A Just A Little Bit Orange Feature. By Clara Pettitt. Copyright © 05/29/2001. All Rights Reserved.

Mike Gives Himself A Sunless Tan — Page Two

Using the sponge applicator, Mike covered both legs, his torso, and his arms. I helped him with his back.

When he got to the bottom of his neck, around the collarbone, I had him set the sponge applicator aside and pick up the Au Courant Facial Flock Sponge instead.

"This is what you will use to apply the mousse to your face and neck," I said.

He put a small quantity of the mousse onto the flock sponge and looked at me enquiringly.

"Start in the middle of your forehead, and then spread it outwards in all directions," I recommended. This avoids getting too much on the hairline.

Like most guys, Mike had trouble applying it to the eye area, not having mastered the holding one eye open trick that us gals learn when we put on eye makeup.

"When you apply it under your eye, your eye should be open, else you will have squinch marks," I said. Mike applied it to his entire eye area, including eye lid. I always do it that way and have never had a problem.

I checked the back of his neck for him and also behind his ears. When everything was covered, it was time for him to take off the gloves.

"Should I put lotion on my hands now," he asked, remembering the drill from previous sunless tanning events.

"You won't need to with this," I said, waving the Yves Rocher Monoi de Tahiti Express Bronze at him. Many Sunless.com visitors use this product just for hands and feet because it's the perfect strength for that.

I put a small dab, about the size of a dime, on the back of one of his hands. "Now rub that in all over your hands and wrists, just as if it were hand lotion," I said.

He used a slightly larger amount for his ankles and the tops of his feet. Then he went back with hand lotion and rubbed it all over his hands and wrists to make sure the sunless tanner was evenly blended.

On his feet, I cautioned him to rub the lotion up past his anklebone to insure the two sunless tanning products he used were blended.

Once that was done, it was time for the baby wipes. Mike carefully wiped off the bottoms of his feet and his toenails with one, and then his palms and fingernails with another.

Because we had been proceeding fairly slowly, Mike was already close to dry at this point. He put on a bathrobe and relaxed for an hour before going to bed. It was nearly midnight at this point — we got a late start.

The next morning, I didn't take any pictures of Mike until after he had showered off the bronzer in the Au Courant mousse. He was left with a nice, light brown tan. The picture of him above, sitting in the white chair, was taken in the morning after he washed the bronzer off.

Mike was obviously satisfied with his tan. A sunless tan is the only kind of tan he can have; briefly, as a teenager, he tried to tan in the sun and ended up pink. Now he just slathers on the sun screen every day.

Mike's sunless tan looked great indoors, but we put him to the test, and dragged him outside onto the balcony to get some pictures in daylight. It was a bright, overcast day. His tan looked just as brown outdoors.

A close up shot of the scars on his forearm showed that they looked fine with the sunless tanner. They are still very pink, so they didn't contrast greatly with his tan. In a couple of years, they will turn white and will look more obvious when he applies sunless tanners, as scarred skin does not absorb sunless tanners well, if at all.

After his scars heal for several years, they may absorb sunless tanners slightly. This is true of all types of scars, including stretch marks.

While out on the balcony, Mike discovered, in the picture at left, that it's not a good idea to lean back onto a metal chair when it's only 60 degrees outside.

To see Mike's previous sunless tans, see Mike Gets A Fantasy Tan and his sample entry in the Sunless Tanning Contest 1999.

Shopping List

• Au Courant Sunless Tanning Mousse
• Yves Rocher Express Bronze Monoi de Tahiti Self Tanner
• Au Courant Magic Sun Tan Sponge Applicator
• Au Courant Facial Flock Sponge
• Kiss My Face Olive & Aloe Moisturizer for Extra Sensitive Skin, Fragrance Free
• Huggies Natural Care Baby Wipes, Unscented
• Ansell Medi-Touch Powder Free Latex Disposable Gloves, size small