Dan's Papers - December 7, 2007 - Winter Sunless Glow

It's December and the summer tans are all but a memory. Not to fret, it's time to start finding the perfect sunless tan to take you through the dreary, pale days of winter. If you start now you will have a perfect natural tan by the time the holidays roll around. You will need to do a bit of research before you go and grasp a bottle from the shelves. Otherwise, you may greet the New Year looking yellow, orange, streaky and blotchy.

Preperation is a must. Shaving and exfoliating the day before you apply your product ensures a long lasting tan. If you apply formula to un-prepped skin, it will fade faster. Your skin sheds daily and if not left smooth and flakeless, it will leave you with a streaky golden tan. So the key to a perfect tan is by using an excellent, slightly grainy exfoliating medium. There are so many on the shelves and just about any one of them will do the trick. No need to be picky here. After you've applied your tanner, most suggest waiting to shower a few hours. By leaving it on overnight you will get a deeper, richer tan. Keeping your skin moisturized also preserves your tan. Whether your skin is light or dark, there is truly no safe tan that comes from the sun. Sunless tans, however, dye your skin, making it perfectly safe and harmless. In fact, their active ingredient is DHA, a food additive we have been consuming for years without any problems.

Jergens Natural Glow ($6.99 for 7.5 ounces) delivers a golden glow that slowly builds up with a daily application. It goes on like a moisturizer, making it feel more natural. You can get dressed immediately without any mess on your clothes. By day three you can see a very believable glow starting to emerge. Your legs will start to look smooth and toned and by day 7, you've got your tan.

Hawaiian Tropic Island Glow Daily Moisturizer ($7.49 for 8 ounces) with extracts of guava, passionflower, mango and plumeria makes you feel like you've landed in a tropical paradise. Like Jergens, this is part moisturizing lotion, part tanner. You get a subtle streak free bronze effortlessly in a matter of days and get the benefits of soft, silky skin. L'Oreal Sublime Bronze Self-Tanning Gelee, ($8.99 for 5 ounces) promises instant color plus an even (if you prep, don't forget) natural looking sunless tan. The Gel delivers a color fairly quickly, that has a subtle glitter shimmer as soon as you apply it. The scent is kind of strong and lingering so don't apply it before a date. The appearance is sort of orange-brown so it was not high up there on the list of tanners. But believe it or not, some people opt for that orange appearance rather than the less noticeable natural look.

Reviewers report that Estee Lauder's Go Tan Sunless Towelettes are great as a touch up or for filling in those tan lines. They darken within the hour and are available for both face and body. Mystic tan is a tanning spray found mostly in tanning salons. Although, more expensive than your at-home do-it-yourself products, the beauty of this is that you step into a booth and minutes later emerge with a perfect, totally even tan. Mystic tan is delivered by a series of jets and dries almost immediately. Reviewers say you achieve a tan in one initial session, but you will need to visit every four to six days and repeat the process for a darker color and maintenance. Reaching hard-to-tan areas are usually addressed with a spray, whereas at home, the back areas are difficult to reach by yourself resulting in a fake, streaky tan.

Solerra Sunless Tanning Science line provides several delivery systems for self-tanning in one product. They have a patent-pending, single use, four layer mitt that helps keep the tan on your body and not on your hands. Their patented formula contains Invisicare which is a new delivery system for DHA that bonds to your skin while allowing it to breathe and moisturize naturally. The super long-lasting Solerra Silks rapid tanning process delivers flawless, caramel color in 2-6 hours. All ingredients are FDA approved and Sunless is recommended by the Skin Cancer Organization and Dermatology Association of America. They are endorsed by many states as the safe and viable alternative to UV tanning-beds and the sun. Visit www.solerra.com and find out where you can purchase this superior product. Experimenting with the different brands on the shelves will probably be the best way to find out what is best for your type of skin. Of course, there are many more expensive brands by cosmetic companies, but theirs isn't necessarily the 'best' most natural tan. Reviewers tend to gravitate towards easily obtained products in drug stores and supermarkets as their testing market. Big names don't necessarily mean the ultimate tan.

Remember to prepare your skin by exfoliating and buffing beforehand. This will guarantee you the most perfect tan you can achieve and looking great all through the holiday season and beyond.