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A positive tanning experience with St. Tropez tanning mousse.

Rhea Maverick
Jun 22, 2016
4 min read

As much as vitamin D clears up my acne and gives me endless bouts of energy, I have reached a milestone in my life where spending hours in the sun is damaging my skin. UVA and UVB rays emitted from the sun are able to penetrate through the ozone layer (unlike UVC rays) to reach the surface of our earth, where I am relaxing on a beach in Punta Cana. Although my sunscreen may proclaim to protect me, my skin is still getting damaged at a cellular and genetic level (guys I’m putting my Bachelor’s of Science to use!).

The solution to preventing rapid aging, brown spots, and loss of skin elasticity from sun damage? Hauling my butt over to Winners and Marshalls to find St. Tropez* tanning mousse at half the price compared to Sephora or Shopper’s Drug Mart!

St. Tropez is the only tanning product I’ve used, and I can say I am happy enough to not consider buying anything else, simply because I don’t have to purchase the product online, I can get it at a discount, and it is a perfect match to my skin tone.

Using online sources to determine my skin tone, I am told that my green/blue veins suggest that I have a neutral to cool skin tone. Nonetheless, I know my skin tone has yellow to olive green melanin pigments thus it would only make sense to use green tinted tanning products to go a couple of shades darker, rather than using different coloured tanning products that mesh with my skin tone.

The only negative aspect to using this product is that it stinks. It really doesn’t smell pleasantly… at least for me. And the smell of the tanning solution lingers on for 2 days after washing the tan away. It’s the worst when you want to leave it on overnight to wake up with a dark tan, and it’s impossible to fall asleep from the stench. I would also like to mention that if you sweat a lot, or wear white clothing often – refrain from using St. Tropez unless you don’t mind washing your clothes often. For my graduation I wore a white dress and my armpit sweat left nasty olive-green/beige circles underneath my arm. It came out very easily; I just had to make sure my arms stayed down the entire day. [my graduation was 4 days after I first applied the tanning mousse]

The following are my recommendations on how to make your tanning experience with St. Tropez more positive:

1. It is REALLY IMPORTANT to hydrate any dry areas on your body – for me this includes the fingers, wrists, elbows, chin, ears, knees, ankles, and toes. In the shower you can use exfoliating gloves (such a good investment – the regular sponges or loofas house millions of bacteria, whereas the gloves can be easily washed when you wash your laundry), and outside of the shower use any kind of moisturizer. Just keep in mind the better the moisturizer, the more even the tanning application, and thus more even tanned skin.

This step is important in preventing the tanning pigment from clumping on dry, flaky skin. Dry skin absorbs the tanning pigments much more easily, and when the area is more concentrated in the tanning product compared to moisturized areas, the final tan will appear blotchy.

2. Know your skin tone. As I mentioned above, I have an olive-green skin tone, thus I am using a product that makes my skin a couple of shades darker, not one that alters my skin tone. So far, I’ve only tried St. Tropez and it perfectly complements my skin tone.

3. Know how much product to use. Although this varies with individuals who may have more or less surface area, I use 2 full pumps per arm, 3 full pumps per leg, 2 full pumps for my chest and stomach, and 2 full pumps for my back. My joints (knuckles, elbows, knees, and anlkes) and my digits only get covered with leftover product. Lastly my face receives half a pump only because my skin is so dry no moisturizer does any justice. Therefore I resort to purchasing foundation and concealers that match my tanned skin.

I have applied 1 full pump on my face before and it left me with a tan moustache and beard – I’m just kidding but my face looked really, really blotchy. I also wash and exfoliate my face quite often so I’m saving product!

4. As easy as you may think applying tanning mousse on your body may be, it’s actually not. To prevent streaking and to have an even tan, I make sure I first glide the product all over the limb/body part against my hair to get underneath them. I apply the product linearly, and then after the part is entirely covered in product, I start buffing it in as if it was foundation on my face.

The amazing thing about St. Tropez products is that I can easily buff it in my skin even after I think the product has dried up. Usually after I finish one cycle of tan application, I notice that some areas on my body, particularly my back and underarms, are streaky. Even though panic first sets in, I remember that St. Tropez tanning mousse can easily be blended even though the tanning mousse has dried. This really ensures even tanning for a rushed individual.

5. To prevent nail discoloration, apply a single coat of nail polish on your finger and toe nails before applying the tanning product, and after the first shower, remove the nail polish (if you’re not happy with the application/colour).

6. For a darker tan, leave the tan on for as long as you can (up to 8 hours I think), or repeat the cycle twice, thrice, etc.

Although I believe this is common with any modern tanning mousses.

A huge positive for St. Tropez tanning mousse is that the tan disappears gradually. I have never noticed blotchy areas on my body even though I wash and scrub my skin in the shower nearly daily. After a week or so I start to notice that my bathing suit tan returns and that the shower water is no longer tinted green.