Now, mind you, I have fair skin that burns and freckles easily and almost every self tanner I have used in the past has either turned me orange or did nothing. So when this product, for the most part, got pretty good reviews, I decided, what the hell, I'll give it a try.
So I took my happy, pale little self down to Wal-Mart and there it was, sitting on the shelf next to all of the other tanning and sun care paraphernalia. I had my choice..Deep Dark Color or Light/Medium Color. Naturally I would have gone with the light/medium, but the reviews I watched, especially the ones with people who had the same skin type as I do, said the light/medium did nothing for them. They recommended the Ultra Dark, and the bottle says it's for all skin tones so that's what I grabbed. On my way out of the cosmetics/beauty department, I grabbed a pair of exfoliating gloves, as it had been said in the reviews, repeatedly, exfoliation is the key to prepping the body for a flawless self tanning application. On this, I absolutely agree.
After paying $6.67 for the tanner and a buck and some change for the gloves, I was on my merry way. I went home, showered, shaved and exfoliated until my skin was nice and pink. (side note: I hadn't exfoliated in a while and I turn pink easily. There ya go.) I was really looking forward to this; perhaps this would be The One. I snaked a pair of my husband's non-latex work gloves (he's a mechanic, and I didn't want to get it one my hands) and set to work. I had decided to do just my legs for the time being, seeing as how I don't wear shorts, if it went awry, no problemo, easily covered.
Tid bit-o-info: More and more self tanners are incorporated with a color guide or color guard so you can see where you have applied the product, eliminating (mostly) the possibility of streaking, plus it gives you an instant bronze tint to your skin while the self tanner, well, tans. If that sounds kinda scary, no worries; it washes off the next time you hop in the shower. Not the tan, even though it looks like you are washing off your tan, it's really just the color guide.
With gloved hands, I opened the product and squeezed out a nice size mound of what looked like chocolate colored lotion. It didn't smell like chocolate though. In all fairness, it did not smell any worse or any better than other self tanners. Following the directions on the bottle to apply to clean dry skin, apply sparingly on elbows, knees and ankles; I applied away. The color guide gave a nice shimmering bronze effect to my skin, even my husband admired it. So, settling in for the night, I let the Banana Boat Summer Color work it's magic.
The next morning I got up, looked at my legs and noticed they were the same color as the previous night, just a little faded. There was no transfer of the product to my night clothes or or any of my bedding. Nice. I got in the shower and as the color guide washed away, I kind of felt that it was an aweful lot washing off, I might be having a situation. I finished showering, dried off and went into the natural light to look at the results...
Y'all, this went from a situation to a going's on in a heart beat! My legs were just as white as they were before I applied the product, except for one minor (HUGE) detail; the pigment had attached itself to every single freckle I had and some that I didn't even know I had! I kid you not, I looked like I swallowed a hundred dollar bill and broke out in pennies! Seriously, it was so bad that I didn't even take a picture to post showing the results. Back in the shower I went to scrub and exfoliate, only to lighten the color by a miniscule amount. Pants...here I come!
So, yeah, that was my experience with this product. As always, results may vary from person to person. Would I recommend this? Possibly to someone that already has a nice golden or bronze pigment to their skin and just want to darken up a bit. Anyone else? Most certainly not. Obviously, if you have any hyper pigmentation to the skin, the product is going to attach to it and will darken that first. I can only imagine what it would have looked like had I not exfoliated first...tree bark anyone?
Again, this was MY experience with this product. I cleaned, exfoliated, dried, applied sparingly, allowed to dry and all that jazz. Straight up, this product not only did not work for me, it enhanced the hyper pigmentation (freckles) I already had. I would think that one would be hard pressed to find a being that has fair skin and doesn't have freckles, or at least get them in the sun. When all is said and done..the quest for THE self tanner continues.
I am currently testing and reviewing AVON's new summer glow line as well as the Fake Bake Flawless, and based on the results from one of these products, I can defiantly say that my results from the Summer Color product were not caused by user error; it was the product.
I would love to hear what has and hasn't worked for you! Leave a comment and let me know!
Letter grade: F
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