Kissed By The Sun

OK, I fully admit that I used to spend countless hours in the tanning bed desperately seeking that special glow for the summer. Because I'm from a small town most tanning beds are in salons, or as I found out my senior year in high school, they can be located in a tool shed. Yes, a tool shed. I paid a friend who assured me she would pay the homeowner, whom she knew. She then told me where the secret key was hidden for entry into the "tanning shed". After school I quickly rushed to this random persons house and searched under the deck for the hidden key. The golden key unlocked a world I knew nothing about and I was disappointed in myself that it had taken me 17 years to discover tanning beds could be hidden in small wooden barns that also housed a lawnmower. Each day I visited this wonderland my skin obtained the tan I was longing for. I was forever hooked on tanning beds, or so I thought.

Being raised just two hours from the beach, most of my summers were spent riding the waves, building sandcastles and playing catch with a beach ball. My Mother forced us to wear sunscreen before we went swimming in the ocean and then it was mandatory to reapply after a few hours in the sun. And you know how horrible that was. The combination of salt water, sand and sunscreen makes me squirm just thinking about it!

30 years ago the scare for skin cancer didn't ring constantly in our ears like it does today.  When my Mother had a melanoma scare almost 10 years ago I began to realize I could be next.  Mixing the trips to the tanning bed plus the lack of sunscreen and countless hours on the beach had to stop. But how was I going to glow from now on??? 

The are two words that most of us either dread or love.....self tanner. I have spent several years not only searching for a great self tanner but trying to figure out how the heck to put it on. Through many trials and errors that consisted of streaks, blotches and orange patches I finally found my perfect match. Three summers ago I reluctantly purchased L'Oreal Paris Sublime Glow (purchase info below). It's a daily moisturizer plus a skin tone enhancer. After the first application I was sold. It's so easy to put on and it leaves a shimmer that I have not grown tired of. Just like any self tanner you need to exfoliate, exfoliate, exfoliate before applying. After I exfoliate I usually put on my regular body lotion. The Sublime Glow claims to moisturize but I haven't found, in my case, for that to be entirely true. After I apply the self tanner immediately wash your hands. This self tanner doesn't tend to leave blotches but it can leave that "dirty hands" look that I'm certain you don't want.

Hopefully you will reconsider your time in the tanning bed and use a self tanner to create your "kissed by the sun" look.

Peace, Love, and Glow
   Traverse Girl


www.lorealparisusa.com/sublime-bronze