If you don’t like the look of being summer baked but do want to shine with a hint of healthy color, don’t despair because the summer season is over. Instead rejoice that you can now have the look of a sun kissed tan all through out the colder months and still remain wrinkle free and healthy in the process.

With the summer heat creeping out and the colder breeze blowing in, along with the loss of your bathing suit, goes the summer dresses, tanning lotions, and sun kissed glow. In many ways despite the obvious health concerns, a bronzed appearance on otherwise pale skin, looks healthy and absolutely marvelous as long as it’s not a burn we’re sporting. If only we could look this vibrant all year round. Well we can! Forget sizzling your flesh on the cancer causing, wrinkle creating, spot enhancing tanning beds and start experimenting with how dark you can get with an instant or gradual self tanning lotion.

Follow this 5 step means to a golden brown complexion and never experience a ‘white’ winter again.

1. Exfoliate Your Skin
If you’ve ever seen an orange person with crazy streaks on their body, chances are they’ve forgotten the golden rule of self-tanning: exfoliate – exfoliate - exfoliate. Whether you use a self tanner or not, exfoliation is a necessary process in maintaining glowing skin. This can be done with a sand based body scrub or exfoliation hand mitt. If you’ve ever given yourself a manicure, you probably know to remove the nail polish before you apply another coat. The same theory pertains to self tanning lotion which is essentially a skin stain removed over a short period of time. If you don’t aid in the removal of old skin with exfoliation, the self tanning cream will stain both the old skin and the new skin leaving the appearance of streaks and blotchiness.

2. Put On The Gloves And Enhance Your Base
Self tanner doesn’t discriminate from one body part to the next which is why you have to consider your hands and pull on some latex gloves before your next application. Orange hands and feet are sure giveaway tips of tanning cream usage. If you choose to use your hands instead, be sure to wash them with soap when you’re done. The tone of your skin should reach its peak in approximately 5 to 7 days by using a gradual self tanner. These tend to work best on people who don’t want the drastic change of going from pasty white to dark brown or in many cases, orange. A gradual self tanner allows you to see your shade progress over a period of days as opposed to hours thereby having a more natural appearance.
For a more immediate result, you can have a brownish hue in only a few hours by applying a more concentrated self tanning lotion but beware; this type of concentrated product can leave you looking like the peel of a tangerine if not applied properly. For a more mild self creation, mix a bit of your concentrated tanning lotion with some regular body cream and apply it daily.

3. Stroke Broadly
For this type of ‘body massage’ the broader the stroke the better. Spread the product on with uniform swipes in all directions starting from your feet up and you’ll be sure you won’t miss a spot. Knees and elbows can’t be totally ignored but should be given a slightly different treatment by diluting the tanner with moisturizer as they have a tendency to absorb more color and turn darker than the rest of your body. Just as you wouldn’t need to color the palms of your hands, don’t color the soles of your feet. The most natural faux tan offers a touch of color in the most exposed places.

4. Results Immediately
After you’ve liberally applied your lotion, rather than sit and wait for the color to set, a tinted mouse for your body and bronzing facial powder are your next call of order. The effects of this instant flash of color only stick around until your next shower but in the meantime, they’ll leave you looking and feeling as if you just got off the plane from San Tropez. Apply it sparingly on your cheeks, nose, forehead and chin where the suns rays would naturally leave an extra hint of color.

5. Oh Oh! Streak City
Your oh so perfect glow isn’t so perfect if you’ve ended up with a few unflattering smudges but this can be remedied faster than you can say “Oh my gosh, I’m orange!!” Get undressed and hop into the shower and scrub the smudges lightly with your exfoliating mitt. The key word in that sentence is ‘lightly’, the last thing you want to do is be brown everywhere else except for that darn spot you nearly scratched off your body. For a more stubborn streak, a cup of milk to a warm bath should do the trick as the lactic acids help to strip away some color.

A few days later and your skin will be the sweet shade of caramel and there will be one less thing to complain about when the winter rolls in.