Self tanner has gotten a bad reputation in recent years. Today, seeing the word “self” so close to “tanner” conjures up images of a deeply orange Snooki, uncontrollably stumbling into the beaches of the Jersey Shore. The 2020’s saw the signature rise of the soft glam look on social media and the red carpet. The soft glam standard left little room for beauty faux-pas like streaky lines from a drugstore applicator mitt or a patchy full body spray. So, in the world of glowy bronze and dewy cheeks, where does self tanner fit in and why?
Bottled Sun for Any Shade
“It looks nice and blurred.”
Aina admires her freshly tanned legs with unbelievable shock, stating “my skin just looks perfect.”
Jackie Aina
Thankfully, western skincare has shifted focus away from finding or desiring a preferred shade or tone to embracing and enhancing a person’s natural skin. Due to this shift in social ideals, self tanner has developed some new, practical uses in the realm of the beauty and self care industry. Jackie Aina, a famous afro-beauty guru who playfully nicknamed herself La Bronze James, uses bottles of the stuff like they’re liquid gold. A layer of self tanner adds an enviable, velvety glow to her rich complexion. Side by sides of her freshly bronzed skin in this YouTube video provides the watcher with the pudding, the proof and a deep desire to go out and splurge on a can of tan for themselves.
The IRL, Filterless Blur
“Kelly Rowland has the most amazing, glowy skin and it’s because she tans!”
Ana Sanneh
While applying a full-body layer of self tanner solely to enrich one’s glow may not appeal to all skincare fans, this next use may. A TikToker recently went viral for her spray tanning method using self tanner as a spot treatment to even out her skin tone. As a sufferer of hyperpigmentation, Awa (@awasanneh on TikTok) discovered that she could lessen the appearance of blemishes such as enlarged pores, freckles and keratosis pilaris with a layer of tanning mousse. She cites Kelly Rowland as one of her inspirations to try this skincare hack that creates a natural radiance on any skin tone. The addition of tanner on top of the skin creates a blurring effect, not too unlike foundation. A light layer of self tan will imbue a subtle glow and the appearance of clear, shimmering skin. This method can also be lightly applied as a kind of spot treatment to just the arms and legs, or any body part that will be visible for an evening out when there is no time to erase blemishes with a month long skincare routine. This hack has proved useful for those who compete in summer sports, love the beach or appreciate a nice pair of shorts or skirt to help beat the summer heat.
Good to Glow, Contour that Lasts
“It just kind of naturally adds a bit of a contour to the cheek and makes the jawline pop a lot more.”
Jaclyn Forbes
So, what if a glow just isn’t what consumers are after, no matter how subtle? Thankfully for the self tan industry, there are still even more things that self tanner is capable of. Tantouring came back into public consciousness after 2020 left many skincare enthusiasts exploring different forms of semi-permanent makeup options as a way to beat their quarantine boredom. Tantour is done by applying a face safe self tanner of choice to clean, exfoliated skin and blending it out. This is followed by a developing time, which varies upon desired level of richness, typically between one and four hours. Simply rinse with warm water, massage in some moisturizer and voila! The result is a warm, glowy contour that outlasts a mask and won’t wash down your drain after each day. The tantour’s main appeal seems to have spawned from a desire to create makeup looks that can survive the presence of a face mask in our post Covid world. The lightweight stain left from self tanner also helps to reduce the amount of pore clogging cremes and powders that usually bog down our skin during the day.
The Good, The Bad and The Orange
Fearful your tan will fade to orange?
Worry not! Several self tanners have been formulated with a trick up their sleeve to avoid the orange.
Finally, there’s the orange problem. Many would-be self tanner customers have avoided tinted mousses and lotions for fear that it may turn their skin orange. However, there are brands that have tackled the problem head on to banish the oompa-loompa blues (oranges, rather.) Self tanner has evolved quite a bit in the past few years, to negate this skin blistering issue. Recent formulas from brands like b.tan, St Tropez and San Moritz have opted for a green or violet base in their color spectrum, rather than brown, which was formerly created by a combined mixture of reds, yellows and oranges. In lieu of these instantly warm toned formulas, newer brands of tan apply with a lightly charcoal tone, followed by a developing process that creates the perfect, naturally brown tan. Brands like b.tan have a varied selection of self tans to fit skin tones that range from alabaster to deep.
There is nothing that can stop a person from pursuing their perfect, golden glow thanks to these self tan hacks.
