The Tanning Files Chapter 3: A Bronze Spritz? L'Oreal Sublime Bronze Sun Splash Medium Review

So, this is just a heads up, this particular Tanning Files post will be a tad longer than the ones to come only because I did a horrid attempt at this self tanner last week and I just had to show you all the photos (which you can click to make them larger)


These photos are from my first attempt from last week with my L'Oreal Sublime Bronze Sun Splash in Medium. Honestly, I didn't even photograph my arms, they didn't look bad, or whatever but the fact that I was SO dissatisfied with my hands and feet are all the evidence that I needed.

The instructions on the bottle are pretty basic, cleanse & exfoliate skin, apply bronzer, smooth onto skin and apply less product to knees, elbows and ankles. Allow product to fully dry before putting on clothing. Repeat until desired color is reached.

On my first attempt, I'm not going to lie, I didn't rub it in. I didn't feel it was necessary. Clearly. It was:

Now after seeing the result of not following the instructions, I let this tan fully fade away and I attempted this again. This time I followed the instructions, except rather than rubbing this in with my bare hand I used a mitt, so I'm not walking around with stained palms. I sprayed the product onto my body then rubbed in tanner with the mitt on my hand. Previous to this though I moisturized and let it absorb. After rubbing in the tanner it did dry pretty quickly: Within 2-4 mins I was ready to put clothes on.

DAY ONE

This is what one application looks like:

 

My toe area came out really nice and evenly colored as you can see above (left) but the top of my foot (right) itself came out pretty much as if no self tanner was applied.

Look at this line down the middle of my arm! I promise you all that I rubbed thoroughly all over my whole body with what I thought at the time was too many sprays of the product!

I applied the tanner again the following evening after showering, moisturizing and before bed this is how it looks: (Keep in mind I went to town in applying this because after one application it barely looked like I had applied anything at all) The orangeness begins haha

DAY TWO

^This is how my arm looks naturally^

Overall this tanner is ok, I guess, only because it does do the job...sort of. Seriously though, like, this does perform well in that it does 'tan' your skin well but the application completely sucks. The product dries so fast that you don't really know where you've applied it. I think it sucks that it's clear when it's on the skin. I really wish it was slightly tinted so you know where you've put everything. I guess this would be a good product if you don't mind being extremely thorough and don't mind taking 25-30 mins just going over your whole body with a fine tooth comb to ensure that you got it everywhere fully. I just don't think it's worth all the effort needed to make sure your tan is perfect. I used this product 3 times and it's over half-gone. As for the smell, it's ok, when you first apply it, it's just a prefumey smell that slowly fades away to that normal fake tan smell, nothing too overwhelming. I 100% would not buy this product again.

You can see how my arms look normally, without sunless tanner here.