Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Skin Color

In the summer, my skin looks like the underbelly of a dead fish. White. Whiter than white. The only time it's not white is when it's red ... and I will even admit there have been times in my life I have deliberatly tried to get a sunburn just to get get some color on my body.

So a few days ago when I was at Target, I noticed there are now a plethora of products created to give you a natural-looking sunless tan. I (perhaps naively) assumed that technology would have gotten us past the streaky, uneven, hard-to-apply-evenly products that turn skin a blotchy orange, and decided to give it a go.


Here's my feet now after using the L'Oreal product (hey, L'Oreal does a good job on my hair so I thought it would be safe...)

Yes, it looks like my feet were in a fight and got pretty bruised. Yes, it looks vaguely orange. Yes, I really did try to avoid the bony places ... you can see how successfully that worked.

Thankfully my legs are not so bad, and I will just have to wear shoes for a few days until it wears off.

Sigh. I really did have my hopes up. I really did think that just once I would not glow in the dark all summer long, being so white I was recognizable at night from 50 paces. Back to being scary in the lake (what are those glowing things down beneath you in the water???)

Those of you with a nice color (I don't want to be TAN, just not WHITE) ... count your blessings. And offer me pity as you put on your sunglasses to protect your eyes from the shine of the sun on my body.

4 comments:

andalucy said...

Hahaha! I've done that before with the self tanner. But I didn't think to take a picture. Nice feet, Karen!

Karen said...

I wouldn't have taken it were it not for the photo Bernie took of you, Calandria.

Mama Ava said...

Sad but true--I do the tanning bed thing, but I have to start at like 5 minutes because I burn easily. Which is why I do it--usually 4-6 times in May or before I would go to a beach vacation (CA last year). Yes, I know it's ruining my skin, but I can burn through sunscreen and it's no fun sitting on the beach wrapped in layers or leaving after 15 minutes. This way, I can be outside without burning (and wearing sunscreen) at the pool or wherever.

I have done the self-tanner route, too, but have never been able to avoid the blotchies.

andalucy said...

I'm glad you felt inspired by that lovely picture, Karen.

Blog Archive