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I am pale. When you're a redhead, you can usually get away with it. The fact that I don't have many freckles on my body just plays up the whiteness. I've had several orange-y bouts with self-tanner. (Yes, I exfoliated.) I tried several brands when I was younger, and everything went orange on me. Even most foundations looked too peachy on my skin. Pink lipstick looked coral on my lips. The aestheticians at Clinique and Estee Lauder didn't know quite what to do with me.
My Irish grandmother has had several cancerous moles removed, and with a family history like that, basting myself in tanning oil and lying in the sun is not a smart option. Although I've sorted out some makeup I can wear and not look like a cantaloupe, pale still seems to be my destiny.
This summer I have several nice events coming up, events at which I will be wearing dresses and do not wish to be wearing stockings. I tried on one dress and while I was inspecting myself in the mirror, I saw a tiny varicose vein. My first. In my eyes, it looked like a giant inkblot on a sheet of white paper.
I am young. A varicose vein is unacceptable. Something must be done to camouflage that thing, and short of body makeup, the only way to do it is to reduce the contrast between the vein and the skin.
Self-tanner still frightens me and now that I've actually seen firsthand what bad skin cancer can do to a girl, I know I'm not hitting the tanning beds. I hit the local Walgreens instead, and picked up a bottle of Nivea Body Sun-Kissed Firming Moisturizer, the "Fair to Medium Skin" variety.
(Confession: I bought this brand over the other brands' similar products because it was on sale.)
The bottle claims that the lotion will darken my fair skin gradually and that it may take several applications before I notice a difference. This pleased me because I figured I could stop while I was peach and not progress to orange.
I tried it on just my legs first - I'll wear jeans in the summer, but not long sleeves. I did notice a change the day after the first application - I think I had either rubbed too hard on my knees or not exfoliated enough, because they looked darker than the rest of my legs. So for the next two days I avoided the knees and soon my calves and thighs reached a similar color.
I don't look like a beach bunny, but it's been a week and so far, I haven't been asked to give a blood specimen to test for jaundice. I started using the lotion on my arms two days ago and haven't noticed a huge change yet, but it's just enough that I feel sort of glow-y and not like a ghost when I walk into the sun.
I can still see my varicose vein a little bit. I can't say my skin looks or feels any firmer than it did before I started on this firming moisturizer. And while it doesn't have the strong chemical smell of the self-tanners I've used, it's still not a sweet perfume. But I'm definitely going to keep it up. This is a great product for fair-skinned women who don't like skin cancer or the color orange.
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This blog is not sponsored by or affiliated with Nivea products, although should the people from Nivea want to contact the author and give her free things, they are welcome to do so. She will probably enjoy them very much.
