Best Home Made Self Tanner

I guess it's officially summer time. All the fashion magazines, web sites and blogs are literally littered with reviews for (expensive!) selftanners.

Feel like spending $129 @ Dior for a tan?

For years now, I've been making my own self tanner. My fashion conscious grand mother Hillevi passed on a recipe from her youth. Let me tell you - sometimes all that new lab technology has no chance in the world of beating good old home made stuff.

Here's what you need for approximately a gallon of home made carrot/sugar self tanner.

INGREDIENTS

3/4 gallon of water
1 lb of fresh carrots (with peels on)
2 cups of brown sugar

My own addition to the original recipe: 8 drops of vitamin E extract and 1/2 a cup of aloe vera gel.

PREPARING YOUR HOME MADE SELF TANNER
             
1. Rinse the carrots and cut them into thin slices
2. Boil the water in a large saucepan, mix in the sugar and the sliced carrots
3. Let the carrot/sugar/water mix simmer for approx. 3 hours

Delicious home made self tanner.

4. Allow your self tanner mix to cool down and then pour it through a strainer
5. At this point, you can add the aloe vera and the vitamin E into your self tanner. This step is optional and was not included in my grand mother's original recipe. However, I like how aloe and vitamin E soothe the skin.
6. Pour your selftanner into a spray bottle

Any spray bottle will do.

The tannig effect is very long lasting. I usually only have to apply my self tanner once a week. Remember to exfoliate before since all self tanners have a pesky habit of making your knees and elbows extra dark if you skip this step. Applying moisturizer before is also something I recommend.

Before and After picture with my arm. I've only applied self tanner to the lower part of my arm so that you can see the difference.

Happy tanning!

You may quote my self tanner recipe for your blog etc. but remember to give credit and to link back!