If you are not lucky enough to be born with dark, bronzed skin, deep skin tone, you might spend hours in sunlight to achieve the dark skin-toned color. Or you might spend money on buying bronzed skin tan products.
Sun and tanning beds can harm the skin irreversibly, and tanning products can smell terrible and contain poisonous chemicals. Through this article, I recommend you learn how to make your sunless tanning products so you can save money and avoid sunless chemical products.
You can make them for a fraction of the counterparts purchased from the store. Besides that, you will know everything is organic, which you will apply to your precious, sensitive skin. The unbeaten homemade tanning lotion recipe has several different options and combinations. You can easily choose the ingredients that better suit your skin and your body at home.
The best part about making your home DIY tan lotion is that:
- You can achieve the tan color of your own choice at home, and you can easily avoid dark orange, pink, or mustard color.
- By modifying the recipe just a little, you can customize the exact color you want.
- If you make tan lotion at home, it will be cheaper than what you will buy from the market.
Cocoa Powder Sunless Tanning Lotion
Cocoa Powder is the simplest sunless tanning lotion to make. It only requires two ingredients; unscented white lotion and 100% pure cocoa powder. You can use any cocoa powder as long as it says 100% pure on the label.
Ingredients
- Unscented white lotion
- 100% pure cocoa powder
Instructions
- Combine 1/2 cup of unscented white lotion which you use and which suits your skin in a bowl with 1/3 cup of pure cocoa powder.
- Blend the mixture thoroughly till it becomes a perfect thick paste. Break up the cocoa powder clumps.
- You can adjust the recipe to match your desired colour of tanning. The lotion usually appears darker in the bowl than it will on your skin. Keep testing it on your skin by adding a little bit of cocoa powder at a time until you reach your desired shade.
- Apply the tanning lotion over your entire body evenly.
- Apply daily for a gradual deep tan.
Tips
- You can store homemade tanning lotion in a lotion bottle or any bottle and lid it tightly.
- You can also choose a moisturizing lotion for the best results.
- If you think it will make it too dark, use the standard 1/2 cup lotion and 1/3 cup cocoa and keep adding layers until it is as dark as you want it for tanning your skin.
- By applying, you can see your desired color.
Carrot-Based Homemade DIY Tanning Oil
Use Sunless tanning oils as they are much better than tanning lotions because oil creates fewer streaks than lotion. Oil is needed in less quantity to tan your entire body than lotion. You can easily spray it on your skin and rub it to look tan; it is a quick method of achieving tan skin. The recipe given below makes about one gallon of sunless tanning oil.
Ingredients
- Take 3/4 gallon of water (3 quarts)
- Add 1 pound of fresh carrots (unpeeled)
- Add 2 cups of brown sugar.
Instructions
- Wash the carrots and cut them into thin slices.
- Bring the water to a boil.
- Add the sliced carrots and brown sugar.
- Cook or boil the mixture on low flame for three hours.
- Cool the oil by turning off the stove.
- Stain the oil to separate the clumps from the liquid.
- Take a clean bottle or spray bottle and pour the self-tanner into it. To maintain tan’s colour, apply once a week.
Coffee or Tea Homemade Sunless Tanning Lotion
For this homemade tanning lotion, you can choose to use coffee or tea. Commonly, people say it can stain your teeth, leaving an undesired effect; they can also “stain” your skin, gives you the perfect and long-lasting beautiful tan colour. However, you choose coffee or tea and use the right caffeinated type, but not the decaf. The caffeine can help firm and tighten the skin to diminish wrinkles and even cellulite. This happens to be my favourite homemade tanning lotion.
Ingredients
- Either coffee grounds or tea bags (caffeinated)
- Unscented white lotion
The recipe
3tbsp lotion, 1tbsp cocoa powder, 1tbsp finely ground coffee and customizable amount of all-over glow for the desired level of shimmer.
For this DIY, reduce the amount of cocoa powder and match the missing pigment with finely ground coffee.
Caffeine skin benefits are seemingly endless, but here are some of our favorite things about this beautiful bean:
- It’s an antioxidant that fights signs of aging.
- It helps to dilate blood vessels under the skin for better blood flow and smoother-looking skin.
- Antibacterial and reduces inflammation for better behaving skin
- Calms and soothes redness and inflammation associated with sun exposure
Instructions
- If using coffee, use grounds for an entire pot but add enough water to make one cup. If using tea, use tea bags ( three to four) to make a gallon of tea. This is typically three to four family-sized tea bags.
- Mix enough lotion and coffee/tea to get your desired color. The more coffee or tea you add, the darker your Tan will develop.
- Put the resulting mixture in a spray bottle and apply it.
Tips
- Shake well before use.
- Use weekly or bi-weekly, and eventually, you will get the best results.
OR instead of lotion, you can also make sunless tea oil for your tan color.
Homemade Outdoor Tanning Oil
If you don’t want a sunless tan, you can even make your outdoor tanning oil. All you need is some olive oil and iodine. Just mix a couple of drops of iodine with a cup of olive oil, and you are ready to go. Put it in a spray bottle for easy use, apply, and get your tan on!
Ingredients
- Four black tea bags (Lipton black tea is wonderful)
- white lotion
It is important to use black tea (not green tea) to get a lovely dark, natural-looking tan on your skin.
Like the cocoa tanning lotion recipe, use your favorite lotion. Ideally, it should be white and unscented.
Directions
- Take a big water cup, boil it and pour into a mug with your four black tea bags. Let it rest to brew for a couple of minutes to get a dark tea solution.
- Put it aside and let it cool before blending.
- Blend enough lotion and tea to get your desired color. The amounts to use are up to you. Keep in mind that the more tea you add, the darker your Tan will develop. The ratio I like to use is 1 cup of lotion with ½ cup of black tea. Mix well.
- Apply the lotion on your body (after exfoliating your skin to get better results)
- Let your skin absorb it, reapply another layer if you want a darker shade, and allow your skin to dry before getting dressed.
- Apply this lotion every day till the desired color shade.
Black tea works as a natural dye on your skin, giving you a sexy tanned look and also brings some antioxidants that will « protect » your skin against free radicals.
Tips
You can add cocoa powder to this tea lotion to improve the color shade to add a darker color to make it even richer. Add as much cocoa powder to the shade you want.
What if you could even make this tea-based tanning lotion recipe even more simple?
Yes, this is possible, too. You can skip lotion in your tanning mixture if you have any allergies or sensitive skin. You can only use the tea solution on your skin; it will eventually work and perfectly tan your skin.
So if you skip the lotion, make a strong cup of tea with you by adding four black tea bags, pour the solution in a spray bottle and spray on your skin till it reaches the desired color of your choice.
Be cautious with the spray method to prevent streaks and drips by rubbing in where required; that is why applying the lotion could be a more convenient method for some, get alone the nourishing and hydrating effect from the lotion.
You can also use cotton balls, towels and rub gently on your skin. If you don’t have a spray bottle, just simply dip it into the tea or coffee solution and gently rub the solution into your skin. That will stain your skin but doesn’t hold as long as tea.
Aloe Vera DIY Sunless Tanning Lotion
Do you like the idea of a sunless homemade tanning lotion, and you also want to moisturize skin?
Suppose you want to feel like a dewy, well-hydrated in the heat stoke summer sun while toting around your newest recyclable water bottle. This recipe is a riff on our deluxe tanning recipe, but it’s a cure for your dry skin.
The recipe
3 tbsp body lotion/ cream, 3 tbsp cocoa powder, customizable amount of
All Over Glow, and 1 ½ tbsp pure aloe vera gel
Depending on how dark you prefer your tanning body lotion, you can need to double (or triple) up on cocoa to get your perfect tan amount. That’s because aloe vera is highly water-based and appears to sheer out the pigment. Then, you should cautiously start with equal parts of all ingredients and work up from there – particularly if you have much fair or medium fair skin. Make the oil according to how much darker skin tone you want.
We all know how profoundly moisturizing aloe is for the skin, but let us once more say praises for this moisturizing powerhouse:
This natural gel works well on any part of the body
- It’s non-irritating, non-comedogenic, and truly works to soothe skin.
- Apply this cooling, calming ingredient to rashes and burns to promote healing.
- It’s lightweight and non-sticky but sinks in quickly for rapid hydration.