ReZoom

Find out the results of ReZoom's tireless quest to find the tan in a tube sure to impress even the most jaded former sun worshiper.When it comes to coveted summertime accessories, golden, tanned skin tops the list. After all, tans make us look healthier and slimmer and prevent that all-too-unfortunate blinding white hue of newly exposed legs and arms in summer's barer fashions. However, when it comes to tanning, at this point in our lives and scientific discovery, we're also old enough to know better. Between skin cancer and prematurely aged skin, baking beneath a blazing sun just isn't worth the risks.

Unfortunately, even people who don't want to risk the sun's harmful rays usually miss that golden glow of summer and find the infamous orange tone most associated with self-tanning products a poor replacement. Luckily, here at ReZoom, we've road-tested a few products at varying price points to find the tan in a tube sure to impress even the most jaded former sun worshiper.

Big Spenders

For the top of the line in spray-on tans, the dominant trend today involves finding a professional to apply your tan for you via airbrush. In cities like L.A., the best spray-on tan technicians can have client waiting lists that rival America's elite universities.

Lucky for me, Nashville doesn't quite compare to Los Angeles (in that sense at least), so I had no problem booking an appointment for my tan application ($35) at the Athena Health Club & Day Spa in Brentwood.

Now, a professionally sprayed-on tan is not for the modest. Most people completely disrobe so as not to have tan lines, and keeping clothes on at all can be ill-advised since the tanning formula will stain whatever you are wearing during the application.

Having the tan sprayed on is a pretty quick process (about ten minutes), but waiting for it to dry afterwards (another ten or 15 minutes) can seem endless when you're standing in the back of a spa without clothes on. But, you do have to stand there. Even after fifteen minutes of drying time, I still found stains on my clothes from the tanner when I got home.

In the end, though, it was all worth it. My "tan" was beautiful and natural-looking. (Co-workers who didn't know that I'd headed out to the spa for the afternoon thought I'd been lying on a beach or inside a tanning bed instead.) Plus, it did last for almost the entire two weeks the technician promised.

I do wish I'd done more maintenance on my tan though. The fake tan fades from some areas of the body before others, so after week two, I had a few dark patches that stood out from the rest of my skin – with "spotted" not exactly being the look I was going for.

Middle of the Road

For a slightly less expensive glow, we gave Sunburst Body Beaded Bronzing Lotion with Self-Tanner ($39) from Tarte Cosmetics, a New York based company, a go. Tarte touts a "patented technology" complete with "mini bronzing beads in the lotion that burst on contact with skin," but our tested discovered that this product was less burst, and more dud.

"[The beads] multiply long past the emollient phase meant to give them foundation for movement and consequently ball up into long strands which you have to wash off," she said. "Not fun."

Fortunately, Jiffy Tan ($24) from Benefit Cosmetics fulfilled its promise "to go on evenly and stay put" while also looking great.

"Jiffy Tan goes on easily, without streaking, is not greasy and does the job intended. It's a quick fix for pale skin," our tester says. "It stayed on the entire day without rubbing and came off easily in the shower."

Bargain Hunters

When it comes to the drug store brands that you know and love, L'Oreal's Sublime Bronze Any Angle Self-Tanning Spray ($13.12) earned the lowest marks from our tester.

"It goes on like finely-sprayed lard and stays on the skin so long, only someone without a job could hang around clothes-less waiting for it to dry," she says. "Plus, it settled in a way that showed the lines in my legs."

Neutrogena's Micro Mist Tanning Sunless Spray ($11.49) fared better in our test and seemed to live up to its claim of applying "like an airbrush."

"The mist is very fine and seems closest to the kind found in salons," our tester says. "It goes on easily and dries immediately, so you have to wait to see where the color lands to fill in the blanks."

With Neutrogena, "This could be a two person job," she adds.

Of the cost-conscious tanning alternatives, Coppertone Sunless Tanning Moisture Mist Tan ($8.59) was the clear favorite.

Even though "the color is like most other tanning sprays – a bit orangey," according to our tester, it "had more of a moisturizing effect on the skin" and was "the best of the three spray tanners."