Mystic Tan Alternatives
You may or may not be a fan of self tanning, but I for one am, because it offers me a great alternative to baking myself in the sun every summer to achieve a healthy “looking” glow from the sun, especially since that glow is anything but healthy on me, since I’m Irish and German and my skin tends to burn rather than tan, and I’m also prone to sunspots and basal cell carcinoma sun spots (I’ve had two removed already, no doubt from my earlier years of putting baby oil and every other tanning accelerator on to achieve a golden glow - STUPID!)
I started to enjoy the Mystic Tan booths about three years ago, but found a few problems with it. Number one, the cost is pretty expensive, with one session averaging over twenty dollars. You can however usually buy packages that can significantly reduce the cost per visit, but you still end up spending a decent chunk of change in the end to get the fake tan from Mystic. If you’re looking for alternatives to the infinitely popular Mystic Tan though, beware, as I’ve heard most of these systems don’t match up to the evenness and color of Mystic.
Fantasy tan is one of them, it’s a booth-like system, and there are other knock offs of Mystic in booth form as well. There is also airbrush self tanning available in some salons, although not many. This option can be good if you get someone who knows what they’re doing, but get someone that doesn’t and you may end up with a streaky, uneven tan.
The second problem I found with the Mystic tan is the smell that develops. It’s a lot stronger than other self tanners you’d buy in a department or drug store, and it probably is because it’s a lot more potent and does give you a better tan than these, but try telling that to your bedmate, who has to deal with the potent smell at night, which gets worse, even after you shower, as the DHA activates on your skin overnight.
There is supposedly a new product Mystic came out with though, something called “Fresh” or something along those lines which is supposed to help the smell issue. Other than that, honestly, if I could have a Mystic Tanning booth in my own home, I probably would. It’s easy and convenenient, and it does save you from having to rub yourself down with self tanner.
But, you have to go somewhere to do it, which adds to the inconvenience factor as well. This is why I keep self tanners at home, because I would have to make a jaunt over to the nearest tanning salon that has Mystic tan, and now that is over twenty minutes away. If you need a really fast, even tan, then Mystic is probably the best way to go, but there are also some great self tanners that you can apply yourself at home, especially if you’re like me and you live prohibitively far from the nearest offering salon.
