Loving Tan

My very comprehensive review of Loving tan ultra dark, after going through several bottles: This is a great tan — this and bondi sands liquid gold my top 2 with fake bake darker coming in 3rd — it really leaves you actually darkly tanned for many days (not just a deceptively dark guide color like “St Tropez extra dark” aka Incredible Hulk paint that washes off leaving you vaguely tan), it’s totally flattering (not orange), & non-streaky with *one* overnight use. It smells pretty good going on - a sliiiight vanillaish scent - but you may smell the tiniest hint of dha later (usually when I wake up and hold my nose right up to my arm - it’s that mild). One of the least stinky IMO. Apply at night: the guide color looks like Hershey’s chocolate syrup and is blotchy (at first - more on that later). The blotchiness does not affect the end result as long as it is generously applied (this is true for all tans - over apply when in doubt and you’ll not have any streaks; streaks are white w brown so don’t leave any white areas!). It takes a few minutes to dry down totally 100%, unlike fake bake liquid which dries instantly, but is insanely better than, say, San Tropez. I blow dry myself after to be sure but takes like 2 minutes. I usually put 2 coats on back to back of all tans including this one. Prep is same across all tans: shave exfoliate moisturize dry areas (hands feet ankles wrists knees elbows; some people do face as well but my face is normal not dry and washes off quicker due to nightly makeup removal). Do not moisturize anywhere but those areas. Trust me. Your color will not be up to full potential! Rubber gloves are a must for this and any tan (I get boxes of surgical latex gloves mad cheap on amazon). I use a nice velvet mitt to smooth/pat out very obvious streaks when applying BUT I know this is an unpopular opinion I do not think it is 1000% necessary to always squirt tan into a mitt and distribute, cuz the mitt absorbs 1/2 the product. The areas I do use an applicator for always are hands and feet but not a mitt, I squirt the mousse on the coola self tan body serum brush, and blending those tricky areas is a dream. Claw those fingers. That brush is so soft and worth getting whether you use the coola products or not. It’s like an elongated wooden kabuki type. Did I mention it is soft. Any decent sized synthetic soft dense spare makeup brush will do. I have very very dry body skin year round. Dha is naturally dehydrating unfortunately, which means I’m applying lotion 3x/day. I go through a lot of lotion. This is the most non drying mousse in the land. My legs the next morning are so soft like I have a light layer of lotion on! After exfoliating and shaving then sleeping in this my skin actually glistens. For comparison sake when I do fake bake darker my skin is parched by rinse off. Leave this on as long as humanly possible for best results in color and longevity (I’m speaking for ultra dark NOT 2 hour express which I have never tried). They say 8 hours is optimal but honestly the longer you leave on the better. I feel the next morning after sleeping on it, it does not look so insanely Hershey syrup-like and streaky, having absorbed better into the body during sleep, and if you have a casual home day planned, throw on a cute dark loose outfit and shower 24-hours later! No makeup til rinse except powders. Quick warm water rinse for first shower with hands only, no soap, to get off guide color then let the moisturizing begin! Subsequent showers I use a poof and moisturizing body wash. Upping the exfoliating during week til tan is manky then repeat cycle. This tan lasts very well. I only need to apply it once per week. Thanks to its very high % dha PLUS ethrylose (sp?). I maintain with mild dha products like Jergen natural glow etc. Probably once per 5 moisturizer sessions (again, I have to apply lotions 3x/day when I tan). My one and only con is the size of the bottle for the price. I get the quality issue but as a 5’10 thin lanky lady I only get THREE tans out of one $39 bottle applied in 2 coats generously! Sad face. Starts to add up, but I still feel the results are better than a single similarly priced spray booth or pro airbrush tan so it’s worth it. You have control in your own home to apply slowly and methodically and can touch up any missed areas during development time and add further layers as desired. Color payoff, evenness & wear time throughout the week are better than any spray or airbrush tan I’ve ever had.

Didn’t have the best experience with this tanner because of application and length of wear. I’ve used a fair number of self-tanners and this one I had issues with streaking and grabbing in certain spots looking blotchy during application. I know sometimes people will be quick to say did you do this, this, and this? And yes, I did everything from exfoliate to moisturize. I went through an entire bottle so I was able to change up my routine before applications to discover the best way to get this to apply on my skin, which unfortunately I never did. I’ve had success with other tanners so I know this is a formula issue for me not user error (remember things react differently on people’s skin so this really might not be an issue for others). I also think the 2 hour express is a little deceiving because yes it will give you a little color in two hours, but it develops a lot better if left on the skin longer (med tan at best when left on for hours). I never had issues really walking around with a blotchy sunless tan, but that’s because the deep color fades significantly when the color guard is showered off. Lippie for it not turning me orange at least! As for wear, I it didn’t wear on my skin as long as other tanners have. I would say after day 2, I started feeling like I needed to reapply because I was no longer “tan”. All in all, I personally wouldn’t recommend as I know there are better self-tanners out there!

This is a detailed review. TLDR: I like this one and will use it again. 2 HR = rinse off guide after 2 hrs and the color will keep developing over time. You can layer it for a darker tan. Wore in beach conditions about 4 days before it began to get noticeably patchy. This DID give me black pores so watch out if that’s a common problem for you. I had an upcoming beach vacation and wanted to look tan next to my naturally olive/bronze skinned in-laws. For context, I am pretty pale at my lightest (not sure of my MAC shade, but I can wear Fairly Light in Bareminerals). I bought this after having read positive feedback on other sites. It’s a mousse with a dark guide color, so you want to shave and exfoliate thoroughly the day before you tan, and apply the mousse with a mitt for best results. The “2 HR Express” name is slightly misleading. You can shower the guide off after 2 hours and have a little color, but the tan will continue to develop over the next several hours. I liked this because I was able to apply after work, rinse the guide off, go to sleep without fretting about smearing it onto my bedding, and wake up with color. I won’t go into too much detail on application technique (several YouTube videos demonstrate better) but I’ll note this one seems best applied in circles from the legs/feet and working your way up your body, doing your face and hands last. The guide color is rich and dark and can look a mess, especially if you do two layers. SPEAKING OF WHICH. I experimented with this one a few times to figure out the best results. One application all over is a nice smooth medium-dark tan. Which is great for weekly wear, but I wanted to be v e r y t a n™ so I did a second layer the next day. I’m happy to say this one does layer well. Two coats gave me a deeper color closer to what I wanted and didn’t look patchy. The day before my trip, I did two applications within an hour of each other and things got hellish. The guide color did not blend with the layer beneath and clumped up on itself and became splotchy like I was smearing myself with a thin layer of brownie batter. In the spirit of “f*** it,” I smoothed the second layer on as best I could and ended up sleeping in it since I had a plane to catch the next day and was exhausted. The next morning I looked hilariously bad, but to my surprise, the streaky splotchy double layer of guide showered off and I had a dark tan underneath just like the first time I layered up. I’ll note that I did unfortunately had black pores with this, no matter how much I exfoliated, even with a single coat. However, this has happened to me with the last couple of mousse formulas I’ve tried that have color guides. I’m going to get a clear spray tan soon and see if the guide is the problem, but it may just be a thing that happens. You can’t see them unless you’re very close to me, so whatever. My tan lasted through four days of beachwear - 90 degree heat, sweat, sand, saltwater, and layers of aerosol sunscreen, which had to be rinsed and cleaned off at night with bar soap. I avoided exfoliating and maintained color with Jergens Medium-to-Dark lotion and managed to keep my tan pretty much the entire trip. By the fourth or fifth night, it was noticeably rubbing off in some places (under arms, shoulders, bikini straps, etc) and on the plane ride home, I noticed my legs were looking a little scaly. This all exfoliated off after two showers. In sum, this is a good one for a rich, flattering brown tan that lasts a little longer than most. I’ve been exploring other brands, but I have a feeling I’ll come back to this one again whenever I’d like a guaranteed, deep tan.