Clara Pettitt, © 2003. All Rights Reserved.

Origins The Great Pretender

Origins has discontinued Summer Vacation and introduced two different products in its place. The Great Pretender, for the body, is a shimmery tinted lotion with massive amounts of mint, though the overall smell did not strike me as minty.

Origins got the shimmer in the product just right. Put it on with a light hand and blend just a bit, and you will have your own little Body Bling going on.

But before you do that, apply a sunless tanner that actually gives you some color!

A serious drawback of the product is its lightness. It fades evenly, but much too fast, and it never gets dark in the first place. When a product is expensive like this one, a light result is annoying. The old Summer Vacation product, pre 1999 version, was a dark product, the revised one was medium, and now we are stuck with this.

Of course, there are people who want a light sunless tan. I just don’t know any of them personally. And, as I said, if you apply a dark sunless tanning product one day, and follow it the next day with this one, you will look Jennifer Lopez-ish. This is one shimmer product you can wear out on the town.

Warning: the massive amounts of mint in this product can cause skin irritation. I was okay, a relief as I have had bad reactions to mint in the past. The mint leaves a brief cool feeling, but nothing along the lines of the skin removing "tingle" products made by the indoor tanning industry.

Online merchant: Gloss.com

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