Sunless Tanners – and another reason to hate Lindsay Lohan

If you purchase a product “made” and/or endorsed by Lindsay Lohan, you deserve whatever happens to you.

I know this.  Anyone with common sense knows this.  And yet, I allowed the saleman with spiky hair at a Sephora in West Palm Beach convince me that Sevin Nyne Tanning Mist was a smart investment.  In my defense, Sephorais supposed to be more infallible than the pope, and he showed me how it works in the store. (The spiky haired salesman, not the pope.)  Plus, Sephora has the best return policy you can ask for, so I figured – what the hell?

Hell.  That’s a good word for the Sevin Nyne Tanning Mist experience.

Fortunately, I was in a hotel room with Finn when I tried this product so it wasn’t my bathroom that was completely covered in a thin layer or brown goo.  Or my white sheets.  Or my white towels and washcloths.  It was, however, my white skirt that ended up with a few brown spots on it almost 24 hours (and one shower) after I’d applied the tanning mist.

But let me back up.

I stood in the hotel tub completely naked, except for a shower cap, with my legs and arms spread.  Finn proceeded to hose me down with the tanning mist according to the directions.  I was instantly bronzed, although there were a few splotches here and there where the mist had gathered more than I would have liked.  All in all though, Finn did a fabulous job with my application and didn’t even flinch when she had to get up close and personal with all of my personal parts.  The bathroom was an absolute mess, but the color looked great.  I was torn on whether or not I was in love with the product or wanting to return the aerosol can the next day.  I decided to sleep on it before making a decision.

The next morning, I woke up to find brown stains covering the pillows and sheets of the hotel bed, despite the fact that I’d dried myself with a blow dryer before putting on pajamas and going to sleep.  I hopped in the shower and waited for the water to run clear, which it eventually did.  When I stepped out, I was thrilled with how I looked, but determined to return the Sevin Nyne because of the god awful mess.  Hours later, my decision was confirmed when I noticed fresh transfer spots on my clothing.

It’s such a shame that this product doesn’t have a more practical application process or less of a transfer problem, because the color really is gorgeous.  In fact, I think it’s the best color I’ve ever gotten from a sunless tanning product.  The result was definitely more brown than orange.

Sigh.

I returned the $35 tanning mist and went home with my old reliable Clarins Delicious Self-Tanning Cream. It remains my favorite self tanner and the only one I would readily recommend to anyone, although it is $42 a jar.

That being said, my husband is using the GlowFusion Protein Tan that Finn recommended to me last year. I originally bought it for myself, but it never gave me the color I wanted and it faded really quickly and unevenly. But it looks fabulous on Jared and Finn. *shrug*  I will say that it’s much easier for Jared to get his back on his own with this spray than it is for me to do my back with a lotion.

I am also currently experimenting with Banana Boat Sunless Summer Color Self-Tanning Lotion.  I bought it on a lark while shopping at drugstore.com recently because it was on sale and had outstanding reviews and I was already getting free shipping.  I figured for $6.99, I can use it every damn day if I want to and not feel bad about really wanting to figure out a way to look tan without getting skin cancer.  And if it sucked?  $6.99.

So far, so good.  I have used it nearly every day and my only complaint is that it fades quite a bit after a shower, especially if you shave.  But, again, I’m putting it on like lotion basically every day and I just kind of look like a normal person who gets a tan in the summer.  I’m using the light/medium color shade because my natural color is Peeled Chicken.

I think I’ll use the Clarins right before I go on vacation, but will take the Banana Boat with me to keep the tan up while I’m away.

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