The Spray Tan Booth That Comes to You

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We recently attended an event where we were rewarded with a coupon for a free mobile spray tan. This made us very happy, despite the fact we've only had one experience with spray tanning. And it was so much the opposite of good. We did Mystic Tan, and it was one of the most traumatic experiences of our life. How come no one ever told us how bad it would smell? Or that we'd be orange for four days?at which point, most of the tan would fade, but we'd have orange elbows and knees for seven days? It was a deeply unpleasant experience. And yet?we were excited about a free, in-home spray tan.

We called Spray Tan LA and booked the appointment—you can literally book a tan for any time of day or night, but we opted for the sensible hour of five. Our tan-itician showed up five minutes early, ringing us from the front gate.

Now we gotta admit: the proposition of having a complete stranger show up at our home, then being instructed to disrobe and passively allowing them to coat us with unknown substances was weighing on our brain. If we'd seen a dude with a white van, we would have bailed on the appointment. But we went downstairs to meet Beka, who looked like a freakin' model. She was all smiles and appeared relatively sane, so we let her in.

Her first task was to erect the temporary tanning booth, which looked like a cross between the teleporter from The Fly and a pup tent. She plugged a few things in, went over the instructions, and we hopped in the booth.

From start to finish, the whole process was maybe 20 minutes. The tanning formula was applied with an airbrush thingy. We didn't have to rub anything in; it was just thoroughly and methodically applied. The formula comes in two scents: coconut and caramel. We opted for the super-dark tan, and Beka only had the caramel available for that formula. We can't say it really smelled like caramel, but at least it didn't smell like a bum fight, which is how the Mystic formula smelled.

The color was shockingly dark (for us). But it was even and non-streaky. We polled both people we knew and relative strangers, who all told us that it looked natural, believable, and not at all orange. The tan was accompanied by that fake tan odor, which dissipated after a day. (Compared to our Mystic Tan experience, in which the stank lasted four days.) And it's stayed on a relatively long time: as we write this, it's been five days, and the tan is relatively intact.

Even though we're not tanners, we gotta say we really enjoyed the experience, and we'd totally recommend it to anyone who is a tanner. The quality of the product was great, the service was great, and of course, the "it comes to you" aspect of it makes it very appealing. Prices start at $125 (or $150 if you decide you need a tan at 3am). We have a couple of coupons; if you'd like to try it for yourself and you're a fan on Facebook, let us know and we'll send you on.
· Spray Tan LA [Official Site]