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, Antidote. 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 Antidote’s Summer Glow is odor elimination. Antidote is one of the first US companies to use a European science called Malodor Counteractancy. I won’t get all Mr. Wizard on you, but according to Antidote, 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”, Antidote’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.
Fellow beauty bloggers 15 Minute Beauty Fanatic and The Beauty Counter love Antidote too and I can see why, you can add me to that list. Antidote is kindly offering Beauty Junkies Unite readers a special coupon code to receive 20% off of their order, just use promo code 09BLBJU at check out.
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.
