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WHAT'S NEW
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Choose the best self tanner for you
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Investigate the pros and cons of different bronzing formulas and pick the right one to meet your needs.
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By Janine Falcon
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Pale skin once signified a life of luxury and tanned skin meant you led a peasant life, working in the fields. Nowadays, pale seems to broadcast that you're chained to your computer, and bronze could suggest that you've just returned from your yacht vacation in the south of France.
But the glow is faux for today's bronzed beauties who want to look young and sun-damage free in 10 years' time. With all the bronzing formulas available now, how do you choose?
1. Straight-up self tanner
Pros: Usually develops full colour within a few hours after one application. Some are tinted so you can see exactly where you put the product.
Cons: If you're new to self-tanner and don't pre-exfoliate or apply evenly, you could give yourself a faux wood-grain finish. Some self tanners require drying time to avoid staining your clothes. And once it starts to react with skin, the chemical odour can be overpowering.
Best if: you're an experienced self-tanning product user and need to look bronzed on short notice.
Tip: The day before applying self-tanner, exfoliate with an oil-based scrub in the shower to moisturize as you slough off dead skin, then moisturize again right out of the tub.
Try:
Biotherm Sun Tan Self-Tanning Water goes on with cotton pads, sinks right into skin, and it's tinted. 125 mL, $28.
Clarins Intense Bronze Self Tanning Tint for Face and Décolleté also goes on with cotton pads, and delivers an immediate golden hue that deepens to a dark bronze in a few hours. 125 mL, $36.
B. Kamins Chemist Bio Maple Sunfree Bio-Active Self-Tanner for face and body also goes on tinted and develops colour later; 120 mL, $38.
Yves Rocher Bronze Nature Sunless Tanning Care Lift Effect for the face combines colour-in-an-hour with an anti-aging formula. 50 mL, $16.50.
2. Glow moisturizer
Pros: Develops full colour over a number of once-a-day applications. You can customize your colour to a point: one application may give you slight colour that you can maintain with every-other-day use, or you could apply more than once per day to deepen colour faster. Low levels of self tanner lessens the risk of streaking and, for most body chemistries, also reduces or even eliminates the chemical odour. Bonus points for convenience: Combining hydration with colour is a time saver.
Cons: Building rich colour takes a few days. You could see a bit of streaking, so exfoliate every two weeks. And if your skin chemistry is acidic like mine, you'll smell faintly like self-tanner chemicals every single day.
Best if: you're not in a hurry for colour and can wait a few days for a noticeable glow to develop.
Tips: Apply after you get home from work and wear it overnight. A quick shower in the morning and you're chemical-scent free for the day. If you're fair and want deeper bronze results, use a formula for fair skin until you've fully developed colour, then switch to a medium/dark formula to deepen and maintain.
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