To fake tan or not!?!

Being blessed with a medium to dark skin tone was just not in the cards for me.  My father tans easily, my mother burns and then stays tan.  Myself and my two sisters are ghostly (glow-in the dark white) and burn without tanning.  It stinks.  In high school, I vainly and quite dutifully went to the tanning bed.  After 10 to 15 visits and as many burns, I would manage a light glow.  At that point, I gave up trying to get darker (because I couldn't) and moved on to the maintenance phase. My sweet little maternal grandmother has a very delicate complexion and burns easily.  Due to farming in her early years, raising several children and adoring her garden and yard, granny has picked up mucho sun damage.  For the last several years, she has been struggling with numerous skin cancers. She sees her dermatologist every few months and has countless growths removed from her arms, legs, face, scalp,  you name it. Her daily skin care regimen is ridiculous and quite frankly embarrassing.  She constantly deals with redness, stitches and creams on a daily basis.  Seeing her go through this has been a changing experience.  Since my complexion is so similar, I have decided no more artificial tanning.  Seriously, I am 30 years old, overweight, a slightly frumpy mom and wife and I can do without "the perfect tan", right? 

Well, like it or not, I still desire a healthy glow.  What's a girl to do?  Last year, I started testing sunless tanning lotions, gels and sprays with vigor.  Many were horrid, some were so-so and others left no visible tan.  Very quickly, I became aware that not all self-tanners were created equal-not even close.  My favorite was hand down L'oreal Sublime Bronze gelee in Medium Natural.  Oddly enough, I almost didn't try this product because I had had disastrous results from a spray tan from the same line.  Frankly, the 6.97 price tag was the deciding factor as I didn't have much to lose.

Right away, I was impressed with the pleasant smell.  Not overpowering and most importantly smells the same when first applied and after the product dries.  Product went on smoothly and was very light.  Think hair gel in terms of consistency.  Dry time is a big deal to me and I was pleasantly surprised.  Application to complete absorption was maybe five minutes.  This product will not leave you naked in the bathroom for an hour while you will the crap to work it's magic.  Believe me, I've been there!  For me, two light applications will get a light, golden tan.  No hint of orange!!!!!  I've also been cursed with extremely sensitive skin and as long as I follow the directions and apply once daily, I have no problem with irritation.

Just thought I would pass this along!  Here's to a long, sweet summer, y'all!