Summer School: Fake Bakin' It

In the spirit of spring and summer...warmer weather! Yes!, I will be putting out a series of "Summer School" posts...just don't skip school for my Summer School because you'll get in trouble. I open here with Self Tanner.

Last summer I finally decided to give self tanner a shot. Apparently I am adopted and my real father is not the guy who gave me a great haircut at Christmas (or taught me to drive standard on the weekend!), but either the Pillsbury Dough Boy, or Casper the Friendly Ghost. Let's just say I'm pale. I tan a teeny weeny bit in the summer. And as you all know TANNING IS BAD. Cancer, wrinkles, etc. Bad.

After extensive research I bought the new (well, they were brand new that summer) St. Ives Healthy Brilliance daily moisturizer, firming version. Like teenage skin NEEDS firming...of all the available versions it had the highest amount of dihydroxyacetone. That's the stuff that tans you. A higher percentage will tan you faster. It gave my skin a glow, and after several applications, some colour. Note, I didn't say a tan. Just colour. Perhaps because I was so pale...but I really didn't see results. I'd think I was all tan and everything, then see in different lighting my Pillsbury ancestry. What the heck? And the smell? Everyone knows self tanners have a smell! Well, what I really hate in products is unnecessary fragrance. There are fragrance allergies in our house, and while I know how to wear perfume in a very inoffensive manner (most people wouldn't even know I wear it), the same rules do not apply to something that goes all over your body. I got many complaints about this lotion. The wear-it-to-bed rule? Doesn't work when the fragrance keeps you awake. I actually think the scent "matured" or something because I had no problem the first few times I used it. In all my use of this product, I didn't even THINK about DHA smell. I was too taken (well, taken isn't exactly the best word...) by the fragrance.

Later last year I picked up some EveryDay Glow from Banana Boat. I opened the tube and gave it a sniff. What? Only a slight chemical odour? Hmm...they only had medium (it also comes in fair but they didn't have it) which was fine with me. I wanted faster results. I picked it up, since it was on clearance, there was no fragrance, it would work faster, and it was only about four bucks. I applied it eagerly the first chance I got, then proceeded to awake to a lot of streaks. Yeah, it gave me faster colour, but I looked like not only was my father Casper, but my mother a zebra. I stuck it in my drawer where it sat for a quite a while with my St. Ives.

This past month I pulled it out again. I don't think I rubbed it in well enough the first time since I've had absolutely no problems with streaking (except for my neck, where I expect that since I have a lot of dry skin there). I get a decently fast, even glow. It's a tad yellow where I would prefer more brown, but I'm okay with that. And it moisturizes like anything! I put this stuff on and my skin feels AMAZING, seriously. Bye-bye dry skin.

It's still on their website, however I can't tell you where to buy it, I will look when I remember and see if any stores still have it in stock; but my tube was purchased for $4 on clearance at Shopper's Drug Mart. They only had medium. I have seen the fair at Dollarama.

So you should really grab a tube of this in case they are discontinuing it (which seems to be the case). :-)