Our Complicated Love Affair with Fake Tan

BEAUTY

Victoria Guillou

4/16/2025

© Colonne / Isle Of Paradise / Tan-Luxe

In a world that worships the glow-up, is fake tanning a form of self-love—or just another way we’re covering up our natural selves?

The Glow-Up Dream

For many of us, the fake tan journey starts innocently enough. A pre-holiday prep, a post-breakup makeover, or simply the urge to feel a little more golden in the dead of February. The promise? Radiance in a bottle. Confidence in a mousse. Sunshine without the sunburn. We stand in our bathrooms—half-excited, half-terrified—rubbing self-tanner into elbows, ankles, and every oddly shaped crevice we can reach. We hope for the best. We pray we don’t wake up as a streaky sweet potato.

The Streaky Reality

The morning after often feels like a gamble. Our knees might be darker than our coffee, our hands suspiciously orange, and somehow there’s a patch behind one calf that missed the memo entirely. Still, something shifts. Tanned-us feels bolder, sassier, more “put together.” The illusion of sun-kissed skin becomes a subtle superpower. Is it real? No. Does it help us show up in the world with a little more sparkle? Absolutely.

Beauty or Burden?

Fake tanning is a beautiful contradiction—like contouring our noses while preaching about self-acceptance. We say we’re embracing natural beauty, but we’ve got a drawer of exfoliating gloves and bronzing mousses that tell a different story. Is it vanity? Is it a vibe? Or is it just another modern ritual we use to feel a little more in control of our reflection? Maybe it’s all of it.

The Honest Glow

Here’s what we’ve learned: confidence can’t be pumped from a bottle—but sometimes, a little bronzing magic doesn’t hurt. There’s no shame in wanting to feel our best. The trick is knowing we already are enough—tan, pale, glowing, or glowing from within. So, is fake tanning a good idea? It depends on why we’re doing it. Let’s tan because we want to—not because someone told us we look healthier that way.

And if we’re going to do it, darling… let’s do it fabulously.