I am not sure why this is my first post about a sunless tanner. If you know me, you know I love a good tan and I would consider myself an expert on the subject. Seriously, I have been tanning pretty much my whole life. I grew up with a swimming pool in my backyard so I was always tan as a kid. Fast forward to middle school when tanning beds became all the rage, and I begged and begged my poor mom to sign me up(since I wasn’t 18). My freshman year of high school the Mystic tan made its debut onto the tanning market. Ahhh the day my life was changed forever, I will never forget how much I loved that gross orange tan. When the Mystic tan became popular, all the the high-end skincare brands came out with a similar at home product, followed by the drugstore brands. I have tried them all. (insert see no evil monkey emoji). I spent most of my teens and twenties still tanning in tanning beds and trying every self tanner that I could get my hands on.
Then I got pregnant with Charlotte, and my sun-bed days were over for good. Besides getting pregnant, I stopped tanning in a bed because I realized what I was doing to my skin. As vain as I am, I was doing one of the worst things I could do to my skin – baking it, literally, baking it. The more people I met that had stories about having cancer from sun-beds was enough to stop my addiction forever. Do I miss sun-beds? Sure, I miss the time to myself and the feeling of the heat. But it is just not worth the risk.
After that, I started buying more and more sunless tanners. Any time I see a new one, I give it a go. What’s the harm in that? If I turn orange or greenish, it’s only for a week or so, right? Oh, and self tanning is much, much harder to do without a “base tan” underneath. I always thought I was the bomb at sunless tanning. Ha- wrong. Once I wasn’t a brown biscuit anymore, it was harder for me to get the color I was looking for. So, I became way more picky about the brands I use. Since I live on the internet, I see celebrities and other bloggers talk about new products all the time. So, you can bet when I saw Kylie Jenner say that she used Cocoa Brown, I immediately followed Cocoa Brown on Insta and started reading reviews. The weird thing… there weren’t any bad reviews that I could find. No one was saying this product was too orange, or made them smell like a biscuit, or left them streaky like a zebra. People are picky about self tanners…kinda like eyebrows. With that being said, I knew this product must be legit. I emailed Cocoa right away and asked if I could review their product for all you beauty queens. Luckily, the fabulous people over at Cocoa Brown were so sweet and totally on board. They sent me their new 1 Hour dark Tan Mousse.
I am a big fan of mousse products – easy out and easy on. Since this tanner is such a dark shade, Cocoa Brown (and I) recommend using a tanning mitt when applying the tan. Trust me, if you don’t, you will regret it. This tanner is also a one hour tan, which leaves you a lot less time to scrub it off your hands. So, skip the heartache and use a mitt. They aren’t expensive at all. HOW TO- Exfoliate and shave before applying any self tanner. Spray the mousse out onto the mitt (not your skin) and rub until the product is evenly on the skin. Then wait at least one hour before washing it off.
Since I have no fear of sunless tanners, I applied the tan at night before I was going to bed. That has been the way I have always done my tanning routine. Cocoa Brown states that you will achieve an even darker tan if you leave it on for three hours. They are right. I saw a difference after only an hour as the company claims and when I woke up the next AM I was a brown, happy biscuit! I was not orange at all, no streaks, and the best part? No bad self tanner smell! It has lasted about a week which is great for a self tanner! I am so pleased with the tan I got from this product and I would recommend this to anyone with an olive skin tone( I know you can’t tell from the pasty photo below but I am olive) They have a lighter shade for light skin tones as well. This is definitely one of the best tanners I have ever used. And that is saying a lot coming from me. Trust me. I can’t wait to use it again! Cocoa Brown is new to the US market, so there aren’t many places to purchase it just yet. You can purchase online @ Amazon.com for around $22, or online @ http://www.rickysnyc.com/ for $13.99. I am not 100% sure of the price difference, but those are the places to find and purchase this amazing mousse!
This picture was taken the next day after the 1 Hour Dark Tan Mousse was applied. Don’t judge the paleness in the first photo.
Have you tried any Cocoa Brown products? What is your favorite self tanner?
Jasmine says
I need to try this.
Whitney says
Yes you do, it is amazing!