Looking For a Subtle Facial Tan? This Is the Mask That Always Gets Me Compliments
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Although I'm comfortable with my pale skin tone, I love experimenting with sunless tanner whenever I want a little bit of an extra glow. After practicing with a wide range of sunless tanners throughout the years (including different cream, foam, and in-shower formulas) I've pretty much nailed the basics of tanning my body without hitting the beach or poolside. Despite this, maintaining sunless tanner on my face proved to be difficult. Since I wash my face at least twice a day, the tanner was always quick to fade away from my face and neck. When I came across Vita Liberata's Self Tanning Night Moisture Mask ($45), it became one of my beauty holy grails.
Unlike other facial sunless tanners I've tried before, the moisture mask fits right in with the rest of my nighttime beauty routine should I want a Gigi Hadid-esque glow that week. The product is designed to be worn right before bed so that you can wake up with a natural glow by morning. The gradual (this word is very important to me when it comes to tanners) color can be intensified the more it is used. So if I want a strong bronzed look for say, Saturday brunch, I know I can start using it around Wednesday night so I can build my way up to my desired color.
One of the things that I love most about this product is that it never leaves me looking overly saturated. I definitely don't want to rock an overly-saturated hue. When I was a newbie at sunless tanner, I made the mistake of using a body tanner on my face. Big mistake. Within days, I found myself battling acne — most likely caused by clogged pores. Ever since then, I made it a point to stick to a tanner designed specifically for the face and neck, and I truly feel lucky to have come across this one.
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Vita Liberata Self Tanning Night Moisture Mask
In addition to a very natural-looking glow, the Vita Liberata Self Tanning Night Moisture Mask also contains a handful of ingredients that work to improve your skin as you doze off. I can thank the shea butter and malva in the mask for helping me wake up with supple and moisturized skin and a unique HyH2O technology that prevents wrinkles and fine lines.
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Before and After
Although I'm quick be flattered when I'm complimented on my lipstick or new highlighter, this is one of the products I prefer to keep as my own dirty little secret. The effects of this gradual tanner are very subtle and although I've experimented with building up towards an intense application in the past, I prefer to keep my facial tan as natural as possible. I'll be complimented on how glowing my skin might look and was once even asked if I had gone on vacation recently, but no one has ever asked me "Are you using sunless tanner?"
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One Application + Natural Makeup
I'm very unlikely to be pale one day and then deeply tanned the next. As I mentioned before, it's very important for me that my facial tanner be something that works gradually and in a subtle way. I've also been able to walk into Sephora while wearing a night or two-worth of the application to get the right foundation matched to me. After using this product for about two years, I've only come to need two different shades to keep my face, body and neck even. To me, this is as low-maintenance as I can get as a tan and beauty lover.
No matter what shade I end up waking up with, I can easily work with my existing foundations, bronzers and concealors to perfect my coverage. Although I'll never be able to rock the ultra-bronzed dark tan shades we see on Instagram models, I can have fun with this tanner and create my own custom shades. Not only can I work with the skin I was born with, but my glow will look so much more realistic.