You're perfect exactly how you are. However, if you're headed to the beach and want to contour your body for a gorgeous glow and toned features, that's cool too. St. Tropez self-tanning pro Sophie Evans is here to tell you how to score perfectly contoured, flawless skin.
Using a self-tanner is a great and easy way to achieve an overall slimmer look year-round, whether you're slipping into a bikini for a summer day at the beach or into a sleek evening gown for a fall wedding. A good self-tan can help to mask cellulite and promote a more defined and contoured physique, Evans says.
To Contour Your Chest:
Using a bronzing spray, spray a half-circle in line with the curvature of the top of each breast. Then, use a makeup wedge to accentuate the inner "V" of your cleavage, creating the appearance of a fuller chest. This is easier if you apply the self tanner in the nude, but if you are wearing a bathing suit when you apply the self tanner, you can protect the fabric of your bikini with a tanning mitt as you spray on the formula.
To Contour Your Arms:
With a dark self-tanning spray (or an at-home self-tanning gun like this one), hold your arm out at a 90-degree angle and begin spraying the inner part of your triceps to give it a more chiseled look.
Then, starting at the back of your shoulder and curving around the front of your biceps, following the natural curvature in your arm, create a question mark-like shape to give the arm an elongated look and added definition (follow the line in the photo above).
Finish by spraying a straight line down the center of your forearm. If you over-sprayed in any area, use the tanning mitt to pat and blend the color into your skin.
To Contour Your Stomach:
Using the dark self-tanning spray, create a half-circle along each side of your tummy (kind of like parentheses around your abs) to bring focus to the inner stomach area. Then, with the spray, trace the natural curves of your abdominal line to create a slimming effect.
Whatever you do, don't try to create abs-looking lines because it won't look natural, Evans says. "You want to play off of and enhance what you already have so it doesn't look fake." Again, buff with the mitt if you over-spray.
To Contour Your Butt:
This looks harder to do that it actually is. First, bend at your knees and waist to lift your bottom up and out (that way you don't create a telltale crease under your butt cheeks). Next, with the dark bronze tanning spray, lightly spray a curved line under each butt cheek; this makes a shadow and gives your bum a lifted look. Then, spray a half circle (think left and right parentheses) on each side of your butt to disguise any trouble spots, like saddle bags, and to make your bottom appear slimmer. Buff if necessary.
To Contour Your Legs:
With the dark bronzing self-tanner, spray a half circle around the inner portion of each thigh (with the openings of the half circles facing inward at each other), and then spray a line down the side of each outer thigh. This will provide the illusion of a slimmer thigh. Lastly, spray one straight line lightly down the shin bone, and you're done!
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Carly Cardellino was the beauty director at Cosmopolitan. If you follow her Instagram, then you know she'll try just about any beauty trend or treatment once (the pics of her purple hair are on IG to prove it). But her favorite part about being in beauty is finding the most effective products, and then sharing that intel with others—because who wants to spend money on stuff that doesn't work? No one, that's who. Her most recent discovery: De La Cruz Sulfur Ointment, which will change your blemish-clearing game! Hopefully through the beauty stories she writes—and the experiences she shares—you can see exactly why she's in this business.
