Tanning.

I have been getting a lot of questions about how I tan, where I tan, how often, what products I use, etc. so I wanted to blog about my experiences and what I personally do. (Remember, this is just what I do. I'm not telling you that you have to go out and do this. This is just my personal preference.)

What I Do: I tan in both the tanning bed and I spray tan.

 Since I'm already pretty dark and don't burn easily, I usually switch between the highest level regular bed (UVB bed) and the "bronzing" bed (UVA bed). The difference between a UVA and UVB bed is  that a UVA bed emits UVA rays and they penetrate your skin deeper giving you a darker, longer lasting tan. You need to have a decent base tan before using this bed though. A UVB bed can also get you a good tan, but the UVB rays that are emitted from this bed don't penetrate your skin as deeply and it doesn't last as long. The UVB bed will get you darker, the UVA bed will bronze you. I also switch between the lay down and stand up booth because if you only do the lay down it's hard to tan your armpits and you can also get white spots due to the pressure points on your back/butt.

There are two different types of spray tan booths available to use at my tanning salon.

The Versa Spa is my personal favorite. It's newer, more open (especially good for those that don't like confined spaces) and gives me great color payoff. I like that it has a built in heater and the tanning liquid is always distributed evenly.

The Mystic Tan booth isn't bad either, but like I said I use the Versa Spa much more often. The Mystic Tan booth is more closed in and it's a little more outdated. Supposedly you can get darker color using the Mystic Tan but I haven't noticed a difference.

For each spray tan booth there are 3 levels of color. 1 is the lightest color and 3 is the darkest. Because I already have a good tan, I always do level 3. This really helps darken my tan and gives me that extra boost of color. If you want to know more about spray tanning let me know in the comments below and I can write about the process, before, during, and after. :)

Where I Go: Currently I go to LA Tan. They have a ton of locations, great beds, and they're very close to my house. They have competitive pricing and are overall a great company. My favorite company is Ultimate Exposure as they have beds that are a little bit newer but they are much more expensive. I always get memberships as it's cheaper and they are billed to my credit card automatically each month.

How Often: I tan in the tanning bed 2-3 times per week and spray tan about once a week, sometimes once every 2 weeks.

What Products I Use: Currently I rotate between a bunch of different products. By rotating products, your body doesn't get used to one lotion and I can get over that "tanning plateau" and really achieve my darkest color. Here is a quick run down of what I've been using currently:

Goddess (Designer Skin): This tanning lotion is a tingle with a bronzer. It has 200x bronzers and decent tingle. Designer Skin's Goddess is an anti-aging and firming formula enriched with Vitamins A, C, E, and Avocado oil for healthier skin. Extreme tingle lotion increases microcirculation of the skin.

Trinity 3 (Devoted Creations): This lotion is an intense tingle, triple bronzer lotion with silicone emulsion. It does have a strong tingle so if you don't like tingle or have never used a tingle tanning lotion, I wouldn't recommend this. For people that have used a tingle lotion before and like a strong tingle, this lotion gives off amazing color and it's one of my favorites.

Saving Face (Designer Skin): This is a tanning lotion specifically for your face. It's fragrance free, hypoallergenic, enriched with CoQ-10, Vitamin C, Carrot Oil, and soothing botanical oils. It's potent antioxidants minimize the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. This lotion is super gentle on the face but still gives good color, even to acne prone people like me or people with sensitive skin.

Cherry Bomb Red Hot Dark Accelerator (Supre): This is another tingle tanning lotion. Out of all the tingle lotions I've used this is the most gentle tingle. I'm very used to tingle lotions so I can barely feel the tingle in this one. It's also a tanning accelerator which speeds up the tanning process and gives you great color.

Those are the top 4 lotions I'm using currently. I've used sooo many different lotions throughout my tanning experience (lol) so if you want a lotion review blog of all the lotions I've used, leave a comment and I'd be happy to do that. :)

Why I Tan: I tan because it makes me feel good about myself. Tanning is a confidence booster for me. I think everyone looks better with a little color on their skin. This is my personal opinion.

Here are some pics of my tan:

taken the other day (I use the heart sticker to see how tan I'm getting.)

tan stomach

my arm next to Tom's arm. (he doesn't go tanning.)

a pic of me with Lexi last year when I was spray tanning a lot.

Well I think I pretty much covered everything. If you want me to go more in depth with things like lotion reviews, tanning salon reviews, etc. let me know and I'd be happy to write a separate post about it. For all of my readers that also tan, let me know what you do and what products you use.

xo, Sarah

Beauty Things I Suck At!

I saw a "tag" on YouTube about "Beauty Things I Suck At" and thought it would be fun to tell you about mine. There are some beauty-related things I'm really good at, and some I struggle with, so without further adieu. . .

TIMING: It takes me forever to do my makeup. It's not that I wear an insane amount of makeup or anything, I just take forever to do it. I think that my OCD/perfectionism effects my timing a lot. Lol. This is especially true with my eye makeup. When I do different eye shadow looks or play up my eyes with bold colors/winged liner/etc. both of my eyes have to match EXACTLY. If I have a little more shadow on one eye, I have to fix it. If my winged liner is a tiny bit longer on one eye, I have to go back and do it again. It's tiring. ;)

EYEBROWS: ::shudder:: I hate doing my eyebrows. Of course I don't want to look like I have caterpillar eyebrows and I definitely don't want to rock the Borat unibrow, so I either get my eyebrows waxed or pluck them frequently. I read somewhere that your eyebrows are supposed to be "sisters" not "twins". For me, they have to be as close to "twins" as I can get them without over-plucking. This takes forever. Recently (within the last 6 months) I've started filling my eyebrows in to help make them look more similar. This is another thing I suck at. Either I use too much product and they end up looking too dark or too "big" and I have to wipe everything off and start all over. Hopefully I'll get better with time...

NAILS: I always have to have my nails painted. Even if it's just with a clear polish, they need to have something on them. (I do let them "rest" however, with nothing on them, in between polish changes. This is usually on a weekend day while I'm at home.) Anyway I'm horrible at staying on my actual nail. I'm right-handed so my left hand always looks great and my right hand always looks like crap. :( Haha.

True Story.

SHADE MATCHING: I'm really bad at shade matching foundation/concealer if I can't test it on myself before purchasing. It always looks so much different on my skin than it does in the packaging. I don't know if that's a unique problem or not but it seems to always happen to me. If I try a new foundation, 8 out of 10 times I'll pick the wrong shade. Because of this I'll usually only buy foundation from places that I can exchange or return it after opening it, such as CVS.

Those are 4 beauty-related things that I suck at. What beauty things do YOU suck at?? Comment below and let me know. :)

xo, Sarah

Mall Haul (Featuring my Grandma!)

Yesterday my Grandma took Tom, Lexi, and I to Yorktown Mall to do some shopping. My grandma and I used to go shopping all the time so this was a lot of fun to do again. Once again, she spoiled us and was so good to us. I am so thankful to have such a close relationship with my grandma and be able to do fun mall days, lunches, etc. with her. She has seen me go through most of my struggles and has loved me regardless, and I am so grateful for that. She is an amazing woman. ♥

Here is what she bought me:

My first, and favorite thing is this gorgeous sleeveless denim vest with studs. I'm obsessed. :)

Studded Sleeveless Denim Vest- Forever 21- $27.80

(Vest price tag. Had to mess with the clarity because it was blurry. Sorry!!)

White Knit Cap Sleeve Top with Lace Back Panel - Forever 21- $6.80

Price tag and lace panel.

Baby Pink Racerback Tank- Forever 21- $4.80

Black Ankle Length Leggings- Forever 21- $5.80

Socks (don't remember price) and Cream Belt- Forever 21- $3.80

Tom also got some jeans that he needed. We had such a good time and can't wait to do it again. Thank you so much, love you Grams!! ♥ 

xo, Sarah