Basking In the Liquid Tan
Sun worshipers who want to avoid the damaging rays but keep the healthy glow are wearing another type of tan this summer. The kind they can get from a bottle.
By far the most popular varieties go onto the skin as a white-colored liquid, turn it darker in several hours and last several days.
Coppertone’s QT, one of the original quick-tanning lotions from the ‘60s, is still a big name in that category. But now there are dozens of designer-label lotions to choose from as well. While QT sells for about $6 for 4 ounces, La Prairie’s Suncare Self Tanning Cream is the priciest at $18.50 for 3.5 ounces.
Most of the sun-free tanning lotions contain dihydroxyacetone, or DHA, a color additive approved by the Food and Drug Administration. And some dermatologists are impressed enough by the products to give away free samples to patients. Dr. Edward Young of Sherman Oaks says he regularly hands out Estee Lauder’s Self-Action Tanning Cream in his office.
For an even quicker no-sun tan, some women are using the new, brush-on powders that work just like makeup, but contain an SPF, a sun-protection factor, and are available in bronze-toned colors not usually associated with cosmetic powders. Guerlain’s Terracotta Dore, Lancome’s Poudre Tropique and Chanel’s Perfect Bronze Powder are some of the popular names.
But many women prefer the longer-lasting liquids to the powders. Deborah Harmon, a regular on the TV sitcom “Just the Ten of Us,” experimented with several before settling on Clarin’s Self Tanning Milk, because she likes the light, natural-looking tan it gives her.
“In my business, if you are too tanned, you look like you’re not working,” she explains.
Fashion stylist Debbie Tseu has recently tried Giorgio’s self-tanning lotion for the first time and experienced a common type of beginner’s bad luck.
“I applied it in a hurry, very unevenly, and I got streaks,” she says. “I wasn’t thinking when I was putting it on. I guess you have to be pretty careful.”
That seems to be the major drawback to the bottled tan. For best results, experts suggest exfoliating the skin with a luffa sponge first, to remove dead-skin cells, then applying the lotion evenly.
