Top Beauty Tips for Perfect Self Tanner Application

Kendra Richards, Los Angeles Celebrity Makeup Artist:

Hi I'm Kendra Richards. I am a Los Angeles-based celebrity makeup artist and I am going to give you beauty tips and demonstrate the best way to do a spray self-tanner.

So I'm going to begin by spraying and then blending out the self tanner. That's the important thing to keep streaks from happening. You really want to just blend it out really well. The important thing too, to remember when you're using self-tanner, is to really focus on preparation.

Beauty tips: Before you use the self tanner, you really want to exfoliate well in the shower with a good loofah. Then use some moisturizer on the roughest areas of your skin that would absorb more of the self-tanner if they weren't already moisturized, like your elbows, ankles, your knees, and even around your feet and toes, because those areas tend to be a little bit drier and they absorb more of the self tanner than the other areas and later come out darker if you're not careful. If you don't allow it five minutes to wait to absorb into the skin, you won't get the tan effect you're looking for. And when you put that lotion on you want to put it on and give yourself a good five minutes or so to let it absorb into the skin.

More beauty tips: Apply this perhaps in your shower, since it's tinted. I really like to make sure that I finish the arms by getting the underarm area, because I really like that seamless look as opposed to a really white underarm that really stands out. Another thing here is, because I'm doing Rachel's self-tanner, I'm going ahead and doing her stomach now. But if Rachel was doing this herself, it would be better for her to do her stomach after she does her legs, so that when she is bending over that she doesn't get lines in her stomach from where she had to lean over to get her legs. Also, it's important to wait a good five to ten minutes before you go and get dressed so that you can also prevent streaking. Blending it in is really important, so you want to blend it in with your hand. Also, you've got to wash your hands off really well when you're done so that you don't have orange palms.

Again, just spraying it and make sure you get the insides too. When you get to the knees, the great thing is if you prep this really well you've already got that lotion that's absorbing into the knee, so that it doesn't take too much of the self-tanner on and doesn't get darker than the rest of the body. Also, you've put that lotion on the feet so that will help it to have a more even application all the way down the leg. Careful to blend around the knees, legs and on the feet and again this has been prepped with lotion so it's not going to absorb too much of the product. You should wait about five to ten minutes and then you can go ahead and get dressed.