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commodorifiedAnd they're super useful to people, and sometimes I post stuff I've just found out about and it turns out I was the last to know.
So, hey, it being that time of the year, here is some stuff I know about fake tans.
1) Lush sells moisturing shimmery leg tint that makes you look tanned/gently flushed/as if you're wearing stockings, and it's really nice stuff. It's not a self-tanner; it comes off when you shower.
It also picks up grime and dust and such, alas, so your legs can end up looking grungy, it will come off rather a lot onto things (walls, clothes) that it touches before it's properly absorbed (10 min, ish) and it will keep coming off on things, slightly, thereafter, especially if it's hot out, so it's not advisable with, say, a white skirt.
Alternately, Burt's Bees sells a shimmery body lotion which doesn't make you look any darker, but has just enough pink and gold in it to make darkish skin look luminous and very light skin rosy-pale instead of pasty. It's a nice light moisturiser, too.
2) As far as actual self-tanner, I don't use it to get darker as a rule, at least partly because I am lamentably bad about using sunscreen and therefore spend most of my summers the shade of toast anyway.
It IS, however, excellent for fixing strap lines, sandal lines, and the lines the arms of your glasses leave on your temples, and for making that phase in the fall when you're fading and feel slightly jaundiced look a bit better.
a) You really do want to exfoliate really well right before using it. Otherwise it'll go patchy on you. Shaving, if you do shave, is also wise.
b) Bleaching your leg hair and self-tanning your legs is, alas, not advised. The bleach will lighten your skin in patches, and they'll come up weird.
c) Regardless of your actual skin tones and the basic problematics of the whole deal, the stuff for "fair to medium" skin is less likely to turn you orangey. You just may need to use it a bit oftener.
d) To avoid funky results on knees, elbows, etc, I like to slap moisturiser on them right after I use the tanner; it dilutes the stuff so you don't get the "dark wrinkle" thing and they're, well, knees and elbows, so they tend to appreciate it anyway.
e) Nobody has as far as I know yet produced self-tanner with a built in "colour telltale" so you can properly see what you are doing. The best results I have had have been from using towelettes rather than sprays or lotions, and making sure to apply it in three "coats": stroke up and down the area, then side to side, then circles. This will give you a fairly natural looking effect with minimal or no streaks and no sharp borders.
f) If you wind up with dark wrinkles or streaks anyway, oil the area (almond, olive, jojoba, whatever you have handy) ten or fifteen minutes ahead of your next shower and then scrub fairly briskly and it will fade out remarkably well. If it is a very dark streak, repeat this every shower until the results please you.
3) As far as bronzers/highlighters/blushers for the face go, I am a huge fan of Urban Decay.
a) A light dose of bronzer - get the palest one that is darker than you are - brushed lightly over your cheeks, nose, chin and forehead with a big brush and then a bit of of blusher along your cheekbones, down your nose, and across your forehead with a slightly smaller brush looks great for evening. You can run a bit of highlighter along the very tops of your cheekbones and around your eyebrows on top of THAT, if you want, too. As elaborate as all this sounds, the effect is beautifully subtle, especially with some tinted lipgloss and a very light coat of mascara.
b) for your face, bronzer is probably preferable to self-tanner, which even at its best rarely comes out natural enough to to do well on faces, given how closely they get looked at. (Reducing spectacle lines, etc., works well enough; I mean to lend colour to your whole face.)
4) As far as I can tell by trying things and asking all my super sun sensitive friends, Neutrogena makes pretty much the best reasonably-priced sunscreens on the market.
5) Oh, and: if you have moles or freckles you're keeping an eye on because you're concerned about skin cancer, take pictures of them. Crappy camera phone pics will do. Keep them for six months and take another set, and another six months after that and so forth. Comparing side-by-side images on a screen is MUCH more reliable and much less anxiety-producing than trying to remember what a mole used to look like.
So, hey, it being that time of the year, here is some stuff I know about fake tans.
1) Lush sells moisturing shimmery leg tint that makes you look tanned/gently flushed/as if you're wearing stockings, and it's really nice stuff. It's not a self-tanner; it comes off when you shower.
It also picks up grime and dust and such, alas, so your legs can end up looking grungy, it will come off rather a lot onto things (walls, clothes) that it touches before it's properly absorbed (10 min, ish) and it will keep coming off on things, slightly, thereafter, especially if it's hot out, so it's not advisable with, say, a white skirt.
Alternately, Burt's Bees sells a shimmery body lotion which doesn't make you look any darker, but has just enough pink and gold in it to make darkish skin look luminous and very light skin rosy-pale instead of pasty. It's a nice light moisturiser, too.
2) As far as actual self-tanner, I don't use it to get darker as a rule, at least partly because I am lamentably bad about using sunscreen and therefore spend most of my summers the shade of toast anyway.
It IS, however, excellent for fixing strap lines, sandal lines, and the lines the arms of your glasses leave on your temples, and for making that phase in the fall when you're fading and feel slightly jaundiced look a bit better.
a) You really do want to exfoliate really well right before using it. Otherwise it'll go patchy on you. Shaving, if you do shave, is also wise.
b) Bleaching your leg hair and self-tanning your legs is, alas, not advised. The bleach will lighten your skin in patches, and they'll come up weird.
c) Regardless of your actual skin tones and the basic problematics of the whole deal, the stuff for "fair to medium" skin is less likely to turn you orangey. You just may need to use it a bit oftener.
d) To avoid funky results on knees, elbows, etc, I like to slap moisturiser on them right after I use the tanner; it dilutes the stuff so you don't get the "dark wrinkle" thing and they're, well, knees and elbows, so they tend to appreciate it anyway.
e) Nobody has as far as I know yet produced self-tanner with a built in "colour telltale" so you can properly see what you are doing. The best results I have had have been from using towelettes rather than sprays or lotions, and making sure to apply it in three "coats": stroke up and down the area, then side to side, then circles. This will give you a fairly natural looking effect with minimal or no streaks and no sharp borders.
f) If you wind up with dark wrinkles or streaks anyway, oil the area (almond, olive, jojoba, whatever you have handy) ten or fifteen minutes ahead of your next shower and then scrub fairly briskly and it will fade out remarkably well. If it is a very dark streak, repeat this every shower until the results please you.
3) As far as bronzers/highlighters/blushers for the face go, I am a huge fan of Urban Decay.
a) A light dose of bronzer - get the palest one that is darker than you are - brushed lightly over your cheeks, nose, chin and forehead with a big brush and then a bit of of blusher along your cheekbones, down your nose, and across your forehead with a slightly smaller brush looks great for evening. You can run a bit of highlighter along the very tops of your cheekbones and around your eyebrows on top of THAT, if you want, too. As elaborate as all this sounds, the effect is beautifully subtle, especially with some tinted lipgloss and a very light coat of mascara.
b) for your face, bronzer is probably preferable to self-tanner, which even at its best rarely comes out natural enough to to do well on faces, given how closely they get looked at. (Reducing spectacle lines, etc., works well enough; I mean to lend colour to your whole face.)
4) As far as I can tell by trying things and asking all my super sun sensitive friends, Neutrogena makes pretty much the best reasonably-priced sunscreens on the market.
5) Oh, and: if you have moles or freckles you're keeping an eye on because you're concerned about skin cancer, take pictures of them. Crappy camera phone pics will do. Keep them for six months and take another set, and another six months after that and so forth. Comparing side-by-side images on a screen is MUCH more reliable and much less anxiety-producing than trying to remember what a mole used to look like.
no subject
Date: 2012-07-05 09:18 am (UTC)(I sunburn ungodly easily to the point that I have actual scarring across the backs of my shoulders from repeated layering in my younger days. This doesn't mean I actually enjoy looking like the underside of a dying trout.)
no subject
Date: 2012-07-05 02:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-05 07:15 pm (UTC)The mole/freckle camera check is going to help me immensely. Thank you.
no subject
Date: 2012-07-05 09:13 pm (UTC)Is it scented? (And, if yes, with what?)
I've got a body shimmer from Kings and Queens that smells of myrrh - which is great, except it's also slightly overpowering when you put it on someone who has All The Limbs. Also, it's very gold-based and having something that works better on cool-tone skin (pink shimmer is good) would be good to have on my radar. :-)
Also: I have new lip-tint (not quite lipstick, but rather more so than tinted lip-balm) with sunscreen in it. I'm mildly chuffed about this. :-)
(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2012-07-06 12:29 am (UTC)My sister was appalled when she saw me in shorts, though [eg].
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2012-07-06 12:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-06 02:59 am (UTC)I'm also a huge Urban Decay fan. Hate the name, love the makeup. I'll be trying the bronzer pronto, thanks for the tips.
(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2012-07-06 04:41 am (UTC)It's also kind of funny because I just spent fifteen minutes in the bathroom peeling strips off my shoulders -- their first 'real' (i.e. peeling) sunburn of the year. :D I know it's horrible, and I do keep a close eye on a couple of moles (the camera trick is a *great* idea, especially since one's on my back and hard to see!), but I have an odd fascination with watching my skin turn colours and even fall off. :D
Pleasantly, if unusually, so far this year my right and left sides are tanning evenly! :D
no subject
Date: 2012-07-07 02:24 am (UTC)Jeez.
(no subject)
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