Spray tans?

amelisha · December 2014

Tell me about them, please. I've never had one or thought about getting one but FI made me stop real tanning a while ago (apparently he doesn't want me to die of skin cancer for some reason...) and I saw a photo of myself from a gig I did last night and it was horrifying. I was wearing a white robe for this one song and I looked exactly like the Ghost of Christmas Past, so now I'm kind of freaking about about how awful I'm going to look in a white (wedding) dress when I am this colour. It was BAD. So bad.

So all I really know about them is that you need to exfoliate first so you don't get darker patches on your dry skin where it soaks up extra colour. Other than that I am clueless. Do you get the machine? A person with an airbrush? How far ahead? What shade? Is it going to rub off on my dress? I don't want to look not like myself but I also really, really don't want to look like a dead bride Halloween costume. Help!

ETA: Here's a backstage photo so you can see what I mean - I did block the faces for the others' privacy and because we were all making very silly faces, but I think you still get the idea on exactly how white I must be.

labro · December 2014

I did airbrush tanning for the first time before my wedding because I was trying to hide some severe tan lines from my bathing suit. I use an exfoliating poof when I wash in the shower so I guess I exfoliated ahead of time? The airbrushing specialist recommended that I do my spray tan the Wednesday before my Saturday wedding so it was about 3 days before the big day. I'm very fair skinned so I had her do as light an application as possible (again this was more to try and hide tan lines rather than get dark). The only downfall - at some point during the day I started sweating because it really warmed up outside and I had some dark patches close to my armpits because of the color running...oops. Thankfully it faded and wasn't noticeable because of its location. The airbrush tan did not rub off on my dress.

novella1186 · December 2014

Don't go to the machine/booth thing. I had a friend who used to do that method all the time, and if she turned her head the wrong way or scrunched her nose or anything, she'd have weird lines on her or the spray would miss a spot. It never turned out well.

I've always done the method where a person comes in with a spray gun. You should do the lightest application (which an experience spray tan person would recommend anyway) so it doesn't look weird and unnatural on your skin tone since you're fair-skinned (so am I, and the one time I got the medium color it looked ridiculous).

Do it a few days before your wedding. I'd also recommend trying it out a few months before your wedding just to make sure you like the results, because everyone is different.

I've never had a spray tan rub off on my clothes, but I've also never worn a white wedding dress with a spray tan. Good luck!

mrsjhodge · December 2014

Exfoliate/shave 24 hours ahead of time. No lotions the day of.

I'm really fair skinned, and have gotten some darker (medium I suppose) spray tans for photos. Wear dark clothes the day you get it done, cause lots of the sprays contain bronzers that can rub off. When you shower the next day, it'll look like your tan is running, but it won't.

Moisturize well, and don't rub yourself dry with a towel are the two biggest tips for maintaining a spray tan.

arrippa · December 2014

Whatever you do, don't do what Ross did.

peachy13 · December 2014

Seconding the vote to not do what Ross did (aka- don't do the "mystic tan" or tan booth or whatever it's called when you get into a booth and a machine sprays you instead of a person). I did this once, it was awful.

Look for salons in your area that do airbrush tanning - specifically ask if there will be someone spraying you (as opposed to a machine). I have done many airbrush tannings as I'm quite fair-skinned, and I really love getting them. I definitely plan to get one before my wedding too.

My tips: I would recommend getting one or two "for fun" to make sure you like it. You won't want to have your first airbrush tan done before something really important like your wedding. The biggest thing to do to prep, as the salon will probably tell you, is to fully exfoliate your whole body to get a clean and even tan. This means scrubbing down with soap and a loofah - no moisturizer or makeup afterwards. I try to shave or wax before the exfoliation too. Some salons have different color tans and since I'm fair, I usually just go with the lightest they can do and it always looks nice. I usually try to schedule the airbrush the night before my big event so that I can shower in the morning. No scrubbing this time around, just washing down with fluffy soap. You'll be clean and tan when you're all done! Good luck OP!

levioosa · December 2014

I have no advice about tanning and am lurking this thread to get some.

The only thing I want to add is that your photographer is going to know how to deal with the lighting and adjust accordingly. The picture you posted is really blown out. A good photographer will be able to balance out the white.

amelisha · December 2014

levioosa said:

I have no advice about tanning and am lurking this thread to get some.

The only thing I want to add is that your photographer is going to know how to deal with the lighting and adjust accordingly. The picture you posted is really blown out. A good photographer will be able to balance out the white.

That's one of the reasons I'm worried - we won't have a good photographer or editing. Just a cheap package of like 12 photos from the Vegas chapel and then our own iPhone photos or whatever from our guests other than that. I'm okay with it, we're not photo people at all and as long as my mom gets one posed photo she can hang over the mantlepiece I'm good...

Snapshots of us having a good time are all I want and I don't care if I look perfect or if they're well-done or pretty or whatever...but if I can do something easy to avoid the corpse bride look or like I'm haunting my wedding that would be awesome. Thus the tan.

Thanks for the advice so far! Further question - does anyone pale have before and after photos? I'd love to see them if so.

larrygaga · December 2014

I'm super de-dooper pale so I choose not to wear a white dress. My dress is light gold with a white lace overlay, so I don't get washed out. I'll probably lay in the tanning bed twice 7 minutes each at the lowest setting just to get a little bit of a healthy glow. I never tan but I like the little sunkiss I get when I'm outside for just a little bit. I don't have pictures because I'm not married yet, but if you haven't bought your dress seriously consider the off-white/champagne/gold route. True white looks bad on most white people.

I'm glad you aren't tanning anymore and I would really suggest getting the spray tan several times before your wedding. I would also suggest wearing white and seeing if it rubs off, maybe even getting sweaty in white.

novella1186 · December 2014

amelisha said:

levioosa said:

I have no advice about tanning and am lurking this thread to get some.

The only thing I want to add is that your photographer is going to know how to deal with the lighting and adjust accordingly. The picture you posted is really blown out. A good photographer will be able to balance out the white.

That's one of the reasons I'm worried - we won't have a good photographer or editing. Just a cheap package of like 12 photos from the Vegas chapel and then our own iPhone photos or whatever from our guests other than that. I'm okay with it, we're not photo people at all and as long as my mom gets one posed photo she can hang over the mantlepiece I'm good...

Snapshots of us having a good time are all I want and I don't care if I look perfect or if they're well-done or pretty or whatever...but if I can do something easy to avoid the corpse bride look or like I'm haunting my wedding that would be awesome. Thus the tan.

Thanks for the advice so far! Further question - does anyone pale have before and after photos? I'd love to see them if so.

I have not gotten a spray tan in years and years, so I don't have any photos (or I don't know which photos would have been before and would have been after). I will say that with the "light" spray tan, I had a little bit more color but didn't look tan, ya know? Like I wasn't pasty white, but also didn't look like I'd been on the beach all week.

ShellD13 · December 2014

My girls and I did spray tans before the wedding because we are all fairly Casper like. I originally wanted to do an airbrush tan because I had read that they are better but both of my girls were under 18 (SD and FD) and they were pretty sketched out by the idea of someone seeing them in their bra/undies. So we tracked down a salon that has spray tan booths. If you can't find an airbrush tan do some research some tan booths have much better results than others. Overall we were happy with the results but I would second a lot of the advice you already got...

Go for at least one trial depending on how much time you have. The way it was explained to me is that if you are crunched for time - Go medium you'll know immediately if it is the color you want whereas if you go light and its too light you may not have enough time to also try the medium or a different product altogether.

Exfoliate and shave before hand, wear dark colored LOOSE fitting clothing to the appointment as the product will wear off if you immediately put on pants with a tight waistband/bra etc... and you will get what is in essence tan lines. @Mrsjhodge is correct most of the products do contain a bronzer that gives you an immediate glow until the tan develops this will transfer to your clothing but after the tan develops/you shower off bronzer you shouldn't see any color transfer.

Shower and moisturize without exfoliation until the wedding. They also recommended that I go 3 days before so I too went Wednesday night for my Saturday wedding.

I'm also with @LarryGaga white is a very hard color for most to pull off especially if you are pale. If you haven't already picked your dress you may want to look more to the ivory/cream/gold tones for balance.

emmaaa · December 2014

I'm a ginger. Red hair and freckles. I have used the spray booths multiple times without issue. I've also heard really great things about someone personally tanning you.

I got a spray tan for my FSIL's bachelorette party at the beach and then my BFF's wedding. I did the medium setting since it was summer.

Then for my FSIL's wedding I sprayed myself with store bought stuff and did it very lightly so it wasn't too dark and that also turned out well.

I agree with everyone else as far as preparations. Exfoliate the day before and don't wear lotions the day of. They will tell you not to shower for like 5 hours, I usually wait longer. Definitely use barrier cream (so your feet and hands aren't orange).

I attached pictures of how mine all turned out. The first is my natural skin, the next two are the medium setting spray, and the last is the spray I did myself (I'm on the far left).

sarawifenow · December 2014

I also would advise against the booths that spray you. I did this once and I had the most awkward lines. Including two half moons underneath my boobs! Haha.

As far as the wedding. I was worried I would look like a ghost, too. I am very pale. I didn't end up using any spray tan and I didn't think I looked too pale on my wedding day. Granted, my dress was more of an ivory. Here is this for reference:

You could also play around with different makeup styles for the day of if you don't find a spray tan you are happy with. If you do it, though, I would definitely do a test run a few months prior to make sure it is the color you want.

amelisha · December 2014

This is all super helpful - looks like I have to start looking for local places doing the airbrush tan - I live in a pretty big city so I should have options. I guess I'll be searching Yelp or something because the tanning salon chains here seem to do Mystic, which is the booth kind if I'm not mistaken.

I am relieved that you all seemed to get yours done on Wednesday for a Saturday wedding because that's my last day in the city before we fly out for our Saturday wedding and it would be so nice to not have to waste my time in Vegas getting a spray tan!

I also appreciate the dress advice, but I bought my dress months ago during a clearance sale and it was one of about four options in my size and only came in "soft white", whatever that means. To me it looks like regular white, not really ivory or that "diamond" colour. So that ship has sailed (and at the time I had a bit more colour and wasn't expecting to look quite this sickly.)

On the plus side, FI is paler than I am, so I might still look healthy next to him regardless, lol. So maybe we'll just glow together in all our photos...

Or even better, our chapel (clicky) does themed weddings, so maybe we should just switch to one of the zombie or vampire themed ones. Rocky Horror, maybe? Goth? Phantom of the Opera? Lol.

emmaaa · December 2014

amelisha said:

This is all super helpful - looks like I have to start looking for local places doing the airbrush tan - I live in a pretty big city so I should have options. I guess I'll be searching Yelp or something because the tanning salon chains here seem to do Mystic, which is the booth kind if I'm not mistaken.

I am relieved that you all seemed to get yours done on Wednesday for a Saturday wedding because that's my last day in the city before we fly out for our Saturday wedding and it would be so nice to not have to waste my time in Vegas getting a spray tan!

I also appreciate the dress advice, but I bought my dress months ago during a clearance sale and it was one of about four options in my size and only came in "soft white", whatever that means. To me it looks like regular white, not really ivory or that "diamond" colour. So that ship has sailed (and at the time I had a bit more colour and wasn't expecting to look quite this sickly.)

On the plus side, FI is paler than I am, so I might still look healthy next to him regardless, lol. So maybe we'll just glow together in all our photos...

Or even better, our chapel (clicky) does themed weddings, so maybe we should just switch to one of the zombie or vampire themed ones. Rocky Horror, maybe? Goth? Phantom of the Opera? Lol.

Please do a themed wedding and give us pictures!!

Good luck. Oh, an dI think I forgot to mention, I did mine on Wednesday too.

thelastdreamer · December 2014

I looooove me some spray tans. I got one for my wedding but I'd gotten lots before that so it was no big deal to me. If you are super fair, definitely go for the lightest. I have dark hair and freckles and am able to tan, I just prefer not to because I have a history of skin cancer in my family and it is a sensitive thing for me. So I usually get the medium and it doesn't look crazy or anything. In fact, on my wedding day when I was getting ready to put my dress on I made a joke about my spray tans and someone said "Woah, that's the most natural spray tan I've ever seen. I would never have guessed." DEFINITELY go to a person and spend some $$ on it. Don't look for the cheapest one, there's probably a reason. I also prefer organic solution.

With my cousin who's super pale, to compare: