Beauty

1 Sephora purchase: Drunk Elephant D-Bronzi

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Drunk Elephant’s D-Bronzi was the only thing on my buy-list when the recent Sephora sale happened at the end of April. I’m at the bottom of the ladder when it comes to their point system, so I got 10% off my total purchase. Which was fine, because I wanted to have my freebie birthday gift mailed to me, since all stores are still closed (presumably) due to COVID.

It’s no surprise I love to self-tan and I’ve been doing so since 2011. I am pretty regular about it, minus a few months during the winter months. I like the way my skin looks when it has a sunkissed look to it.

Before purchasing anything, I always go ham and read every review under the sun about it. I was a bit hesitant at first when I heard someone recommend it, because although I’ve only tried one thing from Drunk Elephant in the past (last year’s Sephora birthday gift) it gave me a weird reaction and I haven’t used it since. So I was wondering what this D-Bronzi stuff was like, and why it received such high reviews on Sephora’s site: 4.5 out of 5!

Well folks, those reviews came through. I bought it, and it’s a game changer after only one use. I had already done my self-tan routine for my 40th birthday, but the tanner never seems to stick on my lower legs the last couple of years. Weird hey? My legs are just immune to the DHA now or what? Who knows. Either way, I applied my SPF50 sunscreen all over my legs, added a generous 5-6 pumps to each of my legs mixed with the sunscreen and holy boom did it ever look good. And you know what? It dried down to feel like my regular skin. No sticky feeling, no tacky, and it didn’t rub off on my clothes or fingers when I tried to see if it would lift. It also gave an unreal glow, making the legs look gooooooood. This is in the mid-day sun without a filter.

Look how dark it is! Keep in mind I do have self-tanner on my legs. I’m that dark because I have some self-tanner on my legs, with the Drunk Elephant D Bronzi layered over top for an extra amount of colour and glow.

Here’s a more subtle everyday approach, and what I’ll probably be doing the majority of the time. Applying a single pump to my facial moisturizer to give my skin an even glowy-sunkissed look.

BEFORE. All I have on in the before photo is eyebrow pencil, concealer, and I curled my eyelashes.

How much product I’m using.

Spreading it all around.

Directly after application. Still a little dewy but it does dry down.

 

 

Thoughts?? Have you tried it before?

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Daily

Tips to use self-tanner if you’re afraid to dive in

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I’m loving self-tanners. I waited until the 2010’s to start diving in, and I’ve been adding a bit of glow to my skin regularly for the past five years. Mainly because “back in the day” the tanners were streaky, a tad orange, and well….still a bit stinky (okay they still are stinky). I didn’t want to dive into a pool of orange streaks. But now that I’ve pretty much have the routine down pat, I thought I’d tell you what I know, so far.

Folks, it’s that final stretch of winter where we can almost see a glimpse of spring. I have a simple self-tanning hack that will bring your spring glow (not summer, ’cause we aren’t getting dark-dark here with this tanner hack).

All you need is a cream or liquid self-tanner (I favour the mousse formulas, but skip this for this tanning-hack), and your daily moisturizer. And gloves. Always wear gloves. That’s it.

Mix a dime sized amount of self-tanner with your moisturizer and apply to your face/neck. Repeat every morning until you start to see a bronzed tint appear, it doesn’t take long (a couple of days) for the colour to build up. Your end results end up being more of a subtle glow, and quite natural looking.

What tanner(s) do I use? I’ve been using these two in combination with one another for a few years: St. Moriz ($12) & Fake Bake Liquid ($32). Wait for an ULTA 20% off sale, and stock up then.

A bonus tip: during the hot summer months, consider storing your self-tanners in the fridge so they don’t go bad as quickly.

Hope this helps!

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Daily, Fashion, Health, Photos

St. Moriz vs. St. Tropez

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Alright. Change of plans folks!

Remember when I did a how to use at home self tanner post a few months back? I said my all time favorite self-tanner was a very expensive bottle of St. Tropez. You can get it at Sephora, but I have no idea where else you can purchase it. I think certain spa’s in Toronto carry it.

Well my friend, after going through three bottles of St. Tropez between 2011-2012, I have a much more inexpensive alternative. Wait. It’s not even an alternative. It’s way better and way cheaper. I purchased it for $5.00 on ebay from the seller beautybargins4u. I know that sounds absolutely crazy, swapping out a $50 bottle of St. Tropez for a $5 bottle of St. Moriz. Haha love the names of them, don’t you? They’re always St-something or others.

Why St. Moriz better:

  • It’s $45 cheaper
  • It has more of an olive based (though I admit, St. Tropez has an olived toned to it as well)
  • St. Moriz doesn’t smell as strong
  • It lasts just as long, in fact longer
  • It doesn’t wear off patchy (St. Tropez doesn’t either, though)
  • St. Moriz was easier to spread, even though they’re both mousse I felt that the St. Tropez dried up quicker on my skin and had to use more product

The link that I directed you to above, is a seller from the UK. So bare in mind that if you were to purchase it, it may take a while to get to you.

I’ve always gotten questions about whether or not very pale people can use self tanner. Of course you can! I would suggest not using a full pump on each part of your body like I do, to get a super summer dark color. For example, I use one full pump on my lower leg, one full pump on my upper leg, and so on.

Big thanks to Jen for introducing me to St. Moriz! I owe ya.

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