Bronze Goddess for $7 or $150 — the Best Fake Tans

In the words of Sex in the City’s Carrie Bradshaw, “women are certainly no strangers to ‘faking it’. We’ve faked our hair color, our cup size, hell we’ve even faked fur.” And thus begins our week of the best ways to fake it. First up is how to have a beautiful glow all year round without damaging your skin — or looking like a Real Housewife of New Jersey, Beverly Hills, the O.C., DC, Atlanta, etc.

Katie recently got back from vacation and I was so jealous. She was practically glowing. Not all of us are as lucky as Katie was to bask in the sun in March, but instead of festering in self-pity I did the next next best thing and picked up an $8 bottle of Jergens Natural Glow — the best cheap way to go and available in most drug stores. It’s as easy as putting on lotion and you don’t have to worry about the streaks that some home tanners leave behind because it works gradually. Within a week your body will indeed have a natural glow.

 Another more instantaneous at-home tanning product is St. Topez Self Tan Body Spray, available in Sephora stores. Instead of $8 dollars it’s a bit pricier at $35. But, it had amazing results. I needed a little help to make sure it was everywhere and even, but I don’t think you can honestly beat the instant and natural color.

Now, if you don’t have someone near and dear who you can trust to help with the hard to reach areas, then the alternative is, well, let’s just say that standing naked in a stall wearing nothing but a disposable g-string can be pretty intimidating, but in the end the perfect tan is worth it as you can see from the gorgeous tan in the picture above. 

At places like Brazil Bronze and Completely Bare anyone can get a custom tan sprayed onto them by a professional. This experience is not your average Mystic Tan, which is a traumatizing experience that involves getting a gust of spray in your face and no scary mechanical voice telling you which way to turn and when. Going into a salon will cost $60 but if you’re feeling extra posh they make house calls for $150. 

We suspect that frugal Classics and Funs will try the at-home remedies first, while flush Organics and Smarts — who don’t mind being topless — will go for the Completely Bare experience first! Actually, that’s exactly what Katie did a few years back and she was not disappointent. Sure it turned her breastfeedings child’s mouth orange, but on her the tan was perfection.