Keep reading to learn about the best tanning accelerator lotion for you. But first, what is a tanning accelerator lotion? How is it different from other tanning lotions on the market? If you search for tanning lotions, it’s easy to get quickly overwhelmed by all of the options. There are bronzers, tinglers, accelerators, with any combination of these and more. Brands come up with new terms like “intensifiers” and “optimizers” all the time.
At their core, tanning accelerator lotions, often just called accelerators, are lotions that help you tan faster while moisturizing and protecting your skin from drying out. They have compounds that help you tan faster by helping increase the melanin in your skin, the pigment that makes your skin darker. Accelerators generally don’t have any SPF to protect you from being burned, so be careful of tanning for too long with only an accelerator lotion.
You should use an accelerator if you’re looking to kickstart your tan as quick as possible. Once you have a base tan going, you’ll be less likely to burn as you keep tanning or playing in the sun. By choosing the best tanning lotion, you’ll get results quicker while protecting your skin from drying out from tanning.
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What to Consider When Buying Accelerator Lotions
If you try searching for accelerator lotions, you end up with a lot to choose from. They all seem to do the same thing, so how do you choose? The answer is that you’ll need to find the best tanning lotion that works and meets your needs.
Skin Type |
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First, consider your skin type, do you have a fair or darker skin type? Or anything in between? How sensitive is your skin/ Is it dry or greasy, and are you susceptible to breakouts? If you have troublesome skin, then you know what types of lotions work for you. Look for the ingredients and types of lotions you’re comfortable with putting your skin. And as always, you can choose to test some of the lotion first. Accelerator without bronzers will not make your skin immediately darker on its own, so don’t worry about becoming patchy. |
Safety and Health |
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Also consider the safety of the chemicals being used. Generally, natural ingredients will be safer and healthier for your skin. Your skin is the largest organ in your body, and it plays an important part in keeping you safe and healthy, so taking care of it is hugely important. |
Pleasure |
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Lastly, there are aesthetic things like the scent and feel of the lotion to consider, too. Taking care of your health and your looks should be an enjoyable experience. Don’t force yourself to use accelerators you don’t like using just to get results. You’ll end up giving up on tanning sooner if you use a greasy and smelly lotion you hate to use. |
Top 10 Best Tanning Accelerator Lotion Comparison Table
These lotions are picked from the latest products on the market from the best proven brands out there so you can choose the best lotion for you. They all come with glowing reviews from hardcore tanning enthusiasts to casual summer beachgoers. Don’t be afraid to try several to find out which one works for you. Something that works for another person might not be the best for your skin type. Your local tanning salon will be more than happy to let you sample their selection of products.
| Product | Our Rating | Bronzer | Tingler | Scent | Greasy | Summary |
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| Australian Gold Velocity | #1 | No | No | Sweet | No | Highly effective, non-greasy, great scent |
| Australian Gold Rapid Tanning Intensifier Lotion | #2 | No | No | Sweet | No | Affordable, fresh smell |
| Designer Skin Visionary | #3 | No | No | Fresh/Floral | No | Great results, long-lasting fresh fragrance |
| Millennium Black Chai | #4 | Natural Bronzer | No | Fruity | No | Fast tanning with natural bronzers, streak-free, moisturizing |
| Swedish Beauty Sustain | #5 | No | No | Fruity | No | Natural, sustainable ingredients, non-greasy, light |
| Snooki Get Real | #6 | No | No | Light/Fruity | No | High quality skin care, floral scent, quick results |
| Hempz Golden Beach Tan Maximizer | #7 | No | No | Fruity | No | Unique blend of natural oils and extracts |
| Ed Hardy Coconut Kisses | #8 | No | No | Coconut | No | Delicious coconut fragrance, no streaking |
| Ed Hardy Stay Golden | #9 | No | No | Floral | No | Amazing skin care protection |
| Devoted Creations Fast Track 2 Black | #10 | No | No | Fruity | No | Pore minimizing, tyrosine blend |
Our customers often prefer the following products when searching for tanning accelerator lotion
1 Australian Gold Velocity
If you have tattoos, you know that they are part of your identity, and also a big investment. As such, you want to take the steps to protect them and prevent them from fading. The UV lights in tanning beds can easily damage tattoos, but this lotion from Ed Hardy is specifically designed to protect them.
In addition to keeping your tattoos looking great, it has an incredible smell that you won’t mind wearing once outside the salon. It also helps to darken your skin without bronzers, which is pretty rare for indoor tanning lotions. It also has agents that help to firm the skin, prevent signs of aging, and even reduces the appearance of cellulite.
2 Australian Gold Rapid Tanning Intensifier Lotion
The Rapid Tanning Intensifier lotion by Australian Gold comes with their usual mix of tea tree oil and aloe vera for keeping you moisturized while you tan. This lotion comes in as a crowd favorite with its price, non-greasy feel, and coconut orange vanilla scent mix. Australian Gold always comes in as a favorite for their fresh feeling and smell.
3 Designer Skin Visionary
Designer Skin offers high end tanning products, one of their most popular being the Phoenician. If you look online, however, Designer Skin does not officially offer the product on their website anymore. Visionary is the successor and worthy upgrade to Designer Skin Phoenician. It comes filled with a tanning tyrosine blend with a mix of peptides to boost melanin production. It moisturizes your skin with a silky silicone emulsion, leaving you smelling fresh and fragrant even after tanning. People love Designer Skin’s Visionary because you can wear it all day after tanning and smell great. For people that already have a base tan, Visionary is said to give amazing results.
4 Millennium Black Chai
Millennium’s Black Chai is a tan enhancer with natural bronzing components. It’s DHA free, and you don’t have to worry about any staining or streaking. Like many tanning lotions, Millennium uses silicone moisturizers to soften and moisturize your skin. They understand the importance of preserving your skin’s health and beauty and fill Black Chai with powerful antioxidants to fight wrinkles and aging. It comes in a pleasant, fruity, blackberry scent. With the natural bronzers in Black Chai, this lotion will give you some of the quickest results on this list.
5 Swedish Beauty Sustain
With their focus on sustainability and natural ingredients, Swedish Beauty products are some of the highest quality on the market. They focus on giving you sustainably sourced, organic ingredients so you can look your best with the best ingredients out there. Their Sustain Intensifier uses a unique blend of babacu oil, cupuacu butter, and acai oil. It feels light and natural on your skin.
6 Snooki Get Real
Get Real by Snooki is what they’re calling an ultra dark tan maximizer. Enriched with vitamins in a bouquet of floral scents, Get Real promises a focus on smoothing and tightening your skin. It has a mix of passion flower, rose, and gardenia extracts and boasts tyrosine to give your skin a healthy natural tan. Get Real has works great for many people, even those with very fair skin, but some tanners report that it wasn’t quick enough for them.
7 Hempz Golden Beach Tan Maximizer
Golden Beach is a collection of products by Hempz, each with different levels of bronzing action. For your tanning accelerator needs, go with their tan maximizer. WIth no bronzers, it comes with the Hempz’ Golden Beach mix of natural hemp seed oil, sweet almond oil extract, vanilla bean extract, shea butter, carob, sugarcane extract, aloe leaf juice, and vitamin A, all carefully picked to leave your skin smooth, firm and glowing in a fruity scent.
8 Ed Hardy Coconut Kisses
Ed Hardy comes to you with one of the most recommended lotions on the market. Its amazing coconut fragrance is raved about all over the world, and Ed Hardy’s mix of coconut oil, shea butter, and cocoa butter in this lotion gives you some of the best moisturizing combinations on the market. In addition to the ultra-moisturizing ingredients, they also include tyrosine to help stimulate melanin production in your skin. Note that some customers have reported that their skin reacted poorly to this lotion, so make sure it’s the right one for you before using it fully.
9 Ed Hardy Peace & Harmony
Peace & Harmony by Ed Hardy’s is lesser known than Coconut Kisses, but is an amazing option for those that just don’t love the coconut scent. Peace & Harmony comes in with caffeine and green tea extracts to detoxify your skin. With a gluten-free, paraben-free, and nut-free formula, Peace & Harmony focuses on your health while still delivering amazing tanning results with their proprietary blends of tyrosine and melanin boosters.
10 Devoted Creations #TANLIFE
Devoted Creations’ #TANLIFE is a natural tanning accelerator that comes in a delicious mango fragrance. It’s filled a powerful antioxidant blend of lychee, orange, grapefruit, pomegranate, and acai berry to help protect your skin, and give you a natural, beautiful tan. #TANLIFE is based on a shea butter base that’s designed to keep your skin moisturized and protected while you tan. Shea butter works well for people with very sensitive, easily irritated skin. If you have eczema or acne, #TANLIFE is a highly recommended choice.
Get the Most Out of Tanning with These Accessories and Supplements
As you start tanning to look your best, you’ll want to also keep yourself safe and looking as good as possible. Be prepared for anything that comes up to get the best experience possible.
- Eye Cover - Both outdoor and indoor tanning happen in really bright light. Protect your eyes from the sun and lay comfortable with an eye mask. If you’re worried about tan lines, an alternative option is to just cover your face with a towel. Tanning your face less usually isn’t a problem because it’s likely your face is darker naturally from being in the sun already.
- Chapstick - Also sometimes referred to as lip balm, make sure you get lip protection with SPF to prevent burned lips. If you’ve never had burned lips before or didn’t know it was possible, you don’t want to start now. You might already have a favorite SPF lip balm, but one of our personal favorites is Nivea for its great moisturizing action.
- Water Bottle - Always keep hydrated when you’re tanning, especially if you’re out in the sun. Having water handy will keep you cool and comfortable. If you’re looking for something that will stay ice cold, this Hydro Flask is a great option with a convenient straw lid.
- Nail Savers - If you have acrylic nails from the nail salon, you definitely need nail savers to keep them from yellowing or their colors fading. You can also ask your nail technician about solar nails, which don’t need any special treatment to protect them from UV rays when tanning. These Nail Savers on Amazon are a great deal with amazing convenience if you’re a Prime member.
- Hair Cap - Your hair is sensitive to UV light from the sun and indoor tanning beds. A simple hair cap protects you from dry and damaged hair while keeping your scalp protected, too.
Tips for Getting Your Best Tan
Whether this is your first time tanning or you’re a regular goer, consider these tips to get the most of your tan as safely as possible.
- Accessories - Check out the list of accessories again to see if you there’s anything you can do protect sensitive parts of your body. UV light from the sun or from indoor tanning beds can be harmful and aging in large doses, so use any protection for your lips, nails, or hair when you can.
- Vitamins and Supplements - Skin health relies on a variety of vitamins and nutrients to stay healthy and strong. Vitamin E is great for your skin while Vitamin C & D boosts your immune response. Some people have also reported great results from L-Tyrosine, which is an amino acid needed for melanin. Another trace mineral that helps your body tan well in the sun is copper. Taking a copper supplement starting a few days before your first UV exposure can help you improve your tanning rate.
- Try Your Lotion First - Tanning lotions are no different from many other beauty products. Not every product works equally for everybody. Be open to trying different lotions and applying a new lotion on just a small part of your body before going for a full body session. Your skin could be sensitive to ingredients in some lotions that other people are fine with.
- Less is More - It’s tempting to go all out when you first start tanning. After all, you’re going tanning because your skin is too pale for your liking. If you try to tan too much too fast, you’ll end up burning and will have to wait weeks to heal before continuing your tanning. Especially in the beginning, 12-15 minutes is enough to get a melanin response in your skin.
- Check Your Skin Regularly - Skin cancer is no joke. If you tan often, please get examined regularly for any irregular spots. It’s tempting to dismiss marks as just harmless moles or age spots. Keep an eye out for any growths you haven’t noticed before.
Conclusion
When it comes down to making the decision to go tanning, it’s all about taking care of yourself to look your best. Take safety precautions whenever you can against UV light. No matter what your age, the effects of sun and UV exposure add up over the long term. You can get great results by tanning more often for shorter periods of time. And when it comes to choosing a lotion, the best tanning accelerator lotion is the one that makes you feel and look your best. If you like the smell and your skin works well with the lotion, you can’t go wrong with any of the ones on this list.
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