FASHION Magazine

Through helpful hacks and clever tips, TikTok is endlessly inspiring us to use beauty products in unorthodox ways while educating us about how to do so in the process. Our latest fixation? Maximizing our self-tanner use with a couple of genius beauty hacks. RELATED: The Best New Face Sunscreens To Add to Your Summer Skin Routine […]

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The journey to a streak-free self-tanning solution has been a long and winding road, one featuring unfortunate streaks, unpleasant scents, dyed-orange palms, and plenty of stained bathroom counters. But the latest developments make the wait worth it. Mists, waters and mousses that go on clear and develop gradually, over a few hours after application, make […]

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In 1965, high-school chemistry teacher Ron Rice managed to score a free ticket to Hawaii. There, he ventured to the back side of the islands, where, as an outsider, he recalls not being welcome. “I was kind of taking a chance with my life,” he says over the phone from Daytona Beach, Fla. But, as […]

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Summer beauty routines often consist of perfect beach waves and tanned skin, but the latter has just been named a “major public health problem” by the United States Surgeon General. The statistics are shocking. CNN reports that more annual cases of skin cancer are diagnosed than breast, prostate, lung and colon cancer combined. Even we are guilty of basking in the sun for a little extra glow, but this skin cancer warning has made us seriously rethink our summer beauty habits.

Each year, almost 5 million people in the United States are treated for the disease, with more than 63,000 cases of melanoma diagnosed—the deadliest type of skin cancer. The Canadian Cancer Society estimates that in 2014 alone 6,500 people will be diagnosed with melanoma and that’s 6,500 people too many. Tanning beds are a major source of the problem, with 400,000 cases of skin cancer each year related to indoor tanning. This is completely avoidable. It is heartbreaking that people are damaging their skin to this point just to get a tan.

See our favourite self-tanners »

Growing up in my family, tanning was pastime, pleasure and competitive sport. Pale was pejorative. My parents, both great tanners in their youth, lived in East Africa in the early ’70s, before I was born. That time in their lives seemed to me fabulously glamorous—never mind the fact that my sister, a baby then, contracted malaria and nearly died—because for two years, they were tanned. Deeply tanned. Not the amateur-hour suntan you might obtain after a week in Fort Lauderdale, the kind of profound, layered tan that makes you look like another person—an exceptionally well-leisured one.

I remember the four of us in the ’80s, lying on a quartet of loungers and passing the Hawaiian Tropic SPF 4 down the line like a familial baton. If my friends enjoyed splashing around in swimming pools and lakes, I liked lying down next to them, and nowhere in the vicinity of a sun-blocking parasol. Parasols were meant for other people, the ones who took long luncheons in the shade during prime UV time. (I preferred to feast on rays.)

When my sister and I had a productive tanning day, we’d high-five each other as the sun sank into the horizon and our freckles settled into our still-warm cheeks. A tan, like the travel that furnished it, was an escape from our regular selves, a gilded (if short-lived) costume.

Trying a self-tanner at home can be intimidating, to say the least. But if you’re coveting that back-from-the-South-of-France afterglow without the sun damage, a self-tanner is your safest bet. As any faux tan devotee knows, proper application is key when it comes to avoiding telltale signs of an at-home tan (you know the ones: orange palms and unsightly streaks). Whether you’re a pasty girl looking to achieve a deep shade of bronze or you’re just seeking a subtle glow, we’ve got a few pointers from St. Tropez’s Skin Finishing Expert, Sophie Evans, who gave us a rundown on how to achieve an immaculate faux tan at home.

Normally we would have blown through at least a few bottles of sunscreen by now, but with the constant rain and cloudiness this summer, we’ve been reaching for the self-tanner instead. Even if we aren’t busting out a bikini every weekend, we still want our limbs looking bronzed and healthy.

There is quite the range of self tanner options available that offer different finishes depending on your skin tone and the level of bronze you’re looking for. But what we’re fixated on right now is growing number of natural and organic tanners geared toward those of us who want to green our beauty routine.

While faux glow and all-natural products may not seem like the most obvious pairing, it’s one that makes sense. After all, if you’re avoiding damage from the sun, it’s just as important to avoid the harmful chemicals and additives that many self-tanners can contain. But before we share our paraben- and silicone-free picks, some self-tanning 101: don’t forget to exfoliate. We can’t stress enough how important it is to polish your skin before you apply any self tanner—it will be the difference between achieving a gorgeous golden versus blotchy butterscotch.