Avon True Color Bronzer + Rock & Republic Trickery Tinted Illuminizer

I always groan when a PR sends me bronzer; it is always, without fail, way too dark for my skin. The faintest application makes it look like I've just got a dirty face. It looks cheap, fake, and embarrassing, as if having pale skin is something to be ashamed of.

That said, I do miss being tan. I grew up, until age 9, right on Lake Erie. I can't recall my parents ever applying sunblock to me. (The picture at right was taken in 1978, shortly before my second birthday. I've cropped out the Coppertone baby tan lines that resulted from me running around the beach in a diaper and bathing suit bottoms all summer long.)

After we moved away from the lake, I spent almost every day in the summer at the city pool - mostly because I had a crush on one of the lifeguards. I occasionally applied SPF 15, coconut-scented sunscreen because I didn't own perfume.

And as a teenager, I worked in a tanning salon, the only real benefit of which was unlimited free tanning.

Which is precisely why I am now so hyper-vigilant about not getting a real tan. At age 31, the wrinkle fear is here to stay. Not to mention that cancer sounds like an experience I can live without.

But sometimes I do want that fabled sunkissed glow. This week, I think I found the combination of products to give it to me:

1) Avon True Color Bronzer in Sunkissed (for which I could find no web link) excited me as soon as Avon's PR showed it to me. It doesn't even look like a bronzer, because the shade is so reasonable. As it turns out, it does give a very subtle hint of warmth, as if I've spent a day walking around the county fair with only SPF 15. No streaks, no dirty look.

2) Rock & Republic Trickery Tinted Illuminizer is excellent for adding highlights to your bronzed face, so the look is more three-dimensional. I use it at my temples, at the tops of my cheekbones, and along my upper eyelids. This product is a keeper, though I'm not sure I'd have paid $48 for it without a bit of angst. (I got mine for free from Rock & Republic's PR firm.)

What are your surefire ways to look subtly tanned without being mistaken for Brooke Hogan? Or do you just embrace your naturally pale skin, don a straw hat, and try to walk on the shady side of the street? (Advice Goddess Amy Alkon, a dear friend of both mine and Hillary's, really rocks the hottest sun protection look I've ever seen.)

Comments

[britishbeautyblogger]

I like Laura Mercier's oil free tinted moisturiser that gives SPF30 while making my skin look a little bit browner. Because its oil free it doesn't do that droopy thing in the sun and slide down your face. Sunglasses always. BBBX

[Jami]

I don't bother with bronzers. I'm one of those "I don't tan, I burn" types and skin cancer runs in the family. (In fact, my paternal grandmother died of a brain tumor they believe started out as untreated skin cancer.) I've never been tan. I think it would look weird on me if I was. So I do prefer my pale look.

I honestly don't see why women would want to look tan. Years ago women were encouraged to cover up and carry parasols to keep themselves as pale as possible. You'd think with all the knowledge about what tanning can do to us, being pale would once again by in style.

[MLH]

I have melasma and I am afraid that getting tan (fake or real) will make it worse. So, no sun for me, or fake tan even. Being European, I could not live without getting tan in the summer, when I was growing up! Loved it! When I first moved to the U.S., I thought Americans were too hysterical about going out in the sun, but I have caved in, seeing as I get older, that as that Neutrogena ad said "there is no such thing as a healthy tan." Now, I actually find the "tan" look ugly and I am perfectly fine looking paler.

[Self Tanning Queen]

I don't think the issue is about weather being pale or being tan is or isn't pretty. The focus of self tanners and bronzers is to support skin protection. It's no different than if you choose to wear make-up or color your greys. And to Jami's point, women kept themselves pale as possible as a sign of wealth. It's wear the term "blue blood" comes from. It was vanity, not because they feared skin cancer.

I say, if you love your skin, keep it protected and for a glow, be proud to use self tanners and bronzers as means to keep your skin healthy.