The New Way To Fake-Bake #CocoaBrownTan

Press Sample.  All opinions are my own.

Hello, Fireflies!

When I was growing up, tanning was all the rage.  My friends and I would slather on whatever we though would get us tan the fastest - from baby oil to Crisco! My pasty-white skin never tanned, but boy, did I smell delicious while my skin was cooking!

I remember the first fake-tan product my mom brought home.  It was a Quinine-based product that turned my skin a nice golden orange color. Nope, nope, nope.  As an adult, I know now how bad real tanning is for the skin, and after trying a couple of tanning products that either left me orange, or smelled horrible, I accepted I'd always have translucent skin.  When Cocoa Brown asked me if I wanted to try their product, I was skeptical, to say the least.  Would it work, and be pleasant and easy to use?

If you're a newbie, like me, to self-tanning, let me heartily recommend getting an application mitt.  They're thin and flexible, and have a barrier so that you don't get tanning product on your palms.  Because tan palms look sooo natural. 

There are some tanning tips from Marisa on the bottle, which I appreciated.  I made sure that I did my shaving and exfoliating the day before I tried the tan, and had clean skin the day of.  I knew I wanted to tan my legs, but this is gentle enough to use all over the body, and even on the face, if you like.  There are no parabens in this product, and it's cruelty-free, too.

The product is a mousse, light and airy, with a brown color to it, so you can see where you've applied the product.  I can't tell you how helpful this is.  My husband helped me apply this on my legs, and he needed all the help he could get.  Unfortunately, he didn't think my toes needed to be tan, so he stopped just short of them...leaving me with a very strange tan line!

I have to say, it was harder getting accurate pictures of this than I thought it would be! I used a white background and took the pictures in the same location, with help from a daylight bulb, but it was still hard to really show the color development.  I hope you can see, though, that after 3 hours, I had a nice, healthy-looking, golden glow on my legs.  I was so pleased that it looked natural, and even though I didn't tan anywhere else, it didn't look weird or disjointed.

I took some pictures of the development of the tan, after each hour, but because of the color of the mousse, it's hard to see if it's changing.  So, don't get discouraged if you can't see a lot happening when you use this. 

I have to say, I'm a total convert to Cocoa Brown Tan.  It didn't smell bad AT ALL.  It is supposed to have a gardenia scent, but I didn't notice any strong scent.  The mousse goes on easily, and you can see where you've applied.  It dries really quickly -  I was watching TV on the couch while I tanned, and it didn't get rubbed off or stain where my legs were resting.

Best of all, in 3 hours, I had a lovely, light, natural tan.  As I write this, 5 days later, I still have a nice color to my legs! I'm definitely going to be rockin' a Cocoa Brown tan on my legs all summer long.

I took inspiration from the bright pink, striped bottle for my mani today.  I just love the colors, and how it all came together on my nails.  The hot pink base is Michael Marcus Paradise Pink, and then I used white, black, and light pink stripers for the stripes.

If you'd like more information, or to purchase, you can find Cocoa Brown on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and on their website.  They're also being carried at Ricky's NYC, where the mousse retails for $13.99, and the mitt is $6.99.