All products featured on Vogue are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links.
It’s hot out there, y’all. And when skin-baring staples are the summer wardrobe essentials bopping around the streets, a little glow can go a long way. Still, we know the importance of protecting ourselves from the sun with an SPF, and gone (for many) are the days of baking our way into a real tan. Suddenly, self-tanner is having a renaissance, and after hearing the buzz about Dolce Glow (a.k.a. Miley Cyrus’s signature base layer that touts skin-plumping hyaluronic acid and a believe-you-were-at-the-beach tone), we dared to dive back into the self-tanning scene.
Below, two Vogue editors put the Dolce Glow self-tanner to the test. Read on for their first impressions, application tips, and why the formula gives you a perfect “Ibiza glow.”
Christian Allaire: Hi Arden! So, we both test-drove the Dolce Glow self-tanner, and I’m dying to hear your initial thoughts. Firstly, are you a regular self-tanner user? This was my first time using one.
Arden Fanning Andrews: Hi Christian! I’m finally ready to talk about self-tanning. We’ve really been researching this for a year now, when you told me about your trip to Ibiza and I brought you some Dolce Glow I found in the beauty closet to try and you were into it— because I’d been off of self tanning since my indie sleaze days and now I’m back, bay bay!
Your positive experience inspired me to wear it to the Met, even— and you had your own Met tanning experience right?
Christian: I actually got a professional spray tan done for the Met (thank you, Anna). But when I went to Ibiza last summer, it was my first time doing self-tanner, and I used the Dolce Glow. And when I tell you I had the perfect tan the whole time—and the compliments I got!
I used the self-tanning lotion in light-medium. What I loved was they give you this little application mitten to apply it, so your hands don’t get all stained; You apply the lotion in circular motions. For a medium tan, they recommended 4 to 6 hours, so I did 5 hours my first time.
Arden: What are some of the comments you’ve gotten, I want to hear!?
Christian: Immediately when I got to Ibiza, my friend said, “Okay, tan!”
Arden: BAAHAHAHAHAHA wait this reminds me of when I was at Pride a couple of years ago in a sunproof shirt and someone called out You GO, Long Sleeves! except the opposite.
Christian: Hahahaha dead. And then everywhere I went, I just felt like a local—I could feel people taking in my tan. Maybe it was subconscious. But I felt hot!
Arden: Same! Like hot2trot. My favorite was when my next-door-neighbor-best-friend stopped me during our Fancy Friday coffee with something along the lines of “Wait, can I just say that you’re glowing—except I know you’re not a sun worshipper. How?” and I got to brag about it. Also when I film anything now for Vogue Club I think you can see me better…
Christian: Okay so I was just going to ask what your application process is. I love the Serum Drops because they act a little quicker; I notice the tan within an hour. But for the body self-tanner, I am full-on psychotic—I use the mitt, apply it methodically even all over, and then wait the full six hours in the light shade. It is literally a full-day affair. But it gives me an amazing end result.
Arden: Ohhh we need you in this so that we have both examples for a truly scientific process.
I’m using the lightest shade, too, but with the Luce Clear Self-Tanning Mist or Dolce Self-Tanning Mist so that I can go fully rogue, no mitten, not even rubbing things in and spraying the mist all over, waiting like an hour relaxing in front of a fan, and then taking a shower. (This is the process recommended for their products, y’all, you kind of let them cure for up to six hours depending on how dark you want your tan, so I start light!). One to two hours is my max for a really messy application. Because I know myself and I’m not that kind of perfectionist—if something requires too much gear I’ll skip it.
Christian: I am very, very pasty, so I think I needed the six hours. But I agree—I think the hour you leave it on will greatly depend on your skin tone. It’s kind of a trial and error situation.
Arden: Exactly! This weekend I was like “can even a technically bad application create a good tan?” and I think the answer is yes–I made it kind of softly splotchy, but then when I was looking at real tans that’s the way the cookie crumbles, the sun hits some spots, there are spots that are still pale, there are tan lines– imperfection makes it kind of real when the color isn’t Cheetos (your reference that I love)!
Christian: I will say, I agree with that but everyone needs to be careful with the hand area. The last time I applied the self-tanner I forgot to wash my hands afterwards, and I was very much left with splotchy hands that looked like they were covered in Cheetos dust. So—wear the mitt or do wash your hands well after. I would also note that it’s important to gently exfoliate before doing the self-tanner—that will help alleviate some of the patchiness.
Arden: I think I was acting too cool for tanner and then I got enough bad spray tans (at prom when my self tanner dripped through my tuxedo shirt on the dancefloor, by a celeb spray tanner who just went one shade too dark) that I went off of it. Did you ever have an experience that turned you off? Or were we just like, de-influenced until now…
Christian: I’ve just always been a little afraid of looking like an Oompa-Loompa. Self-tanners can go very bad. But I’ve found that it’s pretty hard to turn orange with the new wave of self-tanners.
Arden: Last summer, Parizaad Khan Sethi pitched this piece “How Brown Women Can Embrace a Sunless Tan This Summer” and interviewed so many people about it like Maria Michelle lee who says sunless tanning isn’t about “changing our skin tone, it s amplifying it, and it’s doing exactly what it would if you were outside in the sun, just in a safer way,” and Poorna Jagannathan, who was like “There’s nothing sexier than a girl who’s had a great fucking summer.” That piece (which featured the Dolce Glow founder, Isabel Alysa) really helped shift my badditude about self-tanning.
Christian: I loveeeee that. And I agree—the best sunless tans aren’t the ones that are dramatically different from your own complexion, rather, just a bit of an enhancement. It should be subtle.
Arden: Embracing my super like, silver-minnow-pale skin is something I’ve accomplished for the past like, decade. I kind of noticed, though, that I started dressing a little more covered up to the point where my friends one night were like “please show your skin again?!” I started thinking about when I was confidently like, wearing a micro mini and strutting and it was when I had a little veil of color on my legs.
Arden: Also, even for people who like the sun–for summer I need something that’s a little more weatherproof in my life. It’s like, I’m wearing makeup on my face for a few hours, why am I acting too good for something that won’t sweat right off on the way to work? Although I will note that Dolce Glow left color on my sheets until I washed them (it says it won’t stain, and it did technically wash away).
Christian: Okay, I’m glad you re bringing this up. I would also agree that it’s not 100% stain-proof. I recently wore a knit tank top after doing the self-tanner, and even though I had showered it off, it left a stain along the neckline and arm areas. But it easily washed out after washing the shirt, so I wouldn’t say it will ruin anything if it stains.
Arden: It also reminds me of learning in history class that women painted their legs to look like stockings when there was a nylon shortage about a hundred years ago—basically the O.G. faux tan. Have you found it changes your fashion mojo?
Christian: Absolutely. I feel hotter and fitter with a tan. I don’t know why—but it definitely affects your confidence. When I have a tan I also want to show more skin; I dress differently.
Arden: Totally, and now I’m thinking of timeless self-tanner muses doing it right– like Kate Moss and Paris Hilton were never too proud and they’re probably closest to my shade range I imagine. You’re the one who reminded me that Miley is a Dolce guhl now!
Christian: Yes! Miley is a face of Dolce Glow, and I mean, have you seen her tan lately?
Arden, what’s your final takeaway from the whole self-tanning experience?
Arden: I’m influenced! I’m skipping through the streets in clothes that actually match the weather, raking in the “glow” compliments–and counting it as a beauty and fashion success.
What about you, Christian!?
Christian: I’m also hooked. I have an amazing (real) tan going from a recent vacation, and I plan on keeping it up with a Dolce Glow application every other week. I want to look like I just came back from traveing all summer long, baby!
