Too pale for the beach???

moneypuddle

Hello

I have pale skin. I cope day to day with using garnier summer body on my arms, chest and neck and always wear make-up. On a night out (when I have a dress on) I will wear tan coloured tights. In spite of all this I will still feel pale.

I do not tan. I have tried sunbeds and they made no difference, spent four months living in Florida and came back to england still bottle white.

Now I'm going on holiday with my boyfriend in April and am really concerned about how pale I'll be on the beach. He has gorgeous olive skin. I've been for spray tans before but find they go patchy and dark and the armpits elbows and ankles become a very embarrassing patchy mess.

Is there anything, any products that anyone can recommend. Maybe I should learn to embrace my white skin but I've not managed for the first 25 years of my life :-(

Ps sorry for any errors - am on my iPhone

nikki2804

moneypuddle wrote: »

Hello

I have pale skin. I cope day to day with using garnier summer body on my arms, chest and neck and always wear make-up. On a night out (when I have a dress on) I will wear tan coloured tights. In spite of all this I will still feel pale.

I do not tan. I have tried sunbeds and they made no difference, spent four months living in Florida and came back to england still bottle white.

Now I'm going on holiday with my boyfriend in April and am really concerned about how pale I'll be on the beach. He has gorgeous olive skin. I've been for spray tans before but find they go patchy and dark and the armpits elbows and ankles become a very embarrassing patchy mess.

Is there anything, any products that anyone can recommend. Maybe I should learn to embrace my white skin but I've not managed for the first 25 years of my life :-(

Ps sorry for any errors - am on my iPhone

It sounds like the tan is sticking to areas of dry skin which makes it go darker. Before a spray tan you need to make sure that you have exfoliated well at least 24 hours before hans and also are well moisturised. The tan should then apply evenly.

I'm paler than a milk bottle but find that Fake Bake gives a lovely even colour. HTH

Fuzzy_Duck

Honestly, I am of the opinion pale skin should be embraced. I've always been pale, and I only ever burn rather than tan. I always ensure I wear high factor sun screen, light cover ups and a hat/parasol in hot weather to protect my skin. I do get the occasional comments about how pale I am and a few jokes about all the sun screen I slather on and my parasol, but I get the last laugh when everyone around me is sunburnt and uncomfortable. Besides, it's pretty sad if people are that bothered about your paleness- it's their problem, not yours, and it'd be a boring world if we all looked the same and liked the same things.

I do find flattering makeup always helps as it stops you looking so ghost-like, as does having warm tones in your hair and avoiding black clothing which only intensifies your paleness. It's also important to moisturise your skin to keep it looking good as any dryness/marks are a lot more apparent on pale skin. I sometimes apply a gradual tanning lotion to my legs a couple of times to make them a little less grey-looking after winter, but that's about it. I much prefer subtle, shimmery lotions to tanning lotions as I think it just makes pale skin look a lot worse if not done perfectly.

I think the thing to remember is that it all comes down to fashion at the end of the day and you shouldn't feel you HAVE to be tanned. After all, there was a time where pale skin was beautiful as it meant you were posh enough not to be toiling in the fields all day! And remember pale skin will keep it's youth a lot longer than scraggy sunburnt skin (because at the end of the day, a suntan is simply evidence that you've damaged your skin- not very attractive!)

nic_santorini

I am a ginger, thus pale and went for factor 30 in Jamaica, no pre-colouring, I thought I was getting 'a tan' (some freckles) until I saw a video of my husband and I climbing up Dunns River Falls - wow my legs were so white that the light was bouncing off them and back onto the lense!! Even my hubby commented how white I was. Oh well - it was nice to look different. If it is good enough for Nicole Kidman, its good enough for me.

glowgirl_2

You could try MAC face and body make up, it wont make you darker but can add warmth and even out your skin tone, you could go a few shades darker than you are naturally but not much more than that, its waterproof (ish) too, or how about the leg make up I think its Sally Hanson that you spray on its a bit like a foundation for legs thats supposed to be waterproof too, my best suggestion would be buy yourself some professional fake tan in the right strength for you and practice applying it yourself that way your in control and as the previous poster said moisturise and exfoliate your skin in preparation, different skin types and colours take to fake tan in different ways its not one type fits all, lets me know if you decide to do this and need some help:)

jenniewb

I'd be more concerned about preventing sun damage myself! I also have very pale skin, never tans. I don't tend to go to the beach (mainly it has to be said as I never have either the time or money!) but also because I would have to wear loads of SPF and keep it topped up all day long!

Although its not so trendy to be covered up, it could really help you out here, a cotton or silk based sarong rather then a nylon or man-made fiber one would still be cool enough to wear on a beach and could be a way out of having to go top-to-tail with the fake tan and SPF and maybe help with the worry that one may interact with the other or one may become patchy.

If you are set on fake tan though, maybe get a professional St Tropez done? I have only heard goos things about getting this branded tan done in a salon. I have never used it, I have only ever tried the Nivea or Johnsons gradual fake tanners which smelled like random biscuits and became blotchy after a shower despite me exfoliating religiously.

jaks111

there is a spray you can buy i tried it a couple of years ago as im really white it works well read some reviews on it
nit to sure about the spelling something like zultch by steve whateley ( again noot to sure about the surname spelling anyway its in a gold coloured can similar to the size of hairspray costs about £16 i bought mine off ebay
good luck

Youdontseeme

jaks111 wrote: »

there is a spray you can buy i tried it a couple of years ago as im really white it works well read some reviews on it
nit to sure about the spelling something like zultch by steve whateley ( again noot to sure about the surname spelling anyway its in a gold coloured can similar to the size of hairspray costs about £16 i bought mine off ebay
good luck

Its Zhuzh, its basically a tan accelerator but seems little better than most.

I've not tried it myself but saw have seen a couple of presentations on Ideal World and read the reviews on their website, most people seem to like it, and being a bit blue myself if going away I would be very tempted to try it.

They also do what they call "best of both" which is the Zhuzh with a hint of fake tan,
http://www.idealworld.tv/Zhuzh_Best_of_Both_Tan_200ml_148165.aspx?fh_location=//idealworld/en_GB/categories@lt;{idealworld_8006}/brand_iw@gt;{zhuzh} which might be what you need but remember to use any accelerator at least two weeks before you go to "wake up" your skin and
NO LESS THAN FACTOR 30 AT ALL TIMES!!!!

vixarooni

Your pale, thats it. Nicola from girls aloud is pale and carrys it off well. I think you need to learn to love who you are, there are people in this world with burns on their body or massive birth marks who really have something to complain about.

warehouse

White skin is healthy, tanned skin is not healthy. Embrace it and wait for the rest of the world to wake up.

ali-t

I am very pale and tested out a new product recently and although I originally thought it would be too dark, it was so easy to use and the colour was dark but not fake looking. I often find that darker tans either look orange on me or make me look grubby. http://www.he-shi.eu/productdetails.asp?ProdID=1466 this one isn't cheap but I got it as a product test from Glamour magazine and am now a convert.