How do you come out of a sunny LA weekend looking like you spent a week in Maui? When you’re stuck in a fluorescent-lit cubicle for 50 hours out of the week, this is a very rewarding feat. Lucky for me, Angelenos were blessed with an incredibly sunny weekend a few weeks back and I’m still reaping its benefits.
How did I manage to do all of this in one weekend? My tried and true method of adding color to the legs:
Step 1: At-Home Prep


I started with a Friday night prep — took an extra long shower to do so. First I scrubbed with the only available scrub I had in the house, Blisslabs Super Minty body scrub. I concentrated on my legs since that’s where I’m hoping to add the most color. After a good exfoliation, I shaved. I read somewhere once that shaving after a good scrub can make the shave smoother and last longer. Once I was out of the shower, I moisturized lightly with Dove’s Energy Glow which has subtle self-tanners.
Step 2: Before Sun


Before leaving the house, I put on some Clarins Self-Tanning milk on my legs. It only has SPF 6 so I brought some back-up SPF, but my legs rarely burn so I knew I was covered. I like this self-tanner because it’s very light and doesn’t have the self-tanner smell that most others do. I put on Kiehl’s SPF 30 everywhere else. I’m already naturally “darker” on my upper body so I wanted full protection. This absorbs very fast into the skin so I don’t mind putting it on under my clothes.


I used Clarins Sun Wrinkle Protection Cream (SPF 30) on my face — that’s the only SPF I use on my face. And just because I happened to have some leftover from last year, I sprayed Frederic Fekkai hair SPF on the top of my head and the ends of my hair, but mostly I wanted to protect my scalp since I have a side split and didn’t want to burn my scalp. This spray smells good and comes on light, but slowly gives your hair weight/oil through the day so you HAVE to wash it out.
Step 3: At the Beach

At the beach I spritzed some Kiehl’s SPF 15 spray on every other hour or so, or at least every time I got out of the water. I was at the dog beach so I was in and out of the water all day, trying to get Lulu to swim. This spray is super convenient because it’s not sticky at all. It dries instantly and doesn’t even require a rub-in so it’s just spray, spray, spray!
So after just one day in the sun, I had sunkissed legs. Of course I avoided laying out or over-exposing myself in the sun — sitting in the shade between water runs. Now I use the Dove Energy Glow about once a week now to maintain the color and have upped my moisturizing routine to make sure my skin stays soft and even. I can’t wait for the next beach day!