Sunless Tanner Recipe

I have fair skin.  And I've always hated it.  HATED IT.  As a child we would go swimming all the time.  My mom would grease us down with SPF 1,000 50+, you know the kind that is so thick that no amount of "rubbing it in" does anything and you spend the whole day with white streaks up and down your body.  But that wasn't enough, I still had to sit and wait for the sunscreen plaster to "soak in" (like that's gonna happen) while I watched my sister and everyone else jump right in.  It was obviously soul crushing since I still remember it.  But, I guess I should be grateful there was no "t-shirt swimming" in my life, right?!  Maybe everything does have a silver lining.

Photo: Jacobs Stock Photography/Getty Images

In high school, I was forbidden from going to the tanning bed.  So, I turned to the lovely orange-hued spray tan and I LOVED it.  I seriously thought I should be on the cover of Bronzed Beauties or something.  I'm pretty sure I walked around the house in the shortest shorts I was allowed to own and a sports bra for DAYS after each spray tan.  I only got two...you're welcome, family.

I became more sophisticated defiant in college and decided I was going to the tanning bed whether my parents liked it or not.  Obviously, I didn't tell them.  

Since then, I have tried many ways to get (and stay) tan all summer and use as little sunscreen as possible.  Talk about being blonde dumb.  I did not listen to one single lecture from my parents about skin cancer (even though both of them have had numerous skin cancer spots removed) or let one single excruciating sunburn stop me.  But I'm old now and don't have time to deal with the ramifications of sunshine on my skin.

The sunburn I got a few months ago was one of the most painful experiences in my life thus far.  I had not been that sunburned in 5 years or so and it was AWFUL.  So, since I'm spending more money on sunscreen and big hats, I don't have any left over for professional spray tans.  Plus, I just don't have the time.  (I'm one of those people who can't do anything else on the day an appointment is scheduled because I'm so obsessed with being on time.)

Solution: 

http://www.thecreativityexchange.com/2011/05/recipe-for-the-best-self-tanning-lotion-2.html

I bought the exact lotions in the picture and I think they work great!  It took me forever to find the Banana Boat lotion in the light/medium color (Walmart was the only place I could find it).  

I have now used this "recipe" twice and I love it.  There is a slight smell, but I kind of like it and Hubs doesn't even notice it.  NO STREAKING either.  I put it on at night (every 3 days or so) after I shower and shave, let it dry for a few hours before going to bed and I'm golden, literally.  I mix enough for one leg at a time...equal parts of each lotion in my palm mixed together with my finger and then applied to skin.  WASH HANDS after!!  

So happy I found something CHEAP that works!  Everyone feels better when they are "tan", am I right?!