GO FOR GLOW
There’s a whole new world of selftanners out there—and they’re nothing like anything you’ve used before.
These self-tanners make for streak-free, glowing skin
The benefits of self-tanner have always
been clear: faux glow, and no sun damage. It’s the results that haven’t lived up to the promise. Streaks, uneven fades, and orange tints have been common drawbacks of using self-tanner. Those days are over. We’ve reached a new dawn in the category, which is now led by beauty trends and encompasses skincare benefits. If you ask celebrity tanner James Read, it all started a few years back when he introduced the first overnight tanning sleep mask. Luckily, that was just the beginning.
Read’s latest innovation focuses on the beauty world’s new fascination with water. “Mixing waters with cleansers has been a big trend,” says the London-based tanning guru. “I wanted to combine coconut water with tan, and so I did.” The end result is a beachy, coconut-scented spray, which Read applied on Rosie Huntington-Whiteley from head to toe before this year’s Oscars for a medium-bronze body tan. The formula is both effective and hydrating, and the secret to its flawless application is spraying downward from left to right.
Another one of the biggest innovations in the self-tan category is transfer-free products like Vita Liberata’s Invisi Foaming Tanning Water, which develops in hours and lasts for up to seven days. “One of the things most people are scared of in tanning is that it’s going to come off on their white clothes, white sheets, or wedding dress, and that it’s going to look dirty,” says Ireland-born founder Alyson Hogg. “This only tans skin,” she says of the
quick-drying formula infused with hydrating and anti-aging technology. It’s just one of the reasons celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Emma Watson are big fans of the line.
Waiting six to eight hours to wash off product is no longer necessarily the name of the game either. St. Tropez’s new pre-shower mousse has quickly become the fastest on the market. “The new technology relies on rapid glow promoters that allow natural DHA to penetrate the skin’s surface even deeper, faster, and in a more uniform way to create a seamless glow,” says St. Tropez spokesperson and skin- finishing expert Sophie Evans, who regularly tans celebrities like Bella Hadid and Margot Robbie. The patent-pending formula gets to working using a 100-percent natural tanning agent and film formers that create a semi-waterproof layer to keep the solution on while you shower. Sounds complicated? Well, it’s not. The whole process takes only a minute.
Today’s self-tanning products are also designed to work on all skin colours. Lighter skin tones can expect to get a straight-offthe-beach effect that leaves them looking healthy and glowing, but there are clear benefits to self-tanners for darker tones too. “With medium to dark skin, you’re going to get an even deeper result from a tan, and you’ve already got a lovely base colour to work with,” explains Hogg. “Darker skin gets ashy undertones, and a lovely tan will pull up the beautiful red tones and liven the skin up, making it look that much more healthy and alive,” she continues.
The key to getting tans just right is as much about the products as it is the application. All of the experts agree that a bit of legwork before applying self-tanner will go a long way. First and foremost, exfoliating is essential. “Get rid of dead skin so you’ve got a good clean base to work with—that’s number one,” says Hogg. Number two, says Evans, is “moisturize with a non-oil-based moisturizer after showering, and be gentle with your skin. Pat dry, never rub, and drink plenty of water.” Follow these steps, and “that’s going to give you the absolute best results,” says Hogg.
It’s time to get glowing.