SunLabs Sunless Tanning Review and How To + Body Scrub

- See more at: http://blogtimenow.com/blogging/automatically-redirect-blogger-blog-another-blog-website/#sthash.ON39UHxD.dpuf

I have had a tanning membership for as long as I can remember. I think the first time I tanned I was probably 15 years old. Now, don't get me wrong, I was never one to go tanning EVERY DAY or even every week. I usually would tan once every other week, if that, but I would stay in the full amount of time and rarely wore any sunblock. That is until now. Awhile back I learned that my mom has skin cancer and it has taken me a long time to realize the severity of this issue. Every month she has new spots come up that she has to go get removed or taken care of. The saddest thing of all is that she didn't have to be suffering from this. She was just like me and didn't really bother with sunscreen much and she used to go tanning as well. I'd like to think this whole experience is one that I will choose to learn from someone else's mistake and not go through it myself. Knowing that I am more prone to getting skin cancer I decided that I need to start taking care of my skin and my health. That lead me to try the sunless tanning experience!

After much research I came across SunLabs sunless tanning lotion. It has the best reviews out of any other tanning lotion in regards to ease of use, quality, price, and results. I normally have VERY fair skin, we're talking porcelain doll here people, so I was pretttty worried about turning in to one of the oompa loompas off of Jersey Shore. To test it out I decided to try putting it on just my legs. I read through quite a few blogs about how to apply it and watched my fair share of videos too and this is the process I came up with.

Sunless Tanner Application process:

Step 1:

Buy your products. I purchased all of my products from Ulta BUT! SunLabs website is having an awesome sale on their products. For $39.95+shipping you get

 1 Very Dark Self-Tanning Lotion 8 oz
1 Exfoliating Body Scrub 8 oz
1 Tan Maintaining Moisturizing Lotion 8 oz
1 Exfoliating Net Sponge
1 Sun Labs Beach Bag (Gift with Purchase)

Plus if  you add two other products to your cart you get a 25% off your purchase. Note: They have "freebies" you can add to your cart that will go toward this discount, although they are not free, but very cheap. 
I chose to purchase my products from Ulta because of their lenient return policy. 

The products I personally used are

Very Dark Self-Tanning Lotion 8 oz in color: Dark

100% Pure Cocoa kona Coffee Body Scrub
Cetaphil Moisturizing Lotion

Step 2:
Ex-foliate! This step is actually very important. In order to ensure that you will have an even tan with no patches you need to make sure to be very thorough with this step. To apply the ex-foliant you simply apply it liberally all over, including your face. To make sure I got all of the dead skin particles I rubbed my hands in a circular motion while applying the ex-foliant.

(Looks kind of funny, huh :p)

Step 3:

Shower and shave. Make sure you shave any areas that you have coarse hair that you will be applying the tanner to. Also, be certain to get ALL of the scrub rinsed off.

This is my preferred razor in case you were wondering.

Rinse Rinse Rinse! (And no I'm not in my birthday suit)

Step 4:

Dry off and apply your moisturizing lotion all over. Allow your lotion to dry completely.

Step 5:

Apply the awesome new sunless tanner you just purchased! A little hint I have for you is to keep your fingers tightly together while applying and apply in sections in a circular motion. Blend, blend, blend. You do not want to accidentally keep going over the same spot over and over again as it will make that area darker than others. One of the good things about this lotion is you can pretty much see where you are applying it because it is a dark colored lotion so that helps tremendously. Be careful not to get too much of the lotion on your joints or rough parts of your skin as it will be much darker( i.e. knees, elbows, knuckles, toes and ankles). I didn't think about this until after and I got a LOT on my toes but I went at them with a pumice stone and scraped those suckers clean.

If you decide to put it on your face, I mixed a little bit of my moisturizer in with the tanning lotion to make it more subtle.

OH! Wash and ex-foliate your hands often! The tanner will make your hands crazy dark and weird looking if you don't. :p I don't suggest using gloves because it may make it a bit streaky looking. 

Done! You will see subtle results pretty quickly, I'd say within 3-4 hours, and by the next morning you will look smokin' hot! DO NOT take a shower until the next morning to make sure the lotion has plenty of time to soak in and settle in to your skin.

Here are some before and afters. These were taken at different times of the day, but the results really were quite dramatic. 

 

(excuse the mess, we are in the process of moving)

Just to give you an idea, this was immediately after putting on the lotion. 

Reviews:

SunLabs UltraDark Sunless Tanning Lotion in Dark- I would give this tanning lotion 4 out of 5 stars. It was extremely easy to use and apply. It doesn't actually smell terrible like a lot of tanning lotions do. The color was very nice. I wouldn't say it was entirely a natural looking tan but it's the closest I have seen so far. The only down side to it was that even though I washed and ex-foliated my hands multiple times it still stained my hands, it did wash off after a day or so though. 

100% Pure Cocoa Kona Coffee Body Scrub- I loved and hated this body scrub. It worked SO well. My boyfriend even commented on how smooth my skin was and how nice it looked. My only complaint was the smell. I bought this scrub on clearance at Ulta and it was the only scent left but it was true to it's title. It smelt exactly like Coffee. Ew. Luckily it didn't overpower the scent of my body wash after rinsing it off. I would give this body scrub a 3 out of 5. Had I purchased it in a different scent, it would have a better rating. 

Feel free to leave me a comment if you have any questions!