Some day in New England and across the Midwest we may see summer days when we will actually need to expose our arms and legs to the public in order to be comfortable. In the meantime, friends have asked about some of the new formulas of self-tanners on the market, so Michelle McKenzie and I went to work dyeing our skin for you. Our conclusion – take pride in your paleness.
But if you are diligent, there are options.

Michelle did better than I did. She said she was happy until it started to fade, then her skin turned orange. For me, both my samples were orange from the get-go.
Michelle compared:

• Clarins Delicious Self-Tanning Cream ($44) and
• Jergens Natural Glow Daily Moisturizer for fair skin tones $8.99.

She bravely tested one on each leg, which led her son to comment on the soccer field, “Mom, your legs are freaking me out.”  Both were easy to apply, though the Clarins was a bit too to thick.  Her vote goes to Jergens, because while Clarins was the quickest to tan and about twice as dark after 3 applications, the Jergens gave a more natural tan.

I tried out:

• Guerlain’s Terracotta Sunless Self-Tanning Emulsion ($50) and
• L’Oreal Sublime Bronze Self-Tanning Lotion ($8.49)

and basically came away with the same conclusion about price, but I wasn’t happy with the color of either one. I was a bit more selfish and put both products on the inside of one arm, side-by side. The applications were creamy, but absorbed quickly, though I wish the Guerlain had color so that I could easily see where I had applied it. After 3 days, they had the same depth of color – unfortunately on me, it was deep orange.

It’s possible that my tough old Italian skin won’t take dye the same way as Michelle’s fair youthful skin. The truth is, Michelle will be visibly tanner this summer because she intends to keep it up. So that’s the advice – once you start it, keep it up. Eventually you will have to let it fade and it will turn orange, but you can let than happen during the fall season with everything else, then just cover it up with pants and sleeves.