Banana Boat Summer Color Self-Tanning Lotion, Deep Dark Color, For All Skin Tones, 6-Ounce Tubes (Pack of 3)

by Banana Boat

• Case of three 6-ounce tubes of sunless tinted lotion (total of 18 ounces)
• Oil-free and enriched with aloe vera and Vitamin E
• For a rich, sun-free tan
• Streak-free; oil-free; quick-drying
• Made in Canada

Product Description

Summer Color lets you control the shade of your tan. This quick-drying sunless tanning lotion from Banana Boat allows you to get the deepest, richest tan that is achievable with your skin tone. The more often you apply it, the deeper your tan becomes. After achieving your desired color, you can maintain your tan with less frequent applications for a natural-looking tan. The lotion is tinted so you can see where you've applied it for a streak-free, sunless tan. Made for deep, dark skin tone, Summer Color is oil-free and enriched with aloe vera and Vitamin E. Made in Canada.

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B001G7PPNI
• UPC: 079656007817
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (154 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #582 in Beauty (See Top 100 in Beauty)
  • #20 in Beauty > Skin Care > Sun > Self-Tanners & Bronzers

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

168 of 174 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Do This For A Flawless Self-Tan Without The Sun February 11, 2011

By Jonny

This is a great product and if used properly, you will get great results. My application process works great for me, but this is only advice and is not like what you'll find on the product packaging. I'm a guy with average skin color, I tan easily and dark without burning. But I like the near instant tan this product provides, without the dangers of the sun. I use it at the beginning of the summer so I'm not embarrassed to go to the beach, be aware it does not provide any protection from the sun, however being responsible with your sun time, it will blend in well with a natural tan. I also use it after the summer season to keep the tan I get from the beach.

First, remove all jewelry. Shower and exfoliate with a soft, yet abrasive spungie or similar item to wash off as much dead skin as possible with liquid body wash. If you don't, your tan won't last as long. Because it works with dead skin, you will have plenty left to make the product work. This will also remove excess dead skin from the areas such as the elbows and knees so that you won't over apply on those areas. Pat dry, but not completely and it's a good idea to leave some steam in the bathroom, but not so much that you can't see yourself in the mirror.

Some people wear gloves, but I don't. I find being able to feel the product allows me to better apply. I start by using a hand or body lotion on my hands. This important step prevents the tanning lotion to get into those places known for turning dark. Cover heavily until it soaks in. Then reapply body lotion until you see white under your fingernails and where your nails meet your fingers on top of your hands. Use excess to lightly apply to elbows and knees. Now the tanning lotion will not seep into these areas, since they are the first to be exposed.....

Starting with the face, apply small amount on palms with a few drops of water. Dap cheeks and forehead then rub into face, using circular motion. Pull away from eyes and wipe gently under eyes and with eyes closed over eyelids toward ears, lightly covering outside of ears and behind them. Pull tanning lotion toward hairline; not away from it. You want to pull the product from the nose and center of face area toward the ears to blend it. Pull product from nose area over jaws mouth and chin into neck area.

Put more product on hands with a little water and start between neck and shoulder in circular motion to blend with what you did before from the face, working your way behind your neck and back and front of shoulders. Apply more product to hands and apply behind shoulders and blend to front in circular motions. Apply more to hand and rub each arm, dabbing it in places, then finally rubbing it while twisting your hands and arms. You never want to make a straight line. Cover elbows last when most of product has been applied.

With more rubbed into palms, cover breast area in circular motion. More product onto chest. Now, if you want a tan line, this is the only time you will make a straight line. Rub straight across where you want a tan line, then pull product up toward chest in a swiping motion. You cannot get a crisp tan line, so don't try to. Also, don't wear briefs or panties thinking you can get this result; you can't. It will clog where the fabric meets your skin and make it look unnatural.

Now the back. Apply generously to palm with a couple drops of water. Smear all of the product on the back of one hand, then use back of other hand to cover the back of both hands. Reach back and apply in circular motion to center and as far as you can reach on both sides of back. Then, reverse hands to palms and pull product down to waist. If you want a tan line, again wipe straight across where you want that line to be, just as you did with your front, then again pull product in swiping motion upward. Use your palms and back of hands to smooth out in the area between the back and front of your torso. Put small amount on palms again, wet if needed and reach behind shoulders. Use one had against your elbow and push to give you more leverage to reach further down back and blend in, then work in rest up toward shoulders, which you already did when you did the back of your neck and shoulders previously. Having someone else help you would be good advice here, but you can do it yourself.

For legs, apply product to palms with a few drops of water and dab thighs on sides and then calves. Then come back and smooth out in circular motion, leaving knees for last. Rub down to beginning of toes, but never touch them, If you blend properly, it will look natural as though your toes were in the sand at the beach. When you get to your knees, the product will be nearly gone from your palms and will look natural. If you want a tan line, circle your legs all the way around at the tan line point, then pull down in swirls toward your knees.

Now, this is the trick to an even tan for me. The instructions will not tell you to do this. Do the whole thing again. Yes, apply another coat right over this one. This way, you will cover any areas you missed the first time and by moistening your hands when needed, will blend in the lotion from the previous application. This process must be done as fast as you can, but don't let time stop you from being thorough and accurate. After a few sessions, you'll get really fast at it. It takes me about 5-6 minutes.

Immediately wash your hands with liquid soap up to your wrists, and just a little bit more. Clean well under fingernails and where nails meet fingers and knuckles. Then, wash them again concentrating on palms. Dab dry with towel, but don't rub. Then, rub back of hands only and lightly over forearms, top and bottom, rolling your arms to get a very light coating on the back of your hands, without disturbing the product on your arms. Do not include knuckles or fingers. These tan naturally in sunlight anyway. Wash palm again and dab dry, so as not to remove the light coating you just applied to back of hands.

If you find later (hours later) that you have applied too much, such on inside your wrists (which is common), you can use Avon's Skin So Soft and with a tissue, you can gently lighten these areas. Rub your wrists lightly together so you get a natural blending look.

If this is your first time, you will see where you made mistakes (if any) and reapply later. As with any artist, you are "painting" yourself. It takes practice, but after a few times, you'll be a pro. This is the best product I have ever used. It helps that it is not clear when applied (it's brown), which helps knowing how it is being applied. I wouldn't recommend the lighter shades, because you're wasting your time, money and product trying to get a tan. I use the darkest one available and it looks very natural. I typically use at night, so that the next day I can re-apply for a darker look or to blend any imperfections from the night before.

After applying, be prepared to stay nude for at least 10 minutes. You can use a fan, but I prefer just to walk around for a while, but don't do anything that would cause you to perspire, such as housework or sitting on leather. You can tell when it's dry enough to put on some loose clothing. After about 30 minutes, you can feel free to put on other clothing.

Guys who are balding need to do their heads also. This should be done when pulling into hairline. When product is almost gone from palms, rub lightly into balding area; it does not affect the color of your hair (at least not mine), but use sparingly and remember the circular motion.

Can't wait to try it? Available at Wal-Mart for $6.47 per tube. Read more ›

57 of 60 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Best Sunless Tanner Ever June 26, 2010

By Political Observer

I bought the sunless tanning lotion this week and the results are in. This is truly amazing stuff and works as advertised!

I'm a naturally very pale guy, as in Casper the friendly ghost. If you're like me, don't make the mistake of getting the lighter formula, the lighter formulas will always leave you orange. The dark formula will not. If you're worried about looking un-natural or too tan, then all you do is apply ONE coat of the dark formula and you're good to go with a light natural looking tan. I actually used three coats over two days (night-afternoon-night) and it looks amazing like I'm from the Mediterranean. It works on you for three hours and then you need to shower to wash away the "color guide" (orangey residue that supposedly helps you tell where you put cream on).

For people that don't know how these latest generations of sunless tanners work, they are NOT dyes. These do NOT color your skin. They have a chemical which causes the dead skin on your body to react and brown. It's the same process that happens when you cut up an apple and leave it out (the "Maillard reaction"). It will brown in the same way your skin will with this lotion. Your live skin cells will not be affected.

As a result of this:

1) it's important to moisturize your wrists and elbows before applying the cream because they are full of dead skin.
2) the tan will go away as your dead skin naturally falls off so you need to re-apply often (once or twice a week)
3) your clothes and bed sheets will not stain because this is not a stain or dye, it's a cream that reacts with dead skin

Considerations:

I put moisturizer on my wrists but still messed them up with brown splotches on my first coat.... Lesson: put LOTS of mosturizer, and rub almost no cream on your wrists. I also messed up my hands because I overlooked putting cream in the webbing and on the sides. That left weird demarcation lines of dark/white that I was able to fix with a pomus stone and adding a second coat to the white areas (the pomus stone is your friend!!)

I used gloves to apply all over my body, but stupidly I took them off to apply the top of my hands and also used my hands to wipe myself down a bit. As a result, my palms looked really un-natural after the first coat - I will not make this mistake again.

You're also not supposed to put this cream in contact with your eyes (irritant), but I had to rub it very close after the first coat because around my eyes were white compared to my cheeks and it looked a little like I fell asleep in the tanning booth with the goggles on.

Also, I would recommend applying it in a cool place or have a fan on you. I was trying to work as fast as possible on a hot June night and as a result I built up a sweat that was a real problem with getting the cream absorbed. I also noticed that I was sweating a lot more with the cream on which made the problem worse.

Conclusion

All in all, I HIGHLY recommend this product. I will likely be buying 3-packs all the time from Amazon because I figure one bottle will last about at least 5-6 applications for a tall guy like me so a three pack is good for about 2 months, which at under 20 bucks is an amazing deal for a lifelong tan. I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 because the "color guide" does not work. I can't tell at all where I applied the cream and I have to remember or risk streaks. The real drawback is the same as all the other lotions, you have to rub this stuff on every week, but that's the price to pay for looking good and not getting skin cancer. Read more ›

51 of 55 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars great stuff August 23, 2006

By A. Rosenthal

Amazon Verified Purchase

I've tried about 5 different tanning lotions. I just tried a foaming product from neutrogena last night and it dries really quickly and doesnt feel oily at all. I love that about it, BUT the color isnt realistic enough. the color of this banana boat tanning lotion is by far the best. it looks great and it always looks like a tan - not orange at all - the medium color product banana boat sells is a little orangey (well its a word now!!) so I stick to the deep dark. the only drawback is that I feel a gooey with the banana boat all over my body but I still think its the best I have tried and keep going back to it. I'm getting a little concerned because it seems like its harder and harder to find in stores. now I can only find it online.

one tip: i sleep between towels the night I apply it so I dont get it all over my sheets, the next morning, I take a shower and bingo! instant where-did-YOU-go-on-vacation glow. : ) temporary relief to peoples' eyes from the corneal damage due to the reflection of light off my body (okay, not that bad but I go from pasty to a great skin color with this product). I would like to see this stuff come in a large pump bottle for easier application and volume savings though.

43 of 46 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars How to Achieve a Perfect (Fake) Tan February 27, 2012

By Angie

I've tried them all. I'll give a quick review of some favorites, and tell you why it just so happens I love one of the cheapest brands the most.

- Loreal Sublime Bronze: Color: good. Scent: meh. Lasting: 4-5 days. Fade: in patches :(. Worst of all: TOO PALE. Had to apply twice.
- St. Tropez: Color: amazing. Scent: yum!. Lasting: 6-7 days. Fade: evenly. Worst of all: TOO PALE. Had to apply twice.
- Fake Bake: Color: good. Scent: good. Lasting: 3-4 days. Fade: evenly. Worst of all: TOO PALE. Had to apply twice. (And it takes HOURS to dry.)

See where I'm going? Banana Boat Deep Dark Color is actually... drumroll please... Deep and Dark! It doesn't fade as evenly as St. Tropez, but I don't have to waste hours on an extra application. Other tanners say they're "dark" but this gem you can find at any grocery/pharmacy store is the only true dark I've come across. It's a godsend.

Color: dark, realistic. Scent: Mild, you can barely smell anything. Lasting 6-7 days. Fade: in patches :( You must scrub and reapply. The lotion dries almost instantly so it doesn't take a half-day just to fake a bake. I've used it - lightly - on my face with no bad reactions.

HOW TO ACHIEVE THE PERFECT FAKE TAN

(Note: This suggested process seems long, but it is not, it is just very detailed to ensure the process goes quicker. Once you get the hang of it, you'll be fake tanning in a jiffy.)

You will need:
- A pair of gloves, POWDER FREE or your tan lotion will turn to globs and streak on your skin. Try Safetouch Powder Free Latex Exam Gloves, Non-Sterile, Mediumfor example.
- A sturdy back cleaner to exfoliate.... Note: If you have sensitive skin, it may be best you use sugar or salt scrubs, but my skin is not sensitive, and I've found that a product like AquaBella Long Handle Bath Brush (Medium-Soft)Colors may vary works MUCH better to exfoliate and smooth your skin for the fake tanning ritual.
- Tanning lotion.
- REGULAR lotion.

Step 1: SHOWER - Use the exfoliator of your choice (I suggest the back brush cleaner) and with mild soap, work the exfoliator in CIRCULAR motions around your entire body. Pay special attention to dry patches, like elbows, knees, ankles, toes, etc. If you're tanning your face, gently exfoliate that too with a wash cloth or face-specific exfoliator.

Step 2: DRY - Step out of the shower, and blot dry your body. Wait around a few minutes to ensure you dry completely, and open your bathroom door to allow all the moisture in the air to leave. If you apply tanning lotion in a moist, wet bathroom, you will get streaky results.

Step 3: PREP - Take any REGULAR lotion (do not touch your tanning lotion yet!) and use whatever is necessary to moisturize your dry patches: elbows, knees, ankles, toes, etc.

- A. Why is this step so important? Your skin is thicker at your elbows and knees, and therefore absorbs MUCH more tanning lotion. You apply REGULAR lotion because they will moisturize your thicker skin, and prevent too much tanning lotion from absorbing. I think every self tanner has made this horrible mistake at least once. It sucks to be happy with your fake tan.... but you have DARK ORANGE elbows and knees.

- B. If you are going to use the tanning lotion on your face, moisturize your face as well with your typical face moisturizer, paying special attention to the delicate skin around your eyes. Your face will also absorb MUCH more tanning lotion, and your regular lotion will help prevent any embarrassing patches or streaks.

Step 4: APPLY - Now that you're completely dry, and your rough patches are moisturized, put on your powder-free gloves and get to work. I like to work from bottom up, with my arms and wrists done very last.

- A. Why do your arms last? Because applying tanning lotion to your body requires you to get in awkward angles. I've found my yoga classes really paid off when I apply the lotion to my back. This causes your arms to be occasionally streaked with the lotion because it brushes up against body parts. Doing your arms last ensures you can rub in the uneven application of tanning lotion.

- B. Use SMALL amounts of tanning lotion at a time. For example, take a dime-to-quarter sized amount for ONE calf. Rub that lotion in the broader areas of your calf BEFORE spreading the leftover lotion to your ankles, feet, and between your toes. The residue lotion on your gloves is more than enough to cover the tricky small areas. Now, start on the next calf, then your thigh, then the next thigh, etc.

- C. Now that you've rubbed in the lotion, you're ALMOST done. What are you going to do about your hands and wrists that have been covered by the gloves? Grab some paper towels/toilet paper. Remove and discard the gloves. Wrap some of the paper around the tanning bottle to ensure you don't get any on your finger tips. Fold the rest of the paper into a sturdy square (or use cotton balls). Pour the tanning lotion on to the square/cotton ball and rub the lotion into your wrists, the back of your hands, and LIGHTLY in between your fingers.

VOILÀ! Be sure to romp around your home naked for 15-20 minutes. If this is too much for your significant other to handle without touching your skin and compromising all your hard work, KICK THEM OUT! Tell them you'll play when you're done and dry. At the end of the 15-20 minutes, you can put on clothes (or not, its your rodeo), and continue your day as normal. Within 8 hours, a perfectly even tan will emerge.

Final Note: I recommend doing all this before you go to bed. If you have white sheets, prepare to wash them, or just buy dark sheets.

HAPPY TANNING! Read more ›