30 Tips for a Perfect Spray Tan

So! A little background before we dive into at home tanning. I’m most Irish, with a fair amount of German/French. I’m fair skinned with a slight red tint to my skin so tanning is never, ever, ever going to happen for me.

Growing up in Florida I would desperately try to get tan. My generation of Floridians rarely used SPF. As a matter of fact, horror of all horrors, I went to tanning beds to try and get what we Floridians call a “good base.” 😳

The only thing I ever got by trying to get tan was a body that peeled and blistered all the time. I wish so bad that had never happened because the skin damage is for real, guys! I’m convinced I wrinkle more and have more texture issues solely because of my desperation to get a tan.

I started getting spray tans somewhere around when I was 26, I’m 43 now. They rocked my world because  they would give me a pretty tanned look without risking any of the skin damage.

How long spray tans last depend a lot on how you’ll be spending your time.

If  you’re going to swim, be in the ocean or a pool, take a long shower or take baths, then they will fade must faster.

Spray tans can last anywhere from 5-10 days, but it will fade faster when water is involved, or you don’t take care of it (read more about spray tan after care below.

So if you get a spray tan you absolutely want to avoid water.

I started off getting a private tan where one person would apply the spray onto your body.

Pro’s of Professional Tans: The pro is you get a custom look. You have someone making sure you are fully covered and that you get the right color for your body.

The Con of Professional Tans: The con is that they’re super expensive per session, and time consuming to get.

I decided to ditch the high price private tans and go for a cheaper at home version. I found some incredible products that were easy to use at home. Here are some of my top picks.

Infinity Sun Glow On the Go. is actually what a lot of pageant people use for their spray tans. It is hands down the best color spray tan you can find.

Its a beautiful golden brown, it does not look yellow, orange or red. It actually looks like a beautiful natural tan and it’s buildable.

Do spray tans get darker as they develop? Yes! The color will deepen with every hour that passes and then will stabilize after around 4-6 hours.

The first spray will give you a beautiful color so you don’t need to do too much if you want a pretty tanned color. But if you want to let it dry and do a second round you will definitely get a dark spray tan.

I find the spray easy to apply and on top of that it comes in an awesome travel size!

I like to travel with my infinity sun glow because when you’re on a vacation and you want to do a quick touch up as your swimming in the pool on the beach or if it’s naturally fading then you can throw it on do a quick spray and the glow will come back quickly in a couple of hours.

Originally my Preferred Self Tanner: After several years of getting a personal private tan, I started looking for at home spray tans to give me the look for the everyday living without the expense. I tried several brands and originally settled on Josie Maran.

I ended up abandoning that because I found it to be a tiny bit spotty, and hard to apply.

I kept my search going for other spray tans.

Recent Discovery: I tried a lotion I really like called Bondi Sands Self Tanning Lotion. I liked it because it allows you to ensure you are covering your whole body because it’s a lotion. So you can make sure every single area is covered just by the nature of how your hands spread things out over your body.

Because Bondi Sands Gradual Tanning Milk is a lotion it is moisturizing so you don’t have to worry about it drying your skin.

The con, yes it smells. However most spray tans don’t smell spectacular.

My All Time Favorite Self Tanner for a dark spray tan: The mac daddy of all home tans is the Infinity Sun Glow On the Go.

There are a few easy tips to get a good, even deep tan and a few things you should know for what to do after spray tanning.

1. EXFOLIATE

• Do an extreme exfoliation the day before. Knowing how to exfoliate before a spray tan is really important. This is the perfect time to shave your legs and use an exfoliating brush, gloves, or body product. You want to get all of the those dead cells off of your body.

2. MOISTURIZER

• Should you moisturize before a spray tan? Yes! Having soft skin that’s ready to absorb the spray is really helpful for a nice looking, realistic spray with no dry patches or streaks, but keep reading!
• Using lotion before spray tanning is key – but TIMING IS IMPORTANT!
• After you exfoliate, moisturize your body to make sure you don’t have any dry patches in your skin.
• You want to be sure to moisturizer and use lotion before spray tanning the day before you tan and NOT THE DAY OF!
• If you have moisturizer on when you tan, it won’t absorb. So moisturizer THE DAY BEFORE!

3. WATCH WHERE YOU SPRAY!

• Spray yourself in an area with good ventilation and where you’re not going to get the spray on any of the surrounding area.
• Either step outside to a private area with good ventilation where it won’t stain anything or perhaps you have a shower area where it’s ok the get a little messy and you can quickly rinse off the shower

4. SPRAY FROM A DISTANCE

• Don’t hold the bottle too close to your body when you spray.
• Put it about 8-12 inches away from your body so the spray is wide, even, and covers more ground. If you spray too closely it will have a tendency to streak.

5. BUFF IT

• Use a mitt brush to buff it in. This is optional you don’t have to use it but it can be nice to do at the end in case there are any streaks forming or extra product is dripping down. It lets you quickly buff it in so that you can’t see the streaks.

6. DON’T SWEAT

1. After you spray is not the time to go to the gym, sit in the hot sauna or go out in the rain. You need this puppy to sink in for several hours so that the color can develop without getting water on it or streaking.

7. AVOID WHITE FABRICS

• Do not sleep in perfect white sheets  immediately or even put on a white robe.
• Put on a dark pajama set or old t-shirt and sweatpants that you don’t mind washing.
• If I spray at night, I will wear full body pajamas, and put a towel on my pillow for protection.
• But I prefer to during the day I’ll throw on a gray t-shirt and jeans.
• The spray does wash out – but I really don’t recommend wearing anything fancy or lightly colored for the first few hours!

8. DON’T SHOWER

• Don’t shower for at least 4 hours. I prefer to wait 6-8 hours but if you’re in a rush, 4 is fine. Any water will dissolve a new tan. And water in general will fade it (see more about this below.)

Those are my tips for getting a gorgeous summer glow. If you want to, then cover up heavy heavy with SPF.

“How long after a spray tan can I shower?” seems to be the most popular question I get asked about spray tans.

Knowing when can you shower after a spray tan is fairly easy — and the answer is at least 4 hours. However, the more you wait to shower, the better. If possible, wait around 6-8 hours.

Let’s say you have an event Friday night and you want to be tan; you should tan Friday morning. That way you can shower Friday night before you get ready.

Having said that, I do typically prefer to give my body a full day before I want to be tan. Let’s say I want to be tanned for the weekend, I’ll typically spray myself with tanning solution on Thursday.

How long after a spray tan can you shower will impact the depth of the tan, and the length of time it lasts. Water is the enemy of spray tans. Let’s talk a bit more about how to preserve it…

Good spray tan after care is important if you want it to last longer. Here are a few easy tips to prolong your self tanner:

1. MOISTURIZE, MOISTURIZE, MOISTURIZE

• To keep it long lasting you are going to want to absolutely moisturize every single day. Just kind of feed the beast with moisture on your skin and it will help the color last longer and definitely stay away from as much water as you can.
• The best lotion after spray tan is either the Bondi Sands Gradual Tanning Milk which does both moisturize and add color, or something rich and heavy like Eucerin Advanced Repair body lotion.

2. STEER CLEAR OF WATER

• Does spray tan come off in pool? YES!
• Water will fade your spray tan. So if you plan to spend the day in the pool or in the ocean, you can count on any spray tan beginning to fade. Your spray tan will come off in the pool, especially with chlorine.
• REAPPLY WHEN NEEDED
• You may have to reapply if your going to go swimming for an entire day or go in the ocean.

3. REAPPLY WHEN NEEDED

• If you’re swimming a lot, plan on needing to reapply more often. This is the beauty of the travel size Infinity Sun Glow On the Go. I bring it on vacation for quick touch ups.
• Or, use the Bondi Sands Gradual Tanning Milk which does both moisturize and add color.

4. DON’T SHAVE

• A lot of people wonder if you can shave after spray tanning. I recommend shaving before you spray tan. If you shave with one on, you’ll be stripping the top layers of your skin that have been sprayed. Go as long as you can without shaving to make your self tan last longer.

5. CAN YOU WORKOUT WITH A SPRAN TAN?

• Can you workout with a spray tan? Totally! Now, don’t workout right after you get it as a I mentioned above because it will make it streak. But after it dries into your skin the first day you are totally free to hit the gym and sweat as much as you want!

Have an amazing summer you guys, stay safe out there but get your glow on!