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A little fact about me: I am the whitest girl you will ever meet. Not only am I white in the sense that I’m the girl who will arrive like 10 minutes late to class, holding a Starbucks Frappuccino while wearing a North Face jacket and Ugg boots, but I am white in skin tone too. I’m pretty sure that polar bears are tanner than I am. So naturally, when I had the opportunity to try out L’Oreal’s Sublime Bronze Self-Tanning Mist and Self-Tanning Towelettes, I was pretty excited.
My skin in its natural state.
The Self-Tanning Towelettes came in a little cardboard box, with each wipe being wrapped in an individual plastic package in the same colour. When I unwrapped one of the packages, the first thing I noticed was the smell. It was a perfume type smell: obviously synthetic, but not overpowering or cheap smelling. While the box warned about potential finger stains, it didn’t really leave too many marks on my fingers.
The towelettes.
The mist came in a metal bottle, like sunscreen or hairspray. When I sprayed it, the mist had a similar smell to the wipes, though it wasn’t as strong. Another thing I noticed was that the mist did streak a little bit as I was putting it on (if you’re wondering, the towelettes didn’t at all), but overall it was nothing super major.
Another thing to point out is that neither the towelettes nor the mist will show instant results. While both packages suggest using each item daily until you reach your desired tan level, in which case you switch to weekly so that the tan can be maintained, you won’t see any sign that you even put the products on until the day after.
But once the day after comes, you can see some results! The wipes had the more drastic appearance change, giving me a brown colour that I could never achieve naturally. This happened after about 12 hours.
The after results of the towelettes.
Meanwhile, the mist’s results were more subtle. In the right (or wrong) light, you can’t even tell I put it on. In the right light, though, you can definitely see some changes.
The after results of the mist.
Part of the reason the products had different results though was probably due to the fact that they probably have different uses. I would say use the towelettes if you want to achieve a very quick tan for a big night out or something along those lines. For the mist, I would recommend using it if you want a more gradual tan, rather than the instant bronze the towelettes give you. However, both products are super nice and didn’t irritate my skin at all (a huge plus), so if you want to get that tan without exposing yourself to any UV lights, I say give these products a try!