A Just A Little Bit Orange Feature. By Vicki Mayhew. Copyright © 03/15/2003. All Rights Reserved.

The Dark Sunless Tan: Getting It And Keeping It

Conclusion

When you feel you have mastered dark sunless tanning with a drugstore product, you can graduate to special order products, and be sure you will get your money's worth from them. You can also experiment. If you find that the product you prefer fades well but is a bit too bronze with layers, try layering it with a nice fading long-lasting "golden" product.

What's a golden product? Although all sunless tanners have the same active ingredient, DHA, sunless tanning users find that some of them vary in shade, and may be more bronze, more golden, or more red. This varies from person to person. Most people find that all sunless tanning products produce a consistent shade, with only one or two variances. Which shade looks most natural on you depends on your natural skin tone. Many people prefer a golden sunless tan.

Or if your tan is a touch too yellow (golden), try layering with a red or bronze product.

Almost all skin types can achieve a beautiful sunless tan. And you don't have to have a dark sunless tan to look great. A light or medium sunless tan is a more realistic goal for many people, and looks much more natural.

A dark sunless tan does not look good on everyone, and entails work and lots of practice. Any fading or streaks are much more visible, so you will need to apply an ST more often — every day, or every other day, depending on your skin.

Pale blondes or redheads will find a dark sunless tan looks aging, but a light or medium tan will bring in compliments. A dark haired Type I like Courtney Cox can pull off a medium sunless tan, however.

Just because a dark sunless tan may not work for you, don't give up hope. You can still get a light or medium sunless tan that looks wonderful. You may not have the deep tanning bed tan of your friends — but you will also avoid the skin cancers and wrinkles from those same tanning bed tans.