Shorts and dress season is upon us and I’ll be the first to admit that I hate being pale. I just feel better when I have some color (even in the winter)— a healthy glow, if you will. 😉 When I was in high school and college, I tanned a few times a week at a tanning bed, but I haven’t been in a tanning bed since 2015. I’m all for color, but not at the expense of damage to my skin and the very real risk of skin cancer. I’m still all about spending time in the sunshine and soaking in the Vitamin D, but these days, I do that with sunscreen! So, how can you achieve that healthy looking glow year round without the damage to your skin? Self tanning. And I’ve tried pretty much all of them! I’m going to rank the best 8 self-tanners out there, score them out of 10, and also list some pros and cons of each. The self-tanners below are categorized into tanners for the body and tanners for the face. There is also a separate section for application tools.
For the Body
#8. Loving Tan Bronzing Mousse (SCORE: 5/10) $60.00
I know this one is becoming super popular on social media, so I wanted to include it and my experience. I used it a few years ago. It was my least favorite just because of the color shade and price point. It gave me too much of an orange tone, but if you’re a warmer toned person, you may like it, as many users rave about it. It’s a colored foam so it’s easy to apply and see where you’ve applied. It does go on smoothly and evenly. My only complaint with this one was the tone of the color being too warm for me and at a much higher price than better mousses! Overall, it’s decent, but not my favorite. It does have a self-tanner smell.
#7. St. Tropez Luxe Whipped Mousse (SCORE: 6/10) $48.00
I’ve used the St. Tropez gradual tan lotion and it is similar to the Jergens Natural Glow one we’ve all used at some point in our lives… lol. The St. Tropez mousse self-tanners are decent. They blend well, but take a good bit of time to dry. The color is a bit warm for the original mousses, but the new luxe tan has a green base which promises better color. I’ve only tried a small sample of it from Ulta and it was good, but I’ve definitely used better, to be honest. It did have a slight self-tanner smell. I personally don’t think St. Tropez is worth the price tag; there are much better and more affordable options.
#6. Fake Bake Flawless / Fake Bake Flawless Darker (SCORE: 7/10) $28.00/$32.00
This was our go-to for about 5 years. We used it religiously and it works great– great color and great fade back to natural color, BUT you don’t get much bang for your buck with this one. It’s not foaming (just a liquid spray) so those 6 ounces don’t last long at all. We were always buying more. You need to spray a good bit onto the mitt to saturate so we just ended up finding other tanners that had a better value over the last few years. It does have a self-tanner smell. If you’re an Amazon shopper, you can get both Fake Bake Flawless and Fake Bake Flawless Darker Prime!
#5. Tan-Luxe Super Glow Body (SCORE: 7/10) $49.00
So, this one is unlike any of the others I’ve listed so far, but I still love it. This one gives you a subtle glow. It’s not a colored applicator or anything super dark, but it’s a serum that has hyaluronic acid. It is great for a little glow or to help maintain your dark tan between applications of more powerful tanners. It is a bit expensive, but truly a great quality product. I will probably use this a lot more in the summer to even my tan and hydrate/nourish my skin at the same time! No scent to this one! I usually throw some on my chest and arms before bed on days I spent in the sun!
#4. Isle of Paradise Tanning Oil (7/10) $32.00
This one is a lot like #5! It’s great for in between self-tan applications. We put this on our legs before we went out in Nashville to give our legs a nice little glow that developed while in our dresses. It is also colorless and lightweight, but more of an oil texture than serum like the Tan-Luxe Super Glow is. It won’t create as much of a dark tan as the mousses do. The smell isn’t bad for this. At least it wasn’t noticeable to us.
#3. Isle of Paradise Express Tanning Mousse (8/10) $32.00
This is an excellent tanning mousse with a great deep brown color (I like the Ultra Dark). It’s “express” so it develops very quickly; however, I usually leave it on 8 hours+ if I have time because I like a deeper tan. It fades pretty evenly too! The foam is very dark so it’s easy to see where you’re applying and to achieve an even, dark tan. It does have a self-tanner smell. Good price point for the amount you get and it lasts a while too!
#2. Coco & Eve Bali Bronzing Foam (8/10) $35.00
This one is also very popular right now. It is pretty much the same as #2, but has a much better smell. I do love the scent of the foam– it smells like strawberries! It does, however, get a slight self-tan smell as it develops, but it’s not as bad as some others. You’ll notice that the foam color is slightly green and that’s because it has a green base to balance out orange. I do think it’s slightly more orangey in tone once developed than #3 though! The color lasts a while, but it doesn’t always fade as evenly as some of the others do for me! I still really like the quality of this foam and it also is a good price for the amount of product you get.
#1. Lavish Tan Organic Airbrush Solution (9/10) $28.00
This has been both of our #1s for quite a while now! Erin worked in a salon several years ago that used this solution for their spray tans. We were big fans of the spray tans there because of how brown and natural they were! So this particular self-tanner is actually a professional spray tan solution! It’s got the best color of any self-tanner we’ve ever used because it’s a brown-sugar based organic solution! It adjusts to whatever skin tone it is applied to. It does have a self-tan smell and has to be put into a spray bottle and/or poured onto a mitt, or into a spray tan machine if you have one. It is a liquid and not a foam. It’s easy to apply because the solution is brown. It’s truly amazing– and almost the perfect self-tanner. We just spray ours onto our tanning mitts.
If you end up liking this solution as much as we do, you can purchase larger sizes than the 8oz bottle (linked above). You can also purchase 32oz bottle or 128oz bottle Prime!
Application Tools
I have used several mitts and some are super flimsy and rip on the inside, allowing tanning solution to come through on your hands. This eventually happens to all of them after a few years, but these are the ones that have held up best for me:
- Dave’s Tanning Mitt (w/Thumb)
- Bondi Sands Mitt (available for Target pick-up!)
I also really like this brush for mousse application on the neck and chest area especially. It allows you to get a more concentrated amount on the skin. You can use it to apply to the entire body, but it’s a little tedious. If you’re lazy like us, you’ll resort to just using the mitt!
If you need some help with your back or your husband isn’t home at your time of tanning, invest $5 into one of these b.tan applicators for your next Target pick-up order. They work great and allow you to get all those hard-to-reach spots with ease!
For the Face
There are 3 really great self-tan drops for the face we’ve personally used. I have not tried the Isle of Paradise drops, but know a lot of people know like them too.
1. Tan-Luxe Super Glow: This is my favorite face tanner because you don’t have to mix it with anything. It’s already a hyaluronic acid serum! It leaves skin smooth and glowing. I only use 3-5 drops for a natural glow. I use them once or twice a week!
2. Tan-Luxe Drops: I always used these drops before the Super Glow version came out! They’re amazing if you have a hyaluronic acid serum or moisturizer you already love because you can add the drops directly to it! Again you only need 3-5! Use 1-2 times per week!
3. Tanologist Face + Body Drops: I use these for the face when I’m running low on Tan-Luxe. If you’re looking for a less expensive alternative to Tan-Luxe that you can add to your Target pick-up order, these are for you! They are very comparable to the above 2 options. Use just once or twice per week. You can also add these to your body moisturizer, but I’ve never tried it.
Recap & Tips for Tanning
Keep in mind that there is really no completely perfect self-tanner. Nothing is going to look as even and legit as the real thing, but you can definitely get close with some of the self-tanners listed above! If you don’t apply self-tanner evenly, the tan obviously won’t be even. If you have dry elbows and knees, you’re going to have some dark spots there– so regardless of which self-tanner you decide to use, you will need to exfoliate before and moisturize dry areas if you want a natural looking tan. Also, if you want your tan to last, moisturize daily. You can exfoliate with any scrub, but we really like the scent of this one and this one— and you can add them to your Target pick-up order! As far as moisturizers, we recommend this one and this one for the face. For the body, we recommend this one, this one, and this one!
Happy tanning, friends!
xo
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