Thread: Spray Tan or Au Naturale? Fair ladies, speak up!

Okay, I have blindingly white skin. I mean, you can see the glare off my legs from orbit.

So, if you have super-fair skin, do you spray tan before performances? I've gone through phases where I did, then didn't... Right now I'm at this "inbetween" where if I have several things coming up I will, but otherwise it isn't worth my time. I prefer the spray tan booths over the can of tan because I usually end up with streaks & splotches with a can. That's alright if it's just for restaurant because it's so dark in there anyway, but for daytime or stage, the lights would give me away.

Just curious!

I've never been a huge fan of faux tans - be they from sprays, wipes, or lotions. I have really sensitive skin, and tend to feel greasy and gross after applying.

I'm fairly comfortable in my pale-ness, but I usually select costumes that don't show my legs... for fear of blinding the audience.

I'm really interested to see what all the other pigment-challenged gals have to say.

I tanned for a while, but it was too messy, ruined my costumes, made me smell funny (I hate fake tan smell), and just never looked natural on me (I'm super pink-undertone fair with tons of freckles).

Now I just use a gold shimmer lotion and make sure to wear super bright jewel tones to make the contrast between my costume and skin bigger so you can see my legs from orbit in another universe!

The photos on my website are all sans-tan so people know what they are getting when I show up. I've never had a complaint that I was too pale.

If you look at the video in my profile, that is a performance with absolutely no fake tan and with lleg showing. Makes me "pop" on stage with the bold green color :P

Au naturale for me. I never use fake tans and I stay out of the sun obsessively.

Au naturally lilly-white here, too. I've contemplated the faux tan...but my skin is extra sensitive and with my luck, I'd end up with an entire body rash...or I'd just end up looking like an oompa loompa. Instead of trying to hide my legs, I have embraced my "pale-ness" and also tend to wear more jewel tone colors.

I vote for going with your natural coloring, unless you prefer the way you look tan. There's nothing wrong with being pale! Just select costume colors that work with your skin and hair coloring.

I was told by another dancer that if I didn't tan, I couldn't work as a restaurant dancer. I did use tanning lotion for a few months, but it was too much of a pain; plus I hate the smell. Now I don't bother. Nobody noticed when I stopped using it.

I do choose costuming colors carefully. I'm often tempted to say "this would look so great on me if I had a tan!" but realistically, I don't have a tan. I have 2 colors- "underside of a dead fish" and burned. There is no tan.

Another fair skinned gal here. I also go natural and, like others mentioned, choose jewel or deep tones to compliment my skin and hair.

I get pretty bad farmers "tans" in the summer, but typically it's along the bra strap line and on the arms... places where I can put a strap or arm band or something to hide the line while performing. I know you can use makeup to cover this up, but I just don't bother with it... I'd sweat it all off anyway!

I am ghost white too, but I sail on Lake Erie every summer. By the end of August, no matter how much sunscreen I've applied, my arms and legs are darker than my torso, because I don't expose my belly when I'm sailing. So when I look like that, I turn to mesh belly covers.

When I'm pale all over, I'm just pale.

Originally Posted by crystalllized

If you look at the video in my profile, that is a performance with absolutely no fake tan and with lleg showing. Makes me "pop" on stage with the bold green color :P

I LOVE green on me and others with light skin.

PS Your hair is so pretty and is as long as mine... go longhairs!

When I've been slacking off on exercise, etc. I do like to have some semblance of a tan, it tricks me into thinking that I look slimmer!
I used to use a self-tanner, then I started using a cream bronzer (Lorac Tantalizer) which I like the color of but dislike getting it on my hands. Now I've begun using Laura Gellar's baked bronzer, which has a large puff that makes it easy to put on dry or damp without getting my hands dirty. With the bronzers, I can go back to being my pale self on days that I'm a "civilian".
On others, I do love pale skin but I think I look slightly better with a hint of color.

I figure it would take so much fake tan to get me to a shade that other people would consider tanned it's just not worth the effort and I bet I'd ruin my costumes. So it's pale for me.

I used to use Sally Hansen Airbrush Legs to even out my skin tone before applying glitter, but they stopped making it in pasty white girl colour so now I use the lightest shade they have diluted with body lotion and a bit of foundation. Anyone have any other product suggestions?

My real tan is reddish or greyish depending on how old it is - if it hadn't had nearly 50 years in the highest UV on the planet, my skin would be translucent. I'm not quite as white as some of my Irish cousins but I am pale. I never go very dark, just weathered-looking.

I don't like my skin with a tan, fake or otherwise, and so I never ever ever ever ever try. Being luminescent is good!

When I was younger I had to have my foundation mixed to match because I couldn't buy a shade which was light enough. My forearms and face are now a little darker - think shade 3 on a 1 - 10 scale - but still very light. I don't use tanner. I will use glitter which helps to mitigate the difference, but tanner is simply on more thing i have to deal with and in my life, I simply don't' have the time.

{{{HUGS}}}

Originally Posted by ssipes

Au naturale for me. I never use fake tans and I stay out of the sun obsessively.

This.

I've never understood the OBSESSION some people have with tans.

I find pale skin to be beautiful - but I'm prejudiced. My wife and I are both VERY fair...

zorba - post industrial revolution, tans became a status symbol. This meant that you had time to pursue leisure activities out in the sun as opposed to having to sweat away in a factory somewhere. Women changed their nail colour from pink to red because red goes better witha tan than pink. we are talking about the beginning of the 20th century.

And if anyone wants to see what has been said about this subject before, here are a couple of threads:

Rockin' the Alabaster Look

Plight of the pasty north-girl....

Fake tans

I am sure there are more. Some are quiet amusing!

{{{HUGS}}}

Well, I have to admit--I don't mind going pale but in the summer or after a stint of eating dessert obsessively (which is almost always) I do think I look a bit better with a little color. Mostly because of the illusion of slim-ness.

I used to try fake tans with lotions and such, but it was just too much work and I don’t think it did my complexion any favors. I have just let myself be pale for a long time. I finally found makeup that’s light enough for me, so that helps.

I am also appliance-white. I just roll with it...but it may be easier because I live in a place where people use whitening creams and aspire to being paler.

I also simply don't like the idea of putting more chemicals on my skin. It absorbs enough crap as it is.

I am very fair as well. Whenever I buy foundation or cover-up, it's always in the lightest shade they make. I don't tan and I wear sunscreen even in winter, but in costumes I like the way I look with just a hint of color - never what anyone would consider a "tan".

When I have a gig coming up, I use one of those very gradual tanning lotions a couple of days in a row. It gives just enough color to take the edge off the paleness.

Right now I'm using a foam called Jergen's Natural Glow, which is pretty good. I used to use a spray by L'Oreal called Sublime Bronze. It was a really good product, it released a very fine mist (I stood inside my shower with the shower doors closed so it didn't get everywhere) that gave really light, even coverage. I haven't been able to find it lately, though.

My teacher brings it always up, what are your doing with your skincolour. I'm very white.
She liked tanned, me don't. I'm always as my self, white.

Originally Posted by tahiradancer

zorba - post industrial revolution, tans became a status symbol. This meant that you had time to pursue leisure activities out in the sun as opposed to having to sweat away in a factory somewhere. Women changed their nail colour from pink to red because red goes better witha tan than pink. we are talking about the beginning of the 20th century.

And if anyone wants to see what has been said about this subject before, here are a couple of threads:

Rockin' the Alabaster Look

Plight of the pasty north-girl....

Fake tans

I am sure there are more. Some are quiet amusing!

{{{HUGS}}}

I find this to be very very interesting because my husband's family (they are chinese) is obsessed with light skin and I often see older chinese people with huge hats to protect from tanning. I don't want to sound like I'm generalizing by any means, but my husband's family tells me that for chinese and vietnamese people, darker skin is related with lower status because of working out in the fields. So to them, light skin is the status symbol.

To answer the question, I don't care for tans, and I can tan. I am a very light skinned latina girl, not white but very light and my legs are very pale. I don't think risking skin cancer is worth it and I try to stay out of the sun as much as possible (plus it is horrible for the skin!). And I also don't like going through the hassle of tanning lotions. I ruined a white costume like that. I also opt for glitter spray or lotion, especially gold glitter.

Originally Posted by Aesera

I find this to be very very interesting because my husband's family (they are chinese) is obsessed with light skin and I often see older chinese people with huge hats to protect from tanning. I don't want to sound like I'm generalizing by any means, but my husband's family tells me that for chinese and vietnamese people, darker skin is related with lower status because of working out in the fields. So to them, light skin is the status symbol.

I don't think it's an unfair generalization. I see it here in Japan and there was recently a cross-post on Racialious about whitening cremes (and more) in Asian cultures/countries.

DISGRASIAN OF THE WEAK! Vagina Whitening (That

As an ultrawhite dancer... and I do mean ULTRAwhite.... I can tell you NOTHING would look natural on me anyway. I don't bother attempting to look tan on any part of me, via spray, sun, or tanning bed. I'd rather my skin look healthy than darker... It would never be noticed, let alone appreciated, anyway.

I've rarely met anyone who was truly put off by my whiteness. (Racism aside, and let's face it, if they don't like white people they're not going to be fooled by a tan!)

I think whether in everyday life or on a stage, we do best when we start with the base we were given.

(Or maybe I'm just not patient enough for full-body makeup- that's possible too. )

And Ozma.... Wow. That link is officially the most disturbing thing I've seen all week.

DISGRASIAN OF THE WEAK! Vagina Whitening (That[/QUOTE]

*screams*

Originally Posted by ozma

I don't think it's an unfair generalization. I see it here in Japan and there was recently a cross-post on Racialious about whitening cremes (and more) in Asian cultures/countries.

DISGRASIAN OF THE WEAK! Vagina Whitening (That

I saw the promotion of whitening creams in the very Middle Eastern Jewish neighborhood I used to live in. All of those beautiful skin tones, I simply didn't get it. Intellectually I understand, but on a deeper level, I just can't grock it!

{{{HUGS}}}

No-Nonsense pantyhose, sheer to the waist----very thin ( no one can tell i'm wearing them---even dancers!!). They cover white legs and veins!!

7000% Scottish/Irish/English white stock here. And VEHEMENTLY anti-tanning products. I find them almost as disturbing as skin-whitening creams (almost, but not quite).

I've had quite a bit of pressure to tan over the years, particularly because I'm very dark-haired and dark-eyed and love me some ridiculous colours. (Yes, I WILL wear neon orange and no I SHALL NOT apply any fake tan to wear them. DO not like? Avert eyes, kthnxbai)

I think no-one, ever, ANYWHERE should be ashamed of their skin colour or made to change it. So there.

I am quite pale too, but if I bothered to tan, I don't burn but go very dark (thank you for the genes, granny!). However, I really don't bother. It is easier not to schedule tanning bed appointments and to stay out of the sun I actually like the contrast between my skin and costumes (even though it does limit my costume choices) both on stage and on photos.