In my experience with DHA-based tanning formulas as a spray tan artist who also sold a variety of tanning creams, for those with fair to light skin tones, it’s tricky to NOT get that dirty face effect. I was never sure why, until I started working with more skincare formulas this last year. I was able to experiment more with my own self-tanning product and realized that, of course, the ingredients of the rest of the formula that goes into a self tanning product makes all the difference. If there are not a lot of ingredients besides the active tanning ingredient, which for 99% of formulas is DHA, alcohols, and petroleum dyes, it’s going to be dehydrating for skin and it is more likely to create a patchy tan. Also, the colour will be lighter so you have to add a higher percentage of DHA and dyes for the tan to be visible. The darker the tanning solution, the more you can see this patchiness on fairer skin tones. You see it less on someone who already has a natural olive skin tone or someone who alr has a base tan. Cara’s solution was to use a very detailed pen with tanning solution in it to avoid the tan going on too dark in certain areas. It is a type of shading or, if you are familiar with photoshop, the burn technique. It’s pretty genius I think. The intensity of the DHA-based colour mixed with petroleum dyes can also make freckles and hyperpigmentation like melasma darker. So she does tutorials on how to just apply the tanner pen to certain areas. I do not have that kind of time so what I have done is tweaked my CARAMEL TAN formula so it is extra hydrating. The main ingredients are raw cacao butter and sugarcane squalane. Squalane is naturally made by the body and I have found it looks absolutely beautiful on the skin. My most popular foundation is the molecular hydrogen + sugarcane squalane foundation serum.
You can achieve this look below by applying my caramel tan just like a moisturizer to the face once a week. If your face feels extra dry, apply a few drops of my raspberry elixir or 40 fruit + flowers elixir to face. As you will see in the video below, Cara takes about 20 minutes drawing her tan on with a pen. Unless it is maybe done professionally by a makeup artist or you have the extra time and it is for a special occasion, like getting a spray tan, I do not recommend that – too time-consuming and not necessary with my caramel tan formula:
I am excited for you to try this newly revised caramel tan formula. If you want to try the skincare benefits without the tan, I am adding that option in the next couple days. The texture is more silky matte, even though it’s richly hydrating. My whipped tallow butter melts like butter on the face so it turns into more of a facial oil elixir. It is like my raspberry elixir but a little more buttery. The definition of my caramel tan formula would be a moisturizer that is wonderful for someone with a more oily skin type or for someone who just doesn’t like the feel of a facial oil and wants the opposite, a very silky, non-greasy feel.
If you are going to go significantly darker on the face with my caramel tan or any self tanner, if you do not apply your self tan or at least bronze your ears and hair part, the contrast of these areas opposed to the tone of face can give it away! Also, the sides and back of your neck shouldn’t be forgotten. When equally tan, cit reates a more natural, fluent look. That is just a tip from someone who took tanning clients very seriously. I did mostly brides and I knew the ‘tan’ I created had to look beautiful from all angles in photos so I was a tanning tech perfectionist.
If you see a tanning product being marketed with varying custom undertones, those undertone variations are the result of more petroleum dyes, not from the DHA. DHA can be a lighter red or darker red but it is always an orange/red tone. The tone cannot be manipulated unless dyes are added to the formulas.
Just like a tan can create a more toned, defined look to your face and body, if you would like a more plump look in areas like I do, you would want to do the opposite of a tan. A face naturally loses volume over the years. Often, this change is what makes someone turn to filler. However, a really easy way to add volume to the cheeks is to apply a little brightener to them. Just like a nude lip creates the look of fuller lips and a dark lip makes lips look more thin and defined, the same goes for the cheek area. I like to apply my favourite cheek colour and then I brighten it up with some white brightener. The same goes for eyelids if you feel you have lost a lot of volume. And this works especially well when you have a base faux tan. It’s the opposite of adding bronzer everywhere because you are already ‘sun kissed’ from your caramel tan. The results are pretty amazing.
