How to Fake a Great Tan
1. Scrub Your Skin
The golden rule of self-tanning is to exfoliate your entire body first. Skip this crucial step and you risk uneven, blotchy results. Pay extra attention to really dry spots like your elbows and knees.
2. Enhance Your Base
If your body is crypt-keeper pale, use a gradual self-tanner. Ingredients in creams react to the skin's amino acids to produce natural-looking pigments. Your tone should peak in five to seven days. At that point, start applying the lotion every other day to maintain your gleam.
3. Get Instant Results
if you want a tanned look this second, your best bet is a bronzing oil that you can wipe on before going out. The effects only stick around until your next shower though. For something with more staying power, try a tinted mousse or a towelette with sunless tanner (which are less streaky than lotions and creams). Both stain your skin a golden hu, and the color lasts about a week.
4. Put on Gloves
Before applying any tanner, pull on Latex (if you're not allergic) gloves. This will prevent any color from absorbing into your skin. if you don't have gloves, wash your hands with soap when you're done. Gloves are easily located at local Rite-Aids, Walgreens or local pharmacy stores. Put a dab of tanner on the top of each hand and rub them together so they're not completely pale.
5. Use Broad Strokes
Make sure your body isn't greasy from any residue body cream, which can block the tanner from absorbing fully. Then spread the product on with uniform swipes in all directions. These dry spots absorb more color and can turn darker than the rest of your body. Also, skip spots where the sun don't shine, like your heels and soles.
6. Tone Down any Steaks
If you end up with a few orange smudges, don't panic. A quick shower should fade them away. Milk in a bath will help fade the color as well by the lactic acids. Try using a loofah to smooth out any smudges or use the fine side of a well-worn emery board to lighten up any areas that you think are too dark or streaky.
