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First Impressions: Tan Towel

This is just a very quick, first impressions type deal for the Tan Towel self tanning wipes. I’m warming up to the idea of tanning lately, just for fun, because hey it’s summer and why the hell not. 
First let me start off by saying that I’m definitely a tanning novice. I thought the Tan Towels would be a great way to start since they seem so simple to apply. Well apparently even though they are quite simple, I’m also still a Tan Noob, and I screwed it up! I think these have the potential to be totally awesome and I’m not done trying them out. I want to really give them another shot. :)
Pre-Tanning Prep: I prepped for tanning by exfoliating really well. I used a Bath & Body Works scrub that is discontinued but scrubs extremely well. Then I shaved my legs. After the shower I made sure my legs were completely dry before starting the tanning process.
Using the Tan Towels is really simple – simply rip open the individually packaged towelette, and apply it to your skin in a circular motion. I used a Half Body towelette and it was plenty to do my legs and a little on the decolletes area (basically the areas that are the most pale for me). The towelettes have a slight citrusy smell that I didn’t find bothersome at all. My legs felt dry to the touch almost instantly after using, which was awesome. I still waited a while before putting clothes on though, just to be sure. Your tan is supposed to develop over the next few hours, but as I discovered this morning, there was still “magic” going on even over night, many hours after I applied the tanner. 
A few hours after application, I was in LOVE. There were no streaks, and the color was just a shade or 2 darker – all I’d wanted was to make my legs match my arms, and it accomplished this. SUPER. I was really excited to give these a rave review! 
Then I woke up this morning, and my hands were brown. I washed my hands immediately after applying the tanning wipe, just as instructed, so I really have no idea why this happened. My hands were fine for hours and hours… then all of a sudden I woke up with crazy brown hands. My legs aren’t as awesome as they were yesterday either. My left leg is darker than my right, for one, and there’s a pretty heavy line of demarkation at my ankle on the left leg. 
I didn’t really know what to do so I used some nail polish remover on my hands, which got most of the tanner off. I swiped a little bit around my ankle too which did seem to soften the demarkation line quite a bit. The actual color itself is still very good. It’s very golden and not orange in the slightest. 
I’m not quite sure why my hands got all brown, but I’m definitely going to give this a second shot with some gloves on, because the color is really nice. I’m going to pay more attention to exactly how much I wipe on each leg, too. 
I don’t want you guys to think that these suck because my first experience was less than perfect. I’m a noob. I’m not discouraged. I’m going to try to work with them some more, and I do recommend them just because they’re so flipping easy and non messy to apply.
Sample provided for editorial purposes.
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The Summer Dilemma – To Tan or Not To Tan?

Darling Mr. Boyfriend and I were talking tonight about how he hates my current bathing suit and how I need a new one. Regardless of his distaste for my choice in swimwear, I do agree I could use a new suit. I mentioned that I would like to find one that isn’t black, because I’m so fair-skinned. He suggested I hit the tanning bed, to which I responded with “I guess you’d rather have an orange girlfriend instead of a white one”. “You can be my big-breasted oompa loompa girlfriend” he said. But then I reminded him of someone who already is basically a big-breasted oompa loompa: 
It’s just that swimsuits leave you so…exposed. I went through a phase in my teens where I liked showing a lot of skin, but nowadays in my 20s I’m downright prude about it. Some of it, I think, has to do with being “soooo pale” as those around me would say. Wearing normal, every-day clothes it’s not quite so “in your face”. I still get the occasional comment about how I’m the same complexion as Casper, but when I shimmy into a swimsuit it’s like a whole other ball game because parts of my body that don’t oft see the light of day are suddenly on display. The other part of it has to do with hating my thighs. Not because of jiggle, because who doesn’t have a tiny bit of thigh jiggle anyway? (Afraid of jiggle? Just don’t do jumping jacks by the pool. Problem solved. No one jiggles when they’re laying out lookin’ cute anyway!) But because I am plagued with a couple of scars, and the remnants of old stretch marks in that area. 
The idea of getting a little bit of a tan sort of appealing for that reason – tanning just a little can help hide light colored scars, and minimize the appearance of *shudder* stretch marks. But tanning has always been a sensitive subject for me. I’ve posted before about how when you’re pale, people think it’s okay to offer you unsolicited advice about changing your skin color. No really. They do. But in summer, it’s almost as if they feel they are doing you a disservice if they don’t mention that you need “some color”, like not telling me would be the equivalent of letting a friend out on the dance floor with her skirt tucked into her panties. First of all, I know I am pale, thank you! And secondly, I didn’t ask for your advice. Sheesh, like I’m not already insecure enough without all my “bidnezz” out on display.
And then there’s the orange issue. No one wants to look like this. There are many colors of human skin all around the world, but orange is not one of them. 
So for this impending summer, I have some thinking to do. To tan, or not to tan? By the way, if I do decide to tan, it would not be in a tanning bed. I’d get spray tanned or something. But hopefully I’d come out looking more like this:
Golden, brown, delicious. ;)
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