For those of who who battle with pasty skin, I think I may just have come up with the answer....
Airbrush tan!!
I've dappled in the world of sunless tanning for years now and have tried everything from St Tropez and all its chocolate-colour glory, to the jaundice-rendering (at least for me anyway!) Clarins self-tan but was still on the hunt for that ever-ellusive 'natural' looking tan....
Until now! I'm an avid member of the airbrush tanning forum on sunless.com (check it out if you want some tips) and it was through this website that I initially found out about the new tanning phenomenon.
My real trip into the world of airbrush tanning however, began one dreary Sunday during a shopping trip to Lakeside (my local shopping centre) where 'the tanning shop' was doing free demos to advertise their new sunless tans. Intrigued, I walked round to the other side of the make-shift booth they had erected and saw a young lady standing in her underwear in what I can only describe as the 'waiting-for-salvation' pose (standing legs apart with arms slightly away from the body). I stoppped for a minute (NOT to ogle her body!!) to see what exactly was going on when I saw the tanning assistant come round with what looked to me like a small vacuum cleaner.
All of a sudden she turned the contraption on and it sounded as though she was going to start hoovering the place! To my surprise she actually started spraying the woman as what I can only describe as a paint-gun.
I stayed to see the results and was very surprised; in about 2 minutes she had tanned the whole of the lady's body and to top it off...she looked really tanned!!
Now most people would run off to the 'tanning shop' and beg for a treatment...not me!!! I actually asked the woman spraying where I could buy the whole machine!!! She seemed a bit baffled
at first but eventually gave me the number to the store's supplier.
*****************************************
A number of months later I was still scouring both the net and beautymags for the perfect tanning unit. By now I had gained a lot more knowledge of the different machines and the pros and cons of each. To prevent you from drifting off however, I'll spare you the details (if you want more info let me know) and tell you the two main units available:
Airbrush: This is similar to the airbrush used for doing nails etc and thus takes about 30 minutes to do the whole body. This is because the area that can be sprayed at a time is quite small
HVLP: (Heavy Volume Low Pressure) These units have a turbine and can spray the body in a matter of minutes as they have spray guns rather than airbrush attachments and thus allow much larger areas to be sprayed at a time. This is the type I saw being used and this was the type I wanted....
Now onto the tan itself *****************************
How I came to finally get my 'airbrush' tan ********************************************* By a stroke of luck, a managing director of a sunless hvlp tanning company got in touch with me via the sunless.com forum telling me about a unit he was trying to distribute in the UK. I arranged to meet him and thus had my first trial of the airbrush tan everyone seems so keen on.
I was told beforehand to wear dark underwear and so I came prepared in a cheapy black M&S (NOT S&M you'll note!) twinset prepared for the worst. Expectancy can always spoli a party so in this case I was not expected a really great result: how can I get a really really really good looking tan from anything other than the sun?? It's just not possible is it?
Anyway, before I digress too far away from my story; here I am ready as I ever wil be in my underwear worrying about what this MD is thinking about the size of my thighs...
By this point we were in his special tanning room which was laden with a multitude of funny looking gadgets and gizmos...was I safe here I began to wonder....lolol Before I had a chance to compose myself however, he told he to adopt the aforementioned infamous 'waiting-for-salvation' pose...
Then ready for action, he turned on the machine and started tanning. He started spraying my back in horizontal stripes followed by vertical ones which seemed to criss-cross over one another and slowly moved up towards my arms. He then instructed me to lift each arm up to sholuder height anmd then up tp the ceiling as he got to every nook and cranny with the stuff.
************** I should mention, perhaps, at this moment, a little about the actual spray. It was a very light spray; so light I could barely feel it and it had a gentle fragrance which was a lot more pleasant than some of the fake tans I'd tried in the past...It also absorbed into the skin almost immediately so no waiting around for the thing to sink in which is another major bonus....
**************
Back to the treatment. So now my arms and my back are done. Next was the stomach and the chest. I decided to keep my bra on but took off the straps so I wouldn't be left wioth dodgy looking, albeit, fake, tanning lines. He started at my right shoulder and worked his way across and then down using the similar criss-crossing technique of before.
Next, the legs. A notoriously difficult body part of self-tan as it is a relatively large area and the knees always seem to soak up was too much tan no matter how must pre-treatment exfoliation and moisturisation I do.
He started at my left foot. (He seemed to favour the left to right system) and within a couple of minutes both legs were done.
Finally, the most important part: it is, after all, the one bit of me I couldn't cover up (and I wasn't particularly into the 'I-gonna-mug-your-bank-so-im-gonna-wear-a-barclava-over-my-face' look) so to say I was slightly apprehensious is somewhat of au understatement.
'Close your eyes please, and breathe normally; I'm just going to tan your face please.' I did as I was told. The mist on my face wasn't as scary as I'd imagined: I invisaged near-suffocation whilst being sprayed (something akin to the sensation whilst on 'Rameses' Revenge' in Chessington when you get held just above the water sprays- if you been on it you'll know what I mean!) But no! This was absolutely fine, and literally over in under a minute.
So there I was. Spray tanned head to toe. Dare I steal at look at myself??? Of course I was in front of that mirror as soon as I could!! My initial response however, was one of disappointment; I didn't look very tanned and I commented on this to the MD, who at this point was waiting with baited breath at my verdict. He assured me I was tanned and told me to check my bra-line to allay any doubts.
And WHAT A SHOCK!!!! There it was in all its pasty glory: my old skin colour divided unabashedly by this new golden brown! I was amazed! It looked fantastic! No need to apply before bed for fear of being carted away to hospital lest someone thinks I'm battling some mysterious skin condition (I'm referring to the St Tropezapplication by the way!). With this type of tanning, it really is 'tan and go!'
An exchange of prices etc ensued but that was to do with the price of the actual unit so it's unnecessary here but he did give me a couple of tips immediately after the appication:
DO NOT wash for 8 hours following the application of your tan; likewise don't undertake any heavy exercise (the perfect excuse to skip the gym haha!) or do anything else that makes you sweat! ;-)
******************
I left the MD with a lease of new confidence. I looked like I'd just returned from a wekk away in Barbadoes and I just knew I looked good!!!
I met my boyfriend that afternoon after he finished work and he was very impressed! He's somewhat accustomed to my tanning experiements by now but he also commented on how natural it looked!!
Well I followed the tanning guidelines to the letter; I didn't wash etc until the next morning and boy, did I look brown! I had a shower (baths can make your tan fade faster) and saw the top layer of bronzing colour run off my skin down the plug-hole....
Patting my skin dry I liked what I was seeing. My skin was so evenly tanned it was amazing! My arms were a lovely colour and at work that day I got loads of compliments. Anyone that knows me well knows I wouldn't be seen dead sporting a real tan but to my collegues who didn't necessarily know about my self-tanning habit I simply had been on a course of sunbed treatments!!!
I remembered to moisturise (I do this anyway so it wasn't anything unusual) my whole body which is essential for improving the longevity of the tan and was happy for yet another day...
************************ 36 hours later.....
3 days have now passed and my tan is starting to get lighter but can still be seen. Rather than fade in patches this one seems to fade in one go (if that makes any sense) so I don't get any dpdgy looking clumps of white!
Still moisturising to see how long I can make this one last!!!
************************* 5 days later....
My tan is almost gone now and to me 5 days is a long time for a fake tan to last so I'm happy. Still no dodgy patches and still that subtle hint of the tan.....
************************* A week later....
The tan has now disappeared and my skin is back to normal. :-( It hasn't broken out in spots (a worry since I have fairly oily skin) and I can't wait for the next treatment!!
**************************
Where to get your tan?
The death of the sunbed, I believe, is soon going to be upon us as more people recognise the damage these can do to the skin and of course the dangers they pose in .relation to skin cancer. As a result an increasing number of salons are now offering sunless versions of which airbrush tanning is an option which makes it all the more easy for us to get a safe natural-looking tan.
Check your local yellow pages or even do a search on google.com and that should give you some info about salons in your area offering the airbrush tan
The prices vary according to location and also the experience of the technician but expect to pay between £15-25. The one in Lakeside has actually gone down in price to £17.99!!
*************************
Tips to remember pre-tan: V IMPORTANT!! *********************************************** -Exfoliate well, concentrating in areas such as the knees, elbows etc.
-Don't wear perfumes or deodorant on the day (make sure you are clean of everything in fact) as these caa make your skin green!! (IT reacts with the tanning solution!!)
-Shave etc 24hrs BEFORE the tan as it has a tendency to stick to the bits you've taken hair from (you'll be left with brown dots all over your legs!!!)
-Moisturise the day before (prior to the tan can hinder the effciacy of the solution)
-Wear loose clothing on the day otherwise the tan will run off before you even get home!!! *************************
After your tan: EQUALLY IMPORTANT ******************************************* -Don't wash etc for 8 hours (at least-the longer the better!!)
-Moisturise daily (twice daily if you can stretch to that!)
***************
In conclusion, **************** Would I recommend this type of tanning??
Absolutely!!! Its the most natural method I've found and it lasts!!!
More importantly, though, its completely safe (the DHA which is contained within the tanning solutions doesn't cause skin cancer or bring about any of the sun's side effects) so we can all tan with clear consciences! :-)
Thanks for reading!!
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
.gif)
May 19th, 2004
(May 20th, 2004)
exceptional by (9%):
very helpful by (91%):
