First off, let me begin by saying that if you lay out in the sun, you are foolish. I am adamant about this. My step dad died of melanoma cancer and it is no joking matter. And although, I agree, most of us do look better with a tan, let’s be sensible about it. There are much better ways to get that color.

The last time I got a real tan was years ago on a vacation to Ocho Rios, Jamaica. I thought I was so hot and then the side effects of the tan started to pop up- blemishes, peeling, dryness all over. Like many of you, I didn’t care too much because I looked “healthy” in my mind.

In wanting to recreate that tan out of a bottle, I developed my Ocho Rios Self Tanning Mist. It airbrushes on a light-weight brown mist so you can control the level of tan you want. Because it goes on brown you can see what you are doing and avoid making mistakes. And once you establish your desired color it is easy to touch up when necessary to maintain the look.

Here’s how I do it:

1. I do it when I don’t have anywhere to go right away. A lot of times I do it before I go to bed. Some color will rub off on your sheets, but I have done it so many times, I know it will wash right out. DO NOT try this if you are not 100% positive it will wash out of your designer sheets or whatever you have. BETTER TO BE SAFE THAN SORRY. ALWAYS.

I take a shower and scrub away the dry patches with Topical Storm Body Polish making sure my skin is as smooth as possible. Rinse clean and dry off.

2. I apply a moisturizer on my drier spots: tops of my toes, elbows, knees, tops of my fingers. It just buffers the Ocho Rios so if I mist too much it is easy for me to wipe away with a wet wash cloth.

3. It’s a mist so you don’t want to do it on carpet. I have one of those vinyl all-in-one shower stalls that I know Ocho Rios will rinse right off of. Sometimes I even go out on my deck in my backyard. It depends what kind of mood I am in. A friend of mine does it on an old sheet he puts down in his bathroom. Where ever you do it, I say do it somewhere where you have the easiest clean up or you just won’t be bothered to do it. I have it down now so it takes me all of ten minutes from start to finish.

I start on my upper body and mist my shoulders, arms (avoiding my elbows and hands) and then I mist across my chest, stomach and sides. The formula dries pretty fast so I do my upper body first, then blend it with my hands and wipe my palms off with a damp wash cloth. Then I move on to my legs, backside and then a I do a quick mist on the tops of my feet. I blend all of that with my hands starting with the tops of my feet because I definitely don’t want uneven color when I wear flip flops. Wipe off your palms immediately with a damp wash cloth.

After the bulk of my body is done, I mist my face with a light mist avoiding my eyes. Closing my eyes and not breathing in for a quick pass. Blend right away. My advice is to go light on your face at first until you get the hang of it.

REMEMBER: OCHO RIOS GOES ON BROWN, BUT IT ALSO DEVELOPS MORE OVER 3 HOURS. So keep that in mind while you are applying.

The last thing I do is hit the backs of my hands. It is so easy to overdo your hands. I do a quick mist and then blend the back of my hand and lightly go over the tops of the fingers. Wipe off your palms immediately with a damp wash cloth.

By this time everything has dried and looks good. I do a quick inspection to see if I have any spots where I didn’t blend well enough and I always check my problem areas: toes,fingers, elbows, knees. I have hairy legs and arms so sometimes I get too much color in weird areas from not blending, but it is easy to fix. I just grab that damp wash cloth and rub it over the area. That reactivates the formula a bit so I can blend.

4. I put on my boxers and head to bed. When I wake up, I am tan as if I just flew to Ocho Rios for a quick tanning session. I shower like normal (you see color running off in the shower, but don’t worry, your tan did not go down the drain. That’s just the excess.) When I get out of the shower, I dry off normally and no color comes off on my towel. I can’t say that for my boxers, but again, I know it washes out of them.

Generally, I do the whole body once a week. Most often times I do a touch up on my face and arms sometime during the week because they are visible all the time. Sometimes I even do a quick mist on my face and then put my moisturizer over it immediately. It diffuses the color nicely and I don’t have to worry that it looks like I just applied self tanner when I go out in public.

Experiment with Ocho Rios and find what works best for you. Always start out with a light application until you get the hang of it. After that, you’ll be writing me telling me your tips and techniques.

I hope you found this useful. It seems like a lot of steps, but if you have never self tanned before, I wanted to make sure you knew all the ins and outs of it.

Just promise me this: STAY OUT OF THE SUN

Go to Ocho Riso instead!

(If you ever go to Ocho Rios Jamaica, stay at The Jamaica Inn and say hi to Mary the manager for me. She’s world class.)

From my bathroom mirror to yours,

Josh