One thing you could be stunned to study me (as a veteran magnificence editor with truthful pores and skin) is that I used to be a self-tanner skeptic for years. I examined dozens of formulation and wrote a number of tales on the subject, looking for the right one for my pores and skin. However alas, I used to be left wanting streaky and unnatural. I used to be envious of my mother’s olive pores and skin tone and the way easy self-tanner software was for her—she achieves the “simply acquired again from trip glow” each time. Nonetheless, once I thought I’d misplaced all hope final yr, my colleague raved about Saltyface Tanning Water ($42) and urged me to strive it. Shocker: I liked it! (I additionally tried the Tanning Foam from the neck down, and was equally impressed.) Right here’s my sincere overview.
The Advantages of This Self-Tanner
Seems, the 2 of us weren’t the one NewBeauty editors who liked this product, which ended up profitable a 2025 NewBeauty Award. Let’s speak about why. First, the formulation is available in two common, buildable shades: Gentle to Medium (the one I exploit) and Medium to Darkish. This specific shade works very nicely with my pores and skin tone—it appears SO pure. I look refreshed, rested and alive. In the event you peruse the product’s 1,000-plus critiques, you’ll see comparable sentiments from a whole bunch of glad prospects.
The DHA (the important thing ingredient in all self-tanners) comes from natural sugar beets and lends a really even, gradual bronze. The formulation can be oil-free and doesn’t make me get away, which I admire. And Saltyface additionally added a hydrating profit courtesy of aloe leaf and cucumber flower extracts, which is noticeable on my pores and skin in comparison with different facial self-tanners I’ve tried that make my pores and skin really feel drier. One other factor I really like in regards to the Tanning Water is that it doesn’t include artificial perfume, but it surely additionally doesn’t have that typical smelly self-tanner odor.
Saltyface’s Tanning Water Improve
Now on to the improve. In the event you’ve used the Tanning Water earlier than, you recognize it initially got here in a dropper bottle, like many conventional facial serums. Nonetheless, after listening to buyer suggestions (the model deployed greater than 800 surveys), a giant change was made. (It’s additionally $2 much less.) Although the formulation wasn’t touched, it now is available in a extra sturdy glass bottle with a fine-mist sprayer included, which the vast majority of prospects agreed was their most popular technique of software. One factor I favored in regards to the dropper was the flexibility to dispense a number of drops into my moisturizer and apply it as an evening cream of types earlier than mattress.
Nonetheless, the face mist is straightforward to make use of and sprays on evenly, and you’ll mix it in along with your fingers or the model’s Brush No. 1. Don’t neglect to mix it nicely round your hairline and ears, and all the time spray your neck as nicely so it matches your face. One other tip: Don’t apply this self-tanner after which use an exfoliator of any variety (bodily/chemical) in your pores and skin as a result of it would take away the tan, or on the very least, make it blotchy.
The Tanning Water wasn’t the one product to get a glow up both—think about this a broader rebrand. The beloved Tanning Foam has been repackaged from glass to a lighter, PCR, mono-material bottle that’s 68-percent lighter (and no extra leaking points!), and Freckle Paint additionally now is available in PCR packaging. Saltyface says “this rebrand is about easy, pure glow with fewer steps and fewer waste.”
