I love self tanners. They add a healthy glow in a healthy way – without the sun – and make us look healthy and rested. A good facial self tan means less makeup, and tanned legs tend to look a little more fit somehow, and a good self tan can disguise blotchy skin and even cellulite. Not that there is anything wrong with those things, but when I’m sporting the glow of eternal summer I just feel happy. When I’m happy, I feel beautiful. When I feel the warm sun on my shoulders and summer breezes in my hair, I’m happy!

These are not your average self tanners.

My new favourite facial self-tanner, Vita Liberata Trystal Minerals Self Tanning Bronzing Minerals in Sunkissed ($56 CAD) is also my new favourite tinted mineral powder aka makeup. It’s completely perfect and never leaves me orange or blotchy. The effect is instant, as the powder is tinted, so you get an immediate glow. I’ve reviewed Vita Liberata Trystal here and have loved it since I first started using it. Vita Liberata Trystal is unique in that you have total control over how tan you get making it perfect for fair skins, and that it works as makeup. I apply on moisturizer during the day, and if I want a little more colour, over my serum at night. Don’t use this expecting a deep beach brown tanorexia shade, as it is just more subtle than your average self tanner. It is practically fragrance free and is free of parabens, sulfates and phthalates, and it’s unique crystal technology allows DHA to be activated from a dry crystalline form when it comes in contact with skin meaning no icky self-tanner smell. Hint: use Vita Liberata Trystal Mineral Powder to subtly contour – thank me later.

Hand Chemistry, a division of DECIEM, has changed the self tanning game with their divine Hand Chemistry Glow Oil ($30 CAD, 100ml). Fast-absorbing hydrating dry body oil offers golden radiance right away while our DHA-free raspberry-based keto-sugar forms a lasting glow after 2-3 days of use. Here’s the thing – Glow Oil is so wonderful simply as a nourishing body oil. It also smells delicious. I get apricots but who knows, perhaps it’s some raspberry magic. At any rate the fragrance is so yummy I wish it was a perfume. You won’t get orange hands from applying it, but you will get soft, moisturized skin that glows. There is a subtle shimmer in the oil itself that just makes skin look gorgeous immediately upon application. Funny, I was using it without much thought to the tan, as I just love body oils that smell good and have a little shimmer. My daughter commented on how tan I was even though I had not been outside and asked me if I had self tanned. I said no because I guess I wasn’t thinking “self tan” when I was using Glow Oil. Then I remembered! One of the best things about their non-DHA tan is that it doesn’t turn white towels brown. Yay!

If you want to look golden and glow get Vita Liberata Trystal Minerals and Hand Chemistry Glow Oil for your tanning kit. They are both essentials for me, and I cannot imagine being without them! Have you tried these yet?