• the beauty phile

Faux Glow

Channel your (safe) bronze bombshell with spray tanning.

BY KAREN BUSCEMI

While I love the bronze goddess look that is synony-
mous with summer, I don't have the patience to build
a tan, preferring to squeeze my sunning into one ses-
sion, which results in charring my pasty skin to a just-
pinched red. Knowing a few too many sun worshipers
who were diagnosed with skin cancer and now have
to spend any significant time outdoors in hats and
long sleeves, I decided to investigate a safer way to go
golden: spray tanning.
I went to Club Soleil, in Royal Oak, to give its
Magic Tan booth a try The instructions were quite
clear: Cover hair with fashionable plastic bonnet, rub
supplied barrier cream onto areas I don't want tan,
then step into the booth, close the door and hit the
start button. Check, check and check. I stood in the
booth, which made me feel a tad claustrophobic, fac-
ing the jets, which sprayed from bottom to top. It was
a little freaky to get sprayed in the face, but then again,
I don't like anything coming at my face, be it a fist, a
bee or a perfectly good drink. Once the jets finished
their first pass, I had a couple of seconds to turn to the

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side, getting into a "running man" position, before the
process started again. Once all four sides were coated,
I stepped out, rubbed the excess solution into my skin
and checked myself out in the mirror: tropically tan in
one minute. And then I caught sight of my feet — my
very brown feet. I had forgotten to put barrier cream
on the soles. Oops. Mental note: Take time using the
barrier cream, getting it everywhere tan shouldn't be.
Club Soleil, which offers a two-for-$30 spray-booth
deal, has a video of a spray tan on its Web site for those
who could use a more detailed primer before stepping a
(barrier cream-covered) foot into the booth: check out
clubsoleil.biz.
I would definitely use the booth again, although
next time, I'm going to try airbrush tanning, which
is what the A-listers do before hitting the red carpet.
SprayChic Airbrush Tanning will take its pop-up tent,
lighting and airbrush to its clients for $47 (it's $27 if
you drive to its Farmington Hills location). It takes five
to 10 minutes for the technician to apply the formula.
The bonus of the airbrush: They can add shadow to

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emphasize cleavage and add definition to abs and legs.
Fabulous! Find out more at spraychic.com .
Both methods require exfoliation before the applica-
tion, and an eight-hour waiting period for the tan to
activate before showering. Keeping skin moisturized
and not exfoliating will help the color last about a
week.