All The Glow of a Sunless Tan, Without the Smell of a Sunless Tan
I am a pale person, generally, but my legs are at least two shades paler than the rest of me. It’s something I’m self-conscious about, but that’s where self-tanner comes in. I like to use a gradual tan moisturizer on just my legs, and I don’t like to spend a ton of money. For my purposes, a drugstore bottle of tanning lotion is perfectly fine, but there’s nothing wrong with spending more, and if I was going for a whole body, ultra-bronzed look, I’d absolutely buy a higher end product. But drugstore products are getting better all the time, and once the higher end formulas trickle down to drugstore brands, well, we all win.
The latest tanning innovation is tanning waters, and concentrated drops you add to any moisturizer. The waters, I’m wary of - you can’t tell where you applied, and the risk of splotchy color seems high. The drops, however, speak to me, especially now that Jergens has their own version, so I don’t have to splash out on the fancy ones without any idea if they work.
Sol by Jergens is a mini-line of sunless tanners, including a water, drops, towelettes, and a bronzer. I got the drops and the bronzer (more on that one later) and I’m a big fan. One of the main traits of sunless tanner is the smell. The scent comes from DHA, which is the ingredient that makes the tan happen (the chemical doesn’t smell, the reaction with your skin cells that makes the color happen is what smells, but who cares, smell is smell). You can cover it up with other scents, but you can’t take it out of your product, becasue it IS the product. It doesn’t smell terrible, but it does smell distinct, and since you need to re-apply sunless tanner to keep that glow going, the smell never really fades away until you stop using the product. BUT! Tan science has advanced, and now there are truly stank-free sunless tanners, including the Sol by Jergens line.
Sidenote: I tried to do some research to figure out why this stuff doesn’t have the telltale smell, while still using DHA, and honestly I don’t know. I think it’s natural DHA vs like, non-natural DHA? But I couldn’t easily figure out what non-natural DHA is made of, or if that’s even the difference. I refuse to spend any more time Googling this!
The Sol by Jergens Deeper by the Drop Serum is a concentrated self-tanner that you add to any moisturizer. you add drops based on how much tan you want, so it’s a one bottle fits all shades formula. I tried it with both the Trader Joe’s Hydrating Hyaluronic Gel Cream (reviewed here) and Jergens Shea Butter Lotion, and I’d recommend a thicker lotion to a more lightweight moisturizer, but only because I felt like the drops were easier to spread with a thicker lotion - I didn’t actually notice any splotchiness or streaks with different carrier lotions. Then again, i was using just four or five drops.
The back of the bottle has a guide for how many drops to add for varying levels of color. I stuck with about 5 drops, but I applied it for a few days in a row. I didn’t look tan, but my legs matched the rest of my body, and the color was consistent - exactly what I was looking for. Even more impressively, I didn’t smell like I’d used sunless tanner. I can’t speak for using 15 drops, maybe then you get an odor, but using 5 drops on each leg, four days in a row, I never once smelled like I’d been fake tanning. I used this product before bed, and my sheets smelled perfectly fine (anyone who has experienced sunless tanner sheets knows this is a Big Deal).
Even application, controlled color, a bottle that will last virtually forever, AND no telltale smell? These drops are my new Holy Grail Sunless Tanner.
