Tuesday Talk: Self Tanners!

Hey!!! Happy Tuesday!!!

Did you have a good weekend?? 

Our's was super fun!! I plan on sharing a couple pictures from our weekend later on in the week in my Friday Favorites post!! 

But for now- we have a very important topic to discuss: SELF TANNERS.

I have ALWAYS loved the sun and I LOVE being tan. I feel like I look so much healthier and just SO much better with a little color. Unfortunately, I was incredibly stupid when I was in high school, college and even into my twenties and used tannings beds and would lay out in the sun for hours without any kind of sunscreen. UGH. It just makes me kind of sick thinking about it!! So- now that I am older and a tiny bit wiser- I am really conscious about wearing sunscreen and covering up from the sun. 

Soooo...since I don't want to blind everyone with my ghost white legs and have a pasty look to my face...I have been experimenting with a couple self tanners. I have not used a ton of different brands- but I thought I would share about the few I have used and then I am really hoping if you have a favorite self tanner- you will share it in the comments! 

Ok- so first up are these individual "towels" for your face by Dr. Dennis Gross. I have seen these self tanning face towels mentioned A LOT by a couple bloggers...so I was very excited to try them out and see if they were worth the money.

I ordered mine from Nordstrom...they were available on Amazon...but I just checked and currently they do not have them in stock. 

So I have been using these towels, one time a week, for the last 4 weeks and I have to say I LOVE them. It is just one little towel you rub all over your face and the color is SO natural! My personal experience is that I look my "tannest" from the day I apply the towel until about day 4. Then the color starts to gradually fade. They don't irritate my face at all and I love how easy they are to use. There is NO mess involved- which is SO great! Also-  I love having something that just makes my face look tan. I am still not wearing shorts and short sleeve shirts that much- so I am not really worried about looking tan all over. The downside to these little towels is that they are kind of pricey. They are $38.00 for 20 towels....which comes out to $1.90/towel. Not the cheapest- but since I only use one once a week- i can get through over a 1/3 of the year with just one box. I really love the results from using them- so for me- they are worth the splurge!

The only other face tanner I have used is Jergens Natural Glow Healthy Complexion Daily Facial Moisturizer . Which is SO much more inexpensive and you can get from any store! I haven't checked the price lately- but I know for sure you can a bottle of it for less than $10. 

I had really good results when I used this face cream. BUT- I felt like I had to use it regularly and it took several repeated uses to really show any kind of color on my face. The other downside to this lotion- for me personally- was that my skin would sometimes get irritated or breakout when I used it. If you do not have sensitive skin and are looking for a more, subtle color on your face- I would highly recommend trying this moisturizer out. For the price- you can't beat it!

 Now moving onto self tanner for the rest of your body. 
This is the current self tanner I am using- it is the bronzing mousse from the St. Tropez brand. I actually got this mousse along with an application mitt, a travel size moisturizer and travel size shower gel in a little gift set that Nordstrom had in stock a couple of months ago. (I just checked- and it doesn't seem like they have it in stock at the moment. )
Things I LOVE about this self tanner: the color is beautiful and very natural. NOT orangey at all. It is very easy to apply with the application mitt. It does not smell at all!

Downsides: 1) kind of pricey- this 8 ounce bottle is $37. I can say though- it lasts quite awhile! I have a small, travel size of this same mousse and I have used it 3 times and still probably have 2 more applications with it!
2) It got on my white sheets :( I did an application early in the morning and was fine all day. It has never rubbed off on my clothes. Well- I woke up the next morning and they orange streaks all over my white sheets! I don't think that is supposed to happen...but it did!
Luckily, my sheets washed up just fine.  This was my 2nd time using it- the first time nothing got on my sheets! So I don't know what happened but I still thought it was important to share that it could happen!

The other self tanner I used on my body was the Jergens Natural Glow Daily Moisturizer. Same stuff as the face lotion I talked about above- but for your body. So again- this is something you can pick up in any regular store- so it's very inexpensive. I thought the color was just ok. It definitely looked a little orangey on me- but not horrible. This is a lotion- so you put it on like any other lotion- which is easy- but it can also cause for some areas to look uneven. I would say I am just "meh" about this lotion. I know there are many other self tanner lotions out they that work great....I just personally haven't used them!

I have heard really great things about Rodan and Fields self tanner...have any of you ever used it?

The other thing I have never done...but am interested in trying out- is a spray tan. I know people who get those regularly and just really like always having a fake tan. I have never done it because I would rather spend $30 on a gel manicure ;)
Any thoughts on if spray tans are really worth it??

Hope you have the BEST day!!