MAKEUP RULES: Fake bake

June 05. 2013 1:00AM
By Bobby Walsh (The Real King Bob), Weekender Correspondent 

Fake your way to a healthy glow this summer by staying out of the tanning beds and replacing all that beautiful, yet harmful, sun with self tanning products. The future of self tanners has arrived: no more bright orange skin, sticky messes, stained hands, and nasty odor. Get that sunkissed look and keep it all summer with these easy steps and amazing products from Fake Bake.
Step one is to exfoliate, exfoliate, exfoliate. The use of a loofah makes things much quicker and efficient, but the products you use in the shower really do play an important role in prepping and maintaining that tan. Make sure your body wash is in the oil-free family and has exfoliating beads in it; the oils in the body wash will affect the spraytan in a negative way. Oils will create a barrier on the skin, preventing the tanner to penetrate. Also, once the tan is on, any oil based products will draw the pigment of the tanner out of the skin, making it not last as long. (Just like if you put a lip gloss over a lip stain, it's not going to last). Fake Bake brand has a passion fruit body polish ($14) that is designed to go hand-in-hand with the self tanner, and smells amazing.
Next, dry off really well and make sure you do not put any other products on the skin, especially any type of fragrance, deodorant or body lotion. The Fake Bake products are organic and have a color guard (tinted base) in them that works with the self-adjusting formula and will react with any synthetic products on the skin, creating an unwanted green cast.
Now it's time to apply the self tanner. I suggest using Flawless selftanning liquid from Fake Bake; it comes with a velvet mitt that you can use to apply the product directly to your body without making a mess on your hands. The total application will only take five minutes and because of the tinted base you can see where the product is applying.
I suggest small circular motions, like you're buffing that tanner right onto yourself. Fake Bake flawless ($26) dries quickly, so you can get dressed just minutes after. I suggest keeping the Flawless on for six to eight hours before washing off, or do it at night and sleep in it! The next morning wash it off, allowing the color guard to rinse off and reveal the natural customized tan that works with your own natural melanin so that you have a rich brown tan, and guarantees you're not orange!
Finally, reapply after four to six days to keep that tan going strong, and just make sure to keep that skin hydrated and protected with at least SPF 30. Also, ensure all of your maintenance products are oil free!
Tip: Fake Bake also makes a new 60 min tanning liquid that only takes one hour to process for a light tan, two hours for a medium tan, and a maximum of three hours for a dark tan!
Trick: Take the remainder self tanner that is on your mitt and gently rub your face to give you a subtle glow without packing on the face tanner!