Sally Hansen Airbrush Tan--My Thoughts and Experience.

EDIT:  I saw on emilynoel83's youtube channel that you can just mix this stuff in your hand with cheap Hempz lotion and then it works perfectly!!!  Doh!!!!  Hopefully this entry at least provides some laughs.

LOL.  The title of this alone is making me laugh because it not only sounds so serious, but in recent years I was FERVENTLY OPPOSED TO SPRAY TANNING IN ANY SHAPE, SIZE, OR FORM.

And now, lalala, I've got myself a bottle of spray tan.  That's essentially what this stuff is, I think.  They did sell this stuff as, 'Leg Makeup, Airbrush Legs', rather than spray tan, and that's part of what sold me.

I would not have bought this if they hadn't come out with the new, lightest shade, called Fairest Glow.  My fellow pale ladies, this is NOT the fairest glow.  But if you have a slight tan, you can pull it off very naturally.  I know it will match a lot of people who are of medium-fair skin, perfectly.  If you are anywhere around NC10/NW10...any of the 10s--This could easily be too dark for you if you aren't careful, although it could work if you are good at sheering it out and applying lightly--I think it MIGHT work...maybe, due to the fact that it's more of a sheer product and not really a high-coverage foundation.  But I do think N15s, and especially 20's, can pull it off more seamlessly if you don't get carried away with it.  I am an NW15, for reference, with my light suntan I got this summer :)



WHY I decided to buy it:  A few things pushed me over the edge.  I am inherently iron-deficient at all times--I bruise VERY easily, and I am also a mondo clutz.  I have also been busy as HECK lately and I've been hurting myself, namely my legs, all of the time because I'm running back and forth so much, overwhelmed and forgetful of the fact that, haha, large pieces of furniture are in my way.  Also my legs have been vein-ier (for lack of wanting to use a better word) lately.  And the other day, I ran into my boyfriend's cabinet he built when he was 12 (it is VERY sturdy and it was VERY painful.  In my angry tears I called it firewood...lol (I take it back now)), and got this gigando welt on the side of my leg.  Not even a bruise, but a rainbow colored black, blue, red and white lump.  So, with that and a combo of sales and coupons, and the fact that I saw the new lightest shade--I ran over to the store and grabbed two of these.

(Am I being thorough enough for you??  PHEW.  I'm trying to work on being more concise, but hopefully this is a good read.)

THE Application:  Because I'm a newb and I don't know what I'm doing with this, I put on some loose shorts and went on the back deck and had my boyfriend help apply it (I felt very classy...but I'd never used a product like this before and was worried about it staining the house).  I just used my bare hands, like a caveman (LMAO) and we followed the directions on the bottle, first applying a small pool of it in the palm and then blending it into the skin very quickly.  It has an absolutely beautiful fine mica in it that looks fantastic on the legs...kind of a silvery shimmer.  If you don't shake the bottle enough you will just get the shimmer, which can be wonderful on some parts of the legs (the upper thighs) and absolutely terrible on other parts (the knees, the feet), so you really do have to shake it well before each time you spray it.  The formula dries EXTREMELY fast.  Crazy fast.  You must forget all pre-notions of how a lady should daintily apply her beauty products and BLEND.  BLEND FAST.  BLEND like a damn mad-woman, rubbing the formula into the skin and buffing it out roughly in order for it to not set in patches.  I thought it would be a fun, slow activity, but because the stuff dries so fast, you truly do feel like you're in some kind of sculpture-building contest, chaffing and buffing as fast as you possibly can in order to disallow the product from drying into patches.  You do NOT feel like a lady when you apply this stuff.  If you feel like a lady while applying this stuff-YOU ARE NOT DOING IT RIGHT!!  LOL.

It, truthfully, was kind of fun, aside from the fact that my boyfriend and I disagreed on the best way to apply it.  He thought following the directions was the best way (spraying into the hand and then applying it), but I felt that shaking it aggressively and then spraying a fine mist, 12 inches away from the skin was the best way, because you would get a lighter mist and you wouldn't have to worry as much about blending perfectly because a lighter, more sheer amount of product would be applied each time you spray it (and I still stand by this thought).  Anyone have their own views on this?  Agree?  Disagree?

The hardest part of the application is without a doubt, the feet.  I HATE it when people wear spray tan and you can see, ew, the outline of the tan around their toes, and worse, their pale, white skin inbetween their toes...in my opinion if you can still see that you should have never bothered putting on spray-tan/self-tanner/body makeup.  What I did, was aggressively shake the can (as per-usual), spray a bit of the product on the tips of my fingers, and then QUICKLY rub the product between my toes using my fingertips (I told you, you do NOT feel like a lady -.- ).

Being that it sets so instantaneously, I have not found it to smudge at all on any clothing or furniture, although I was cautious in the first hour and a half after applying it.  I'm now sitting on the ground, feet firmly planted on the floor and yes OF COURSE I did apply the makeup to the bottoms of my feet (I'm not an animal).  Nothing is showing up on the ground.

The FORMAT: I would not say that the spray bottle, at least in the way we applied the product, added to the convenience of the product, but I think if we had done it the way I preferred to apply it, which was spraying it a foot away from the legs in sheer mists and rubbing it in very well afterward, in different spots, that would have absolutely made the sprayer a plus.  This product comes in two different formats, a sprayer and a squeeze lotion (which could be totally different and I know nothing about), so it may be just up to what your preferences/abilities are.

I don't think this product is for everyone.  If you suck at blending and it's just too hard for you, well, this probably isn't going to work.  I think anyone could do it if they worked at it and paid attention and had a good mirror and good lighting and/OR someone they trust watching them to make sure they don't miss spots.  Those factors won't all come together for everyone though, this is the real world.

I adore the shimmer of this product.  It makes me feel like a fairy-tale princess.  But some people might not like that aspect.  The shimmer does seem to leave the rest of your body faintly sparkly with teeny tiny sparkles :)  Which to me is so wonderful it's almost not worth mentioning, but I know some people don't like sparkles, so whatever.

This picture is absolutely not doing the finish justice.  The lighting is picking up on tiny glitter sparkles, which ARE present, but it's actually a much more uniform mica, similar to how an opaque, glitterless, mica silver eyeshadow would appear, and it does look very natural, at least on my skin.


I know this stuff washes off like a dream because I applied it with my bare hands and there was a huge layer of sparkly golden-brown stuff on both under-sides of my hands.  It dripped off within less than 30 seconds of gentle soap and water, normal hand-washing.  Was this a unique experience?  I don't know.  If it's not, well, the soap I used was just Softsoap Oatmeal Honey, the moisturizing kind you can get in a big refill bottle at the grocery store.


Would I buy this stuff again?  Absolutely.  SO FAR, anyway.  If you are a bad-ass at blending (and I do mean it very much when I use that curse word...No more appropriate word for it in my opinion), you can really get a beautiful look and what is wonderful about it, is it will last and it won't smudge off on anything, but it will wash right off with no effort at all in the shower.  I would not recommend wearing it on a rainy day outside with shorts on, because it comes off so well with soap and water that I'm worried it would literally just drip off, although maybe it wouldn't.

I think the color is not orangey on me at all...it's the classic tan color my warm-undertoned skin naturally turns.  It also is slightly tanner than the rest of my body right now, but it doesn't look out of place as I blended upward on the tops of my legs and it doesn't stand out against my other skin.

THE COVERAGE:  No, it absolutely did not cover up that welt on the side of my leg.  I would need some

That fun welt I've been talking about.

camoflauge makeup for that, possibly Dermablend or Colortration.  It did however, make my skin look tanner and because of that, it contrasted less with my skin, being that my skin is very pale and a dark bruise on it has a lot of contrast, so it stands out less now.
Veins and vericose veins, it covered lightly and well enough to make them not noticable unless you are looking for them.

Faint/tiny discolorations/freckles bruises--almost made those disappear and look more uniform.

==This is definitely less of a coverage product and more of a tanning product--but it absolutely is a low-coverage NATURAL foundation and I think that's what you want (and quite possibly, is as good as it's going to get) for your legs.

The overall appearance of my legs is a pretty sparkly glow over a tan softness, but it's still natural looking.  I'm really enjoying it and think it looks very beautiful, and it makes me feel better about my formerly yucky, sick looking legs :)  I'm happy I bought it.  I'm happy I have two cans!  SO FAR anyway.  It has been six hours now (so calm down, self...lol).  I will post an update on this very post, later.

 In regards to the appearance, I would also wear this leg-makeup in any season, not just summer-time.

 In dim, indoor lighting (YAY FOR ACCURATE PHOTOGRAPHY -.-  Another picture in natural outdoor lighting will be posted within 24 hours of the initial post time.)

I will post some pictures of this in natural light, tomorrow (edit: nope.  That didn't happen.).  It is dark and storming outside right now.  And I'm sorry for not thinking to do it earlier--I blame it on the fact that I'm just not excited to use my cell-phone camera, and my awesome camera I had previously got stolen, so the prospect of taking photos right now is all a bit disenchanting.


I enjoy this product so far :)  I'll update this post in a few days to let you guys know how it has faded, whether it was patchy or not, etc.

Hope you liked my REVIEW!  Haha, if anything it was hopefully at least an entertaining summary of a person's first encounter with self-tanner.

DIY On-The-Go Girl Portable Makeup Palette!!

Me, wearing all of the products I put in my portable palette. :)--
I'm wearing every single product in the palette, all of the lip colors mixed together in different ratios, over a separate NYX lip liner called pinky beige.

Hi guys.  Thankyou so much to anyone who is still reading in spite of my long hiatuses (hiati?  Uh...How do you pluralize that?  Lol.)

I have currently been living, essentially like a gypsy...I commute from where I currently live (in which, I have no internet, just a small phone data plan), and sometimes I have to stay at a midpoint in order to use said internet and to get to my job and have a little more time to relax (midpoint being my boyfriend's house).  Plus, my sister visited and I was going back and forth an hour out of the way to visit her where she was staying.  It has been kind of nutty.  So, essentially what I am saying is, I've had little time and opportunity to blog, although many times I have wished I could!!

I'm finally enjoying a four day break, and I've reached another midpoint (my dad's place) :)  So here I am.  LET'S GET ON WITH THIS :)  Are you ready?!  Okay I am so excited!!!  I hope you guys love this DIY as much as I do.

DIY Portable Palette :)
Scroll down to the bottom for the list of products/supplies I used.

This is a super easy little project to do.  I'M TALKING AN AWFUL LOT HERE FOR SOMETHING SO SIMPLE.  You can skip all of the words and look at the pictures if you like.  They are pretty darn self-explanatory.  However, I have written some extra fun ideas in the last few paragraphs, uses for the palette, and ways you can get creative :)

So obviously, living like the gypsy that I have been living like lately, I NEEDED something like this. I work at a makeup store, and my bag was getting FULL because I kept having to grab stuff that I needed and store it in my big work bag.  It was getting out of control :)

I have had this L'oreal True Match Powder :)  Truthfully, I'm not L'oreal's biggest fan due to their animal testing/business practices and such, but I got this for an amazing discount at my job.  What is cool about this particular packaging, as rather than have one large compartment, in one snug space, this compact has two separate compartments.  One side is the side with the powder, and the other side carries the mirror and fits a cotton pad/sponge.

Happy accident, I suppose, my powder tray was falling out of where it'd been glued in.  So I easily pulled it out...and then I thought, wait a minute.  This could easily be a makeup mixing palette.  I wiped away the glue (I used Marcelle Cleansing Water--it was what I had on hand--I think isopropyl alcohol would be much better for this particular glue removal) with half of a makeup cotton pad, scrubbing and wiping until all of the glue was gone.  Then I took the dry half of the cotton pad and dried the freshly cleaned, shiny inside of the compact (for lack of a word for that) :)  I then hot glued the powder to the OTHER side of the compact--the side that includes the mirror.

And here is my lovely palette :)  Well, maybe not LOVELY in that it is pretty to look at, but lovely in that it is useful ;)

The Portable Palette ;)

You can also fit other powders inside.  Here, I've inserted an Estee Lauder double wear powder foundation pan in Ecru.  This true match setting powder in N1 is the closest match to Ecru, almost exactly the same shade, the true match being just a hair or two pinker in tone.  It fits perfectly in here!! :)

Estee Lauder Powder Foundation Pan in Ecru, inserted here to show what it looks like.

You can't fit a powder puff or sponge in here, at least none I have tried.  Nothing is flat enough :)  But in my opinion, brushes work FAR better than those anyway!!!  I wouldn't trade a retractable brush for a powder puff or sponge.  Nope.  Wouldn't do it.  I use this eco-tools one I got on amazon for around $6.  There's plenty out there.  I also use an elf retractable lip-brush, which cost me $1.50 with a coupon code. :)  These cost me very little and they make everything easier, cleaner, and less messy in my makeup bag than I think sponges and puffs do.

My retractable brushes for my purse makeup bag.





You may also decorate this if you are feeling crafty and wanting it to be a little more beautiful.  I personally am fine with it the way it is.  Here I show you how you can remove the sticker and the glue.  You simply peel off the sticker and start patting it over the left over glue spots, and the sticker will pull up all of the remaining glue.  Easy trick.  My true match powder is only a few weeks old, so I am not sure if this trick will work for older compacts.  You might need another cotton pad and some isopropyl alcohol.  You can use swarovski crystals, stickers, labels, or mod-podge...whatever.  I would add crystals, except I think they would make this bulky.  Maybe I will think of something pretty to decorate this with later, if I have time.  If so I'll definitely post the new picture on here :)

How to remove the stuck on glue residue with the sticker itself.


This has literally made the weight of my purse makeup bag half as heavy...half of the products are gone.  I was able to completely remove most of my lip products and just swatch them into the palette. :)  I have here, three shades of Too Faced Melted Liquid Lipsticks, one lavender colored LA Girl Lip Glaze, and my favorite concealer I have ever tried, Physician's Formula RX in the Fair/Light shade, which I put in just to dab on with my finger for touch-ups.  The problem with the concealer is it likes to ooze itself out of the tube even when you are not squeezing it...by putting it in this palette I have eliminated that problem!!!

You can also smush lipsticks in here.  You can smush in concealer sticks.  You don't have to be restricted to liquid products.  Powders will be more difficult, but you can always glue powder pans where you feel they will fit, or if you use a different variation of palette, you can keep certain eyeshadows you really like that came inside the palette, and remove the other ones you don't like using a needle and dental floss :) (the needle prys up the pan, poke the floss and wedge it underneath with the needle and then floss it beneath the pan until it's released from the glue).

I'm so thrilled because it is also SO much easier to mix lip colors and control how much product I get on my lip brush.  I've also found that when I apply with a lip brush, my application looks so much better and what I have applied lasts so much longer, disperses so much more evenly, and I use up less product as well.

Plus, at the makeup store I work at, we can't bring in products we have bought at the store most of the time.  This pretty much eliminates that problem, at least with liquid products and setting powders, because I can simply dab a little of anything I need onto the palette and leave the full-size product at home.  Plus I don't have to worry about losing those products!!!  YAY.  I just adore this.  AND everything is all in one place.  Going to make putting my makeup on quickly during lunch breaks and such a snap, and I can get the color I want quickly too!!

As you can see, I absolutely am in love with it!!!

I have been carrying it around, using it all day, and it is stored sideways in my bag.  Because my swatches are small, they really haven't budged or mixed together.  Your results may vary if you use something very watery/oily.  With that in mind, you may want to make a portable palette out of something with separators, keeping the deepness of the separators in mind.  The most liquidy thing I have put in this is the LA Girl Lip Glaze, and it just spread out a little bit, and now it has set and stayed in one small spot without budging.  I like the layout of this True Match compact because I have all of my touch-up products in one place, but you may enjoy a different set-up :)

Hope you guys enjoy this too :)  It is definitely a time-saver, a clutter-clearer, and a creativity-inducer.  As I mentioned a little bit in the last paragraph, you can do this with so many other kinds of palettes.  Not just this one, but you can also make at least lip/foundation/concealer/whatever palettes by removing eyeshadows from little drugstore eye palettes (I'm thinking Wet N' Wild--they have some new six pan white ones that would be great :) ).  Then you'll have little separators in those ones as well :)  You could even press powders you would like into empty pans you have and keep powders and liquids in the palette, if you feel inclined to.

I hope I have helped everyone.  Yay!!!  Just so thrilled, I truly think this has made my life a lot easier, and my makeup more creative and managable.  You can add in and remove what you are using currently.  All of your favorite colors and products in one place, not taking up bulk and there to mix together and play with.  It is so much fun!!  Like a grown up Polly Pocket!! :)  At least for someone who loves makeup.  And at the least, it will clear out your bag of some clutter and make it easier to find what you need.

Complete List of Products Used
LA Girl Glazed, Coy
Too Faced Melted Peony
Too Faced Melted Fuschia
Too Faced Melted Berry
Physicians Formula RX Concealer, Fair Light
L'oreal True Match Setting Powder, N1
ELF Lip Brush
Ecotools Retractable Kabuki Brush
Hot glue gun
Alcohol (or in my case cleansing water...I'd recommend alcohol over that!)
Cotton Pads

Me at the end of the day wearing all of the touch-up products, using computer screen light for lighting.  Several true match powder touch-ups had been done through the day.  I did not touch up the concealer--I more or less have it because it works wonderfully, and may need to touch it up at work when I'm sweating under fluorescent lighting, or apply it at my boyfriend's where I have no other makeup :)  Not too shabby with those lip colors... I highly recommend mixing all of those!!  The melted's last, and the LA girl gives it some much needed hydration without taking away from the longevity.  I really love the type of purple this combo creates! :)  Only did one touch-up with this lip-color.