)
)
)
)
)
)
)
Many moons ago, my Mom came home with the first bottle of sunless tanner to ever grace the bathroom cabinet in our house. It was Neutrogena, but believe me– the brand has evolved since then! I was in 6th grade, and I was bound and determined to wear a black denim skirt to school that Monday and be ahead of the game. Because Bain de Soleil commercials on television were IT at the time (I can still hear the commercial jingle in my head), so was a glistening bronze tan. I slathered that crap ALL OVER my legs and thought I was sooooo cool. The next morning, I went to school with Oompa Loompa legs and had to soldier through it for days. Needless to say, I wore pants the rest of the week.
For at least two decades, we’ve been crying out for better self-tanning formulas. We want a friendly fragrance, one that doesn’t smell like burnt flesh or like we’ve just spent an afternoon in the petting zoo at the county fair. We want color that isn’t orange. We want, and we want. I’ve tried brands that came close, and I mean really close- two of my favorites are ALMOST there and I love them for it. But along comes a new line out of nowhere, Beautisol. They’ve nailed it! In my opinion, they’ve beat every mass US brand who have tried their hands at sunless tanners to the punch. Geez, it only took about 20 years!
One of the key points of difference with Beautisol’s Summer Glow is odor elimination. Beautisol is one of the first US companies to use a European science called SMELL RIGHT™ Technology. I won’t get all Mr. Wizard on you, but according to Beautisol, this technology reduces the offensive processing odors by up to 80%, through the use of chemistry and fragrance molecules. As it’s developing, you’d think it was an actual perfume. Which is better than that DHA-processing funk ANY DAY OF THE WEEK.
Exfoliate with “Go Slough Yourself”, Beautisol’s own solution to removing the dead skin cells that ruin great self-tanning experiences from the start, and then apply Summer Glow where you want to be bronze– and I mean seriously bronze. Summer Glow has a color-guide similar to the one in Bare Escentuals Faux Tan that I love so much and it really helps ensure perfect, even coverage. Wait about 10 minutes to put your jammies or clothes on and wah-lah! In 3-4 hours you will have a bronze that rivals the old-school Bain de Soleil commercial but in a much safer way since you’re not exposing your skin to damaging rays to get there. Those days are so not cool anymore, sorry! Once I showered, I noticed a little bit of the color guide coming off which was completely normal, no worries. If I could change just one thing, for this time of year I would use their All Seasons Glow formula which is a gradual tanner instead of giving my Irish skin such an immediate jolt. But in warmer weather– believe me, I’m going whole-hog with this baby.
Please note: You may formerly know Beautisol as Antidote Skincare. I’ve been informed that everything is still the same other than a brand name change. The text of this article (only the brand name) has been edited to reflect the change, sorry for any confusion!
An editorial sample was provided by the company and was evaluated to determine my opinion of the product in this post. Please see the Disclosures page for further information regarding my policies for using press samples.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I love this! It helped so much!
But…when you said that you showered and you saw a some of the color guard coming off, would this be a bad thing to wear to the beach?
Hi Rachel!
The color guard came off the first time I showered, but was totally fine after
xo
Amber
i too am always looking for the best color at good price, i’ll read reviews and make a choice and honsetly have been let down many times, victoria secret i found had a great self-tanning for $18 i would give it 9.5 rating out of 10, it also had a little shimmer to it, but after a few years they took it off the shelf, they had a close out of $4.75 a bottle needless to say i bought all they had left, now i’m sitting here white as a ghost, i’m irish but not un tanable, but very scared of the sun, so i grabbed loreal’s sublime uhg! terrible it dried in seconds to where you could’nt even blend. so ladies i’m so over what to trust and who’s really telling the truth! everything says their the very best, would love help as i’m going to want to use self-tanner for life. thanks robin
Hi Robin!
Ugh, I completely understand what you mean! I’m Irish too, so on top of it already being difficult to find a good self-tanner that is less problematic than most, I have to find one that doesn’t make my very pale skin look too unreasonable. For drugstore brands, I actually really like L’Oreal Sublime Bronze Spray (typical self-tanner smell), I think it’s much better than the lotion. I also really like Banana Boat’s Self-Tanning Mist (http://tinyurl.com/y6fsqxj) for the believable color development, but the smell is horrid! There are several others I can think of off the top of my head too, but for higher-end, I think Beautisol (formerly called Antidote) is great because of the odor technology. I would suggest trying their gradual tanner though instead of this regular one since you’re fair like me. It’s called All Seasons Glow (http://www.antidoteskincare.com/All-Seasons-Glow-P45.aspx). I hope that helps!
xo
Amber
I searched a long time trying to find a self-tanner that didn’t smell bad. But, this one too failed. After the first shower, there was a processing smell, especially if I sweated a little and/or applied moisturizer. After 2-3 showers with scrubbing, I still smelled it. I guess there is fragrance ore “neutralizer” that initially covered the processing smell until I took a shower.