By Julia

Why is tanning so popular? I mean, until the Victorian Era, pale and light skin used to be associated with the words beautiful and elegant. This transformation of the ideal skin colour changed in the 1920’s. When a fashion icon, Coco Chanel accidentally got sun burnt whilst visiting the French Riviera. At the same time, a“caramel-skinned” singer in Paris named Josephine Baker also became especially popular. These two women were the individuals who changed the ideology of tanned skin from being lower class to healthy and luxurious.

Coco Chanel

Josephine Baker

However, it seems that our society always like to go to extremes; many people will end up visiting a tanning salon and asking for a full body tan, often giving them an orange hue. Not only is this extremely bad for your health and body, it also just does not look attractive. So in this post, I will be sharing some of my little secrets to having a healthy glow without actually tanning.

Bronzer

A very simple way is to wear bronzer - by applying bronzer to the areas that the sun would naturally hit on your face, you can add a youthful glow without actually getting in the tanning bed. A quick tip is, if you have a more orange bronzer, apply it to the cheek, if you have a taupe based bronzer, apply it below your cheekbone to add dimension to the face as well as some colour. In this photo of Leighton Meester, she goes for a golden tone bronzer.

Colour Choice

Another trick that I discovered is that when you wear lighter colors such as a nude lipstick or light coloured jewelry and clothing. This gives the illusion of darker skin because of the contrast in colour. A great way to find colours that suits you is to first, find your skin tone. There are three different skin tones; they are warm, neutral and cool. A warm skin tone is when you have a yellow, beige or olive base to your skin colour. A cool skin tone is when you have a pinker under tone. Neutral is when you are somewhere in between. For warmer skin tones, golden jewelry, beige coloured clothing and warm nude lipsticks. For cooler skin colours, try silver jewelry, white coloured clothing and light pink lipsticks. And if you plan to wear colours, just make sure the undertone of the colour suits your skin tone.

I hope this helps you understanding the illusions of colour as well as realizing that there are so many more options than going under the tanning bed. So other than that, stay smart and sun protected!

Photos: Coco Chanel, Josephine Baker, Leighton Meester, Colour Wheel

By Julia



Although the hottest season has past, it doesn’t mean that we won’t be attacked by the sun’s dangerous rays anymore. Sun protection is needed all year round, no matter rain or shine.

Many people follow a common misconception about sunscreen; they believe that SPF 30 gives you double the protection of SPF 15. However, this isn’t the case. The SPF of the sunscreen indicates the amount of UVB protection and the products ability to block the sun’s rays. According to the Canadian Cancer Society, a basic SPF15 will give you 93% protection from sun and SPF 30 and higher sunscreens block 97% of UVB rays. No product will give you 100% protection so don’t be fooled! There are other ways you should protect yourself. Sunscreen should also be reapplied according to the label, even on cloudy days. So be smart about choosing your sunscreen, make sure it is stated that it offers both UVA AND UVB protection.

A common reason why so many people don’t like using sunscreen is that it is either too oily or they dislike the smell. One quick way I avoid both those annoying factors is to mix my sunscreen with a mattifying lotion and then set the sunscreen with a powder to seal the shiny finish. However, this may make the sunscreen less efficient, so I apply two layers if I do choose to mix it.

When I am taking pictures and want to add a subtle glow to my skin without the risk of UVR damage, I mix a darker foundation with my sunscreen for a natural glow of colour. There are many alternatives to tanning and I will be posting about it next time.

Other than that, stay smart and stay sun protected!