Clara's Sunless Tanning Story

A Just A Little Bit Orange Feature
By Clara Pettitt. Copyright © 12/01/97. Updated 2003. All Rights Reserved.

I first used sunless tanners about seven years ago. Like many people, I tried it only on my legs, the palest part of my body. Afterwards, I had streaky, orange legs. Still, I persevered. But then, I had no choice.

When I was nineteen, I was severely sunburned, the result of floating down a river on a rubber raft for six hours on a lovely day in June. Try to imagine the palest person you know after six hours of sun exposure, no sun screen. As my skin fell off in chunks, I called a halt to my sporadic tanning attempts.

After that, I used sun block, avoided the sun, and was extremely pale. While I didn't think I looked all that startling, I did get tired of random people on the street asking me if I "felt okay" because I was so wan. I noticed the advertisements for new and improved sunless tanners and decided to give them a try.

It took me several months to get it right. The key piece I had been missing was how to remove the dry, flaky skin which made my sunless tan streaky and uneven. I finally hit upon a soft cotton washcloth. Commercial exfoliators were completely ineffective except at making a dent in my wallet.

After using sunless tanners a couple of times a week for over six years, my favorite products are, in alphabetical order:

Alba Botanica Advance Sunless Tanner with SPF 15
Au Courant Sunless Tanning Mousse with bronzer
Au Courant Sunless Tanning Lotion without bronzer
Beach Coconut Rum by Strong Products
Paula's Choice Almost the Real Thing Self-Tanning Gel
Yves Rocher Cap Soleil Spray

These are the products I turn to for solace after a frightening bout of sunless tanning product testing.

I have found that careful application is more important than the cost of the sunless tanner you use. Take a look at the complete step-by-step guide, where I share with you everything I have learned.

Review Information

All the products listed in the reviews are products I have tried personally. I was going to get through all of the department store and drugstore/supermarket brands before I tried any of the special order stuff, but now some special order companies have sent me samples, so you can expect special order reviews.

I've broken down all sunless tanning products into three categories: department store, drugstore/supermarket, and special order. These categories are based on the following rationalizations:

Some people have no department stores in their area, so their only source for a sunless tanner is their local drugstore or supermarket. A certain percentage of people buy department store brands exclusively because they think that spending more money equals better quality (they're wrong), while others will only buy sunless tanners at their drugstore or supermarket because they would feel foolish spending $25 on a tube of goo.

So the three categories are not based on quality: they are based on availability and price range. If I rate a product as the best smelling drugstore/supermarket brand, that doesn't mean there are department store brands which smell better.

How do I judge a sunless tanner? There are four criteria: color, smell, price, and ease of application.

Color is first in importance. Without good color (more brown than yellow or orange) you have wasted your time and money. Next is smell. A really bad smelling sunless tanner is just not going to be used, even if it is good in all other categories. Price is third in importance. If there are two products which are close in quality, price becomes the deciding factor. Last in importance is application. A sunless tanner should absorb quickly and spread easily; otherwise you are more likely to make mistakes and end up with areas where you have applied too much or too little. All four factors must be weighed together before coming to a conclusion.

Let's take, for example, Lancome's Self Tanning Mousse vs. Hawaiian Tropic's Herbal Self Tanning Foam.

First, Lancome's mousse. The color is good, although it tends to be a bit yellow. The smell is okay, but the perfume will definitely not appeal to men. The price is reasonable, but not a great bargain. In the area of application, it's one of the best. The product disappears almost instantly on your skin and is so easy to spread that results are almost guaranteed to be even. After weighing these four factors, I put this product on my list of favorites.

But then I tried Hawaiian Tropic's Herbal Self Tanning Foam. The color was better than Lancome, more brown than yellow. It is a bit cheaper than Lancome's mousse. The smell quality is about the same, except that men are more likely to approve of the Foam's sweet herbal scent than the Mousse's floral perfume. In the area of application, the Foam does not disappear instantly on your skin, but it is just as easy to spread. After weighing all these factors, I took Lancome's Mousse off my list of favorites and put Hawaiian Tropic's Foam on instead. The most significant factor was Hawaiian Tropic's better color. The cheaper price and non-floral scent didn't hurt, but by themselves they wouldn't have been enough.

Note: Both of these products have since been discontinued!

How do I perform the reviews? I always scrub off my old tan before trying a new product, and then apply the product at least twice, usually one or two days apart. Then I wait for a few days to see how well it lasts. I try applying the sunless tanner to my face, whether or not it is for the face. I carelessly leave excess quantities on my elbows to see if something really bad happens. In short, I try to break it. Testing a new product can take over a month. When I write my review, I am heavily influenced by the dozens, even hundreds, of comments on the product in the Sunless.com message boards. These comments are particularly helpful in determining what skin type the product works best for.

There are far more important things in the world than correctly using sunless tanners, but there are also a lot of self-conscious pale people creeping around in long pants in August. I have prepared this site for their benefit.

Graphic of Miko and Clara by Stacey.