I have been looking for the best face tanner on the market since…pretty much the first time I tried a fake tan. Most facial tanners either come off quickly, make my pores look dirty or break my skin out. For some reason when I saw the St Tropez Luxe Facial Oil pop up on the Sephora website I had a feeling it would be different. As a matter of fact I’m pretty sure I put it on a “Lust List” and said just that! The oil formula made sense, but I didn’t want to get my hopes up too much because I’ve been burned before….get it? Burned, tanning…I’ll see myself out.

PACKAGING:

The facial oil comes in a frosted glass bottle with a dropper for application. I’m not crazy about the dropper, I think I would prefer a pump but the packaging is heavy and sturdy. It definitely feels like nice quality, and it also has more of a spa/skincare vibe as opposed to your typical self tanner packaging. It’s a bit more fancy-schmancy so I don’t mind leaving it on my bathroom counter. The other con is that the glass bottle doesn’t seem terribly travel friendly though. I would not just casually throw this in a bag and hope for the best, thats for sure.

FORMULA:

The oil is on the thin side, and feels a bit more like a dry oil than other facial oils I’ve tried. At first I felt like it was hard to apply it to my face because the dry-oil texture doesn’t have much slip to it, but I started applying it after my serum or vitamin-e facial oil and that makes it much easier to smooth in. The smell is very citrusy which isn’t my personal favorite but it doesn’t linger so I don’t care.

THE TAN:

The tan this oil leaves is by far the smoothest and most natural looking facial tan I have ever tried. I get no streaks, it doesn’t settle in my pores and it’s a nice natural color. It goes on clear and the color develops over a few hours, so it’s not like a body tanner than has a color guide. I thought that might lead to an uneven application but so far that has not been the case at all.

It’s not too dark for my light skin (MAC NW20) but my mom who is a bit darker than I am (probably NW35) said she would like it better if it were a bit darker so do with that info what you will.

I find that the tan lasts for about 4 days or so, which is pretty good considering that I exfoliate regularly. Gotta get that dead skin off, even if it brings my tan with it.

I also feel like it makes me skin look a lot more even, almost like I’m wearing a tinted moisturizer even when my skin is bare, and I mean who doesn’t want that amiright?

It does look a bit shiny when first applied, but it sinks in after about a half hour so you could feasibly put this on in the morning before makeup. I usually choose to put it on at night anyway, but it’s nice to have options.

BONUS:

I’ve been using this for over two weeks and haven’t seen any sign of breakouts! That’s a pretty huge deal because I usually find that facial tanners are like fertilizer on a pimple farm.

If you’ve been looking for the best face tanner for a while, give the St. Tropez Luxe Facial Oil a try. I’m gonna be walking around like a bronzed up goddess-diva-unicorn creature the rest of the summer, so feel free to join me 😉