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.

How To Be "Naturally Beautiful"

Being, "Naturally Beautiful," is some sort of phenomenon.  It is always hilarious to me when, because I wore a bright or dark eyeshadow or lipstick color, or decided to wear black eyeliner, now I'm brinking into, "Un-Naturally Beautiful," territory, even though to be, "Naturally Beautiful," I still was using NINE OTHER PRODUCTS.  To dilute the ignoramus of it all I decided to put together this little tutorial.

How To Be Naturally Beautiful

Step 1:  Your skincare.  Let's face it, you are going to get old and wrinkly FAST unless you have a good skin-care regime.  Use sunscreen and a moisturizer that doesn't break you out.  Because lord knows, PIMPLES are NOT Naturally Beautiful.  They may be natural, but they are not beautiful!!

In this picture, I am somewhat in the dark.  I wouldn't DARE go in bright sunlight with no makeup on and take the picture, because we all know that's not a naturally beautiful sight...


Step 2:  Prime your face.  I'm using a primer that diminishes my larger pores and creates a smooth canvas on my face.  That's what primers are supposed to do.  Pores are NOT beautiful, so best you cover them somehow, and since primers are sheer, you won't look like you have extra makeup on your face!

The product is called, "Dr. Brandt," Pores No More.  It works awesomely, but it's pretty freaking expensive and I'm not going to go out and purchase it (this was a sample).  So best you go buy the cheapest, somewhat shittier primer that you can find, like I will do when this runs out.  Don't worry though, your makeup is the most important part in being Naturally Beautiful.


Step 3:  This is the most important part.  Applying your concealer.  Since you want to use as few skin-covering products as possible (to eliminate the chance of cakiness), I highly recommend skipping foundation and just going straight to a high-coverage concealer that will kill two birds with one stone.  Also, apply it with a beauty blender (I recommend the Real Techniques Complexion Sponge).  Applying it with a beauty blender will sheer out the high coverage concealer and provide you a natural finish that most makeup brushes can't achieve.  So everything looks like it's just your skin.  BUT BETTER.

Now because most of the colors and impurities in your face are gone, your skin looks rather flat.  But not to worry!!  You'll be covering this with makeup that creates the Naturally Beautiful Look once again.


Step 4:  Applying your powder.  Because you want this look to be as natural as possible and you also want it to last as long as possible, you need a decent powder, one that will leave a natural finish.  I think the powder I chose not only sets, but makes the concealer I used look more natural than the concealer would by itself.  Many people use bare minerals for this, I just use Elf Mineral Booster in shimmer.  Also a lot of people use HD powders, which are really just Dimethicone and Silica mixed together and you can get them for a hell of a lot cheaper at websites like TKBtrading.com... You just want something that isn't going to settle in your fine lines or look cakey.  After all THAT wouldn't look natural.  You can't just choose powder, you have to choose the RIGHT powder.

I applied with the ELF Large Stipple Brush because I think it applies the powder sheerly, avoiding even more chances of cakiness.  And yes, that's a hair-tie around it, go back a couple entries and you'll see why I did that.  (And if you're not noticing yet, yes I use a lot of ELF products.  Why buy something expensive when I can have something cheap that works just as well?)


Step 5:  Choose your blush WISELY.  Lord knows, a bright pink one and you'll be accused of being Un-Naturally Beautiful once again.  I opted for the one on the left.  It's kind of a berry tone and on my skin looks like I was walking around in the cold and got a little flushed.  You can do swatches on your arms to see which looks the most natural on you.  Then pick the blush that goes with the best swatch, and voila!!

Make sure to apply your blush with an excellent brush.  I will explain this in further detail in another entry, because I don't think other people emphasize this enough, but it is truly easiest to apply blushes with a dense, soft, fairly large blush because it will blend the color into your skin a hell of a lot easier and cover more surface area, allowing for a quick application.  Of course you don't want to use that type of brush for the high-pigmented blushes.

Oh, look I yawned.  Don't wanna do that in front of people without covering your mouth!!  That's not Naturally Beautiful!!

On second thought, pose with your blush brush for a second.  Look at you, you're almost done!!  Being Naturally Beautiful took a lot of steps, know-how, and techniques, didn't it!?

Step 6:  Apply your mascara.  If you can get away with it, do NOT use a clumpy mascara.  People see clumps in your mascara and they run off saying, "YOU ARE NOT NATURALLY BEAUTIFUL!!!"  You can even wear some natural looking false eyelashes (Revlon Precision lash glue is supposed to be a good glue), I won't tell anybody.  And dear GOD, comb out the clumps!  But don't comb it too thoroughly, if your lashes are not tangled a little bit, that might look too unnatural!!

Step 7:  Now, pick out your lip product.  I know what you're thinking here.  Hey, that nude-colored lipstick doesn't look too bad!!  WRONG.  You want to have color on your lips, but if they look completely covered in lipstick, that won't be Natural Looking enough.  And if you choose the red one, you're screwed.

You know how to put on lipgloss.  Voila.

Step 8:  Oh, didn't anybody tell you that your eyelids by themselves are too veiny?  Well here, I just handed you that gem without you even asking.  Now apply some nude colored eyeshadow (whatever color you may be).

Make sure to blend it in really well with your finger.  Lord knows if it looks too powdery what will be going through the minds of those Wise People all around you.


Step 9:  Lovingly gaze at the pile of products you used to accomplish this Natural Look.  You're done mother*cker!

In some lightings, you'll SUPER-won't-look-like-you-did-your-makeup!

Knowledge is power baby, knowledge is power.

In fact, the more casual you act and the less you look like you give a shit, the more Naturally Beautiful the Wise People around you tend to think you are.

BOOM!  And done!!


Product List (GAH, I hate writing this part.):
*Burt's Bees Intense Hydration Night Cream With Clary Sage
*Hawaiian Tropic Silk Hydration Face Oil Free Lotion Sunscreen
*Dr. Brandt Pores No More (I plead with you not to buy this)
*Glamoflauge Concealer in the shade Ultra Light
*Real Techniques Complexion Sponge
*Elf Mineral Booster in the shade Shimmer
*Elf Stipple Brush (it's the large one but they don't name it large...hence my writing it that way)
*Elf Mineral Pressed Blush in the shade Wanderlust
*Bestope Premium Synthetic Kabuki Brush (the rounded one.  This was shipped from China and I am kind of ashamed of buying it)
*Elf Eye Enhancing Mascara
*Elf Conditioning Lip Balm in the shade (what a surprise) Nice & Natural
*Elf Essential Brow Comb and Brush
*Mary Kay Mineral Eye Color in the shade Silky Caramel (not sure they sell this shade anymore, but there are many similar shades in the line if you're looking to buy the exact same brand I used...it's pretty pricey and I bought it at a weak moment in my sophomore year of college.)

Total Number of Products Used To Achieve Naturally Beautiful Look: 13
Sarcasm Scale: 100%
I Didn't Give A Shit Level: Off The Charts
Percentage of Dumbassery That Prompted Me To Write This Entry: 100%


PS: No, I'm not an egotist, I don't think I'm amazing looking, and I didn't write this to show-off... Saying How To Be Naturally Beautiful was all in good fun and in sarcasm and I felt the need to write this PS in case anyone for some reason felt strongly otherwise.