It’s the middle of winter, which means my legs are rocking a nice bright shade of blinding white. Anyone else? So I’ve been busy testing out self-tanners to share with you. It can be a daunting task! The fear of the orange is real, people.
I’ve had a favorite self-tanner I’ve used for the last few years and was definitely nervous to try out a new brand. But now I’m a convert and want to introduce you to my new favorite self-tanner and three of their formulas. Ladies, meet Bondi Sands.
I first heard about this Australian self-tanner on Instagram. I clicked through someone’s tagged picture of their just-back-from-the-Bahamas tan and made it to the Bondi Sands Insta page — and holy moly — golden glow for daaaays. I couldn’t believe the before and afters! So I had to try it out for myself.
Three Reasons To Love Bondi Sands
I fell in love with Bondi Sands for three reasons:
- The color: The color is amazing! You won’t see a hint of orange, just a beautiful, believable golden glow.
- The smell: You know the “the smell” most self-tanners have? These Bondi Sands tanners don’t have it at all! Instead, they all smell like coconut.
- The formula options: Foams, lotions, dry oils. You can pick your color option (light/medium or dark) and your formula preference to find your perfect fit.
Find Your Perfect Self-Tanner Formula
I tried out three different formulas and three shades of Bondi Sands self-tanner: the self-tanning lotion in light/medium, the self-tanning foam in dark and the self-tanning dry oil.
Bondi Sands light/medium self-tanning lotion
I’m used to a tanning lotion and liked how the formula went on with gloves. Though I’m glad I started with the light/medium option, I found that it didn’t really provide enough color for me. It definitely took the blinding white edge off, but I was up for a bit more.
Bondi Sands dark self-tanning foam
Next, I tried the dark foam with a tanning mitt. The foam dries fast, which makes the application fast but also means you need to work quickly and work on one area of the body at a time. The color was…wow! Mid-summer, post-island-getaway golden! Check out the before and after!
The lighting makes it look a little more dramatic than it really was. Picture on the left was early morning while the one on the right was in the afternoon. Still, the end results was a gorgeous golden glow that looked believable. In other words, no one at my tennis lesson gave me a raised what-did-you-do eyebrow. I was really happy with the application except for my hand which ended up a bit splotchy. The second time I tried it, I moisturized the back of my hands right after applying the tanner and that helped a lot.
Bondi Sands self-tanning dry oil
Finally, I tried the dry oil — a self-tanner formula I’d never used before. The lotion and the foam direct you to wash the product off 1-6 hours after application (depending on how dark you want it), but you don’t need to rinse off the oil. Plus, since the tanner is combined with hydrating argan oil, it’s moisturizing your skin while it’s tanning it. Win-win! The color was a little darker than the light lotion, but not as dark as the dark foam. Once again, it smells divine.
Truth be told, I don’t know how necessary it is to wash off the lotion or foam at all. The lotion was so light, there was no need to halt the color development, and with the dark foam, I put it on late morning and washed it off during my shower the next morning. It can be hard enough to find time to self-tan in the first place, so I’m never too thrilled with tanners that require you to rinse off afterwards. Luckily, it didn’t see to matter much in this case.
Tan legs? The smell of coconut? Excuse me while I go make myself a mojito and pretend I’m on an exotic island…
If you’re looking for a new self-tanner to give your pale gams a little glow in any season, I give Bondi Sands two — golden — thumbs up! Find it at BondiSands.com, Target or Amazon.
