How does sunless tanner work

Courtney Leiva. Byrdie's Editorial Guidelines. Katie McCarthy. Katie is an Oregon-based freelance writer with 15 years of experience. Her coverage for Byrdie includes skincare, celeb beauty, and trends. Reviewed by Rhea Souhleris Grous. Rhea Souhleris Grous is the founder of La Suite Skincare and an aesthetics specialist with more than two decades of skincare experience.

Fact checked by Aimee Simeon. Aimee has been in beauty editorial for over six years and started as senior beauty editor at Byrdie in June Loretta skincare products. Moe Kittaneh is the founder of Svelta Beauty, a skincare line featuring self-tanners and body scrubs. Protect Key Areas. Cover Your Hands Hands are especially prone to turning orange after self-tanning, so for best results, keep them covered.

Apply in Long Strokes After prepping your body and hands, get to work applying your tanner. Clean Up the Excess To keep your faux tan looking seamless after you've finished applying your self-tanner , towel off excess product on the rougher skin around your joints. Let It Develop. Article Sources. Byrdie takes every opportunity to use high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial guidelines to learn more about how we keep our content accurate, reliable and trustworthy.

Related Stories. Sunless tans provide an alternative to sun exposure and tanning booths. They are likely to increase in popularity as we learn even more about the damaging effects of ultraviolet light on skin.

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Healthy Lifestyle Adult health. Products and services. Sunless tanning: What you need to know Sunless tanning is a practical alternative to sunbathing. Getting the perfect, streak-free glow takes some time and care, though.

Kauvar explains. If that happens, the area will appear darker or more orange-brown than the surrounding skin. To avoid this, exfoliate thoroughly and allow your skin to dry for at least 15 minutes before applying self-tanner.

Apply the product in a thin layer as evenly as you can, then wait another 15 minutes for the product to dry before putting clothes on. It may be tempting to believe that your faux tan provides UV protection, but Dr.