get the healthy tan you’re looking for at any time of the year!