How to Tan like a Celeb

Everyone wants the perfect tan but tanning in the sun is sooo last decade, not to mention dangerous. We asked our tanning guru, Heather Kwasnieski at Luminess, how the celebs get those perfect tans.  In a word, “Air-brush.”

Advantages:

“Since you’re not using a cream, you’re not going to get the streaks you get with the cream. The tanning solution is pixilated and is basically airbrushed onto the skin. A very smooth finish—no streaks, no dripping. And the DHA active ingredient in our tanning solution is up to 700 times more powerful than a lot of the creams and tanning solutions out there.

How long it lasts:

“The active ingredient changes the pigmentation of your skin. And this tan will last for 14 days. Let’s say two days later you want to darken it up a little bit, you just do one coat. We have enough for six full-body tannings.”

How to prep:

“Exfoliating—just like if you were going to go to a tanning salon…you don’t have to put any cream on your nails like you do when you get a Mystic Tan, because it’s not going to tan your nails unless you put the stylus right there. It only sprays where it is pointed.”

What to avoid:

“You want to wait to shower—wait until the following morning if you tan at night. You want to give yourself a little bit of time so it has time to penetrate and react with the skin cells to darken your skin.”

Using tanner to define muscles:

“You can even use darker shades of foundation to do that as well. Say, for instance, you want to define your abs a little bit, but you don’t want to have cartoon abs for a week, you could wash it off that evening.”

She also added that the system comes with enough solution for about six full-body tans, and that you can spot tan—for example, only airbrush your legs—to darken or maintain the tan. The tanning system is $149.