Like many women in northern states, I become gradually paler during the course of our long winters. I am fair-skinned to begin with; I’ve been called deathly pale more than once. Winter just makes it worse, until my legs become an almost “Day-Glo” white. If it weren’t funny, it would be scary – or maybe I mean that the other way around. Knowing that my niece was planning a beach wedding in Florida on April 21st, I started using moisturizers that promised a gradual natural-looking tan in late January, hoping that at the wedding I wouldn’t frighten anyone or be harpooned when mistaken for a great white whale. The results were mixed, but I did find a favorite.
Since I couldn’t decide which moisturizer to use, I cleverly tried two, one on each leg. On my right leg, I applied Jergens Natural Glow Daily Moisturizer with a firming component; on the left, I used L’Oreal Sublime Glow. I decided to use the slow, moisturizing approach in part because I have very dry skin, especially in winter, and in part because all the self-tan products that give a near-instant tan had given me orange streaks. I hoped these moisturizers would have a better result, and hoped at the very least that my skin would be softer as a result.
I purchased the Jergens Natural Glow as a 7.5 ounce tube at Wal-Mart, on sale for $6.99. I have since seen it on Drugstore.com, regularly priced at $7.99 and sale-priced at $6.39. I would expect the price to be between $6.49 and $7.99 at most retail stores; it should be easy to find at discount stores like Wal-Mart, K-Mart, and Target, and at major drug chains like CVS and Eckert’s, as well as some grocery chains. Two things struck me with the first use; it felt greasy going on, not as smoothly moisturizing as I had hoped, and it didn’t smell very good. It isn’t a strong fragrance, though, and the scent fades very quickly.
In examining the Jergens ingredient list, I found a lot of those ingredients such as Dimethicone and Octyldodecyl Myristate that I can barely pronounce, and of whose purpose I am not entirely certain. To my surprise, I also found several natural ingredients, including Avocado extract, Oat extract, Jojoba Extract, Calendula Officinalis Flower Extract, and Olive Oil. When I read “Natural Glow” on the label, I assumed it referred to the promised skin tone, not the ingredients, so it was a pleasant surprise, since I tend to prefer natural ingredients. My favorite moisturizer is shea-butter based, but it doesn’t come in a tanning formula, and I felt that tanning was a high priority before going to Florida from my North Dakota home.
After two weeks of applying Jergens Natural Glow Moisturizer daily to my right leg, two weeks being the general time frame for both visible color and the promised skin firming. I didn’t detect any skin firming, but my leg did appear slightly darker, I thought, at least when compared to my stomach. After a month, I still couldn’t tell if my leg was any firmer, but it was definitely more colored; unfortunately the color was more coral than tan. It was also somewhat streaky. Despite my best attempts to slather it on the front of my shin bone, that area remained determinedly pale, leaving me with a white streak down the front of my right leg, with a color more orange than tan elsewhere; there were also some streaky areas on my thighs. My skin was noticeably softer, though.
I purchased the L’Oreal Sublime Glow at Target, where the 8 ounce tube was on sale for $7.99, regularly $8.99. I’ve recently seen it on Drugstore.com for $8.99, on sale from $9.99, so I expect that price, or a little less, would be typical at most places where it could be purchased. And like the Jergens Natural Glow, the L’Oreal Sublime Glow should be easy to find at discount chains and major drugstore chains. The thing that first struck me when I used the L’Oreal on my left leg was that it had a pleasant, almost fruity scent, although it was not an overwhelming scent. The second is that it didn’t feel as greasy to me as the Jergens did; it went on smoothly and did leave the “silky” feel that is advertised.
Again, the ingredients in L’Oreal Sublime Glow contain a variety of the chemical ingredients you would expect in a product like this. It also contains botanicals like Soybean Oil, Mango Seed Oil, Gingko Biloba Leaf Extract, and Sweet Almond Oil, which probably explains the pleasant smell. It was also slightly easier to see when applying it than the Jergens was. It leaves a slight shimmer going on, too, which stays around for most of the day. On the downside, it dries a little more slowly than the Jergens, and both products advise that you let them completely dry, and thoroughly wash your hands, before applying.
After two weeks of using the L’Oreal Sublime Glow on my left leg, my skin looked a little darker than it had when I started. And the darkness had no hint of orange to it. I slathered it onto my shin, just as I did with the Jergens, and while the skin over the shin bone looked a bit lighter than the surrounding skin, it did look darker than the same area on the right leg. After a month, my skin was noticeably darker than it had been before I started using it, although it would be stretching the truth to call it tan . On the other hand, I don’t tan in the sun, I burn without a sunscreen, so I’m not certain what a tan would look like on me. There were no observable streaks in the color, although the skin over that shin remained stubbornly pale. Maybe I just have no pigment there, who knows? My skin was much softer than it had been before I started, and smoother as well.
Overall, I feel that the L’Oreal Sublime Glow is a better product than the Jergens Natural Glow, Firming, Moisturizer. Although the L’Oreal is slightly more expensive, it isn’t enormously more, and the tube contains slightly (a half ounce) more product than the Jergens. Since L’Oreal is owned by the company that makes Lancome, I would expect a better quality product. The color from the L’Oreal Sublime Glow was much more natural than that from the Jergens Natural Glow. The L’Oreal Sublime Glow went on feeling soft and silky, not as greasy as the Jergens felt. The scent of the L’Oreal product is lighter and more pleasant than that of the Jergens. I was very disappointed in the lack of “skin firming” promised in the advertising for this Jergens product; they say it has been clinically proven to “improve skin elasticity” on the packaging, but I would like very much to know how much improvement was proven, since I didn’t notice any. I was a little disappointed that both products failed to add color to the skin directly over my shin bone, but maybe that’s just me. Neither left me feeling very tanned, but as I said, I don’t in general tan, and I was noticeably darker with both products. I should also point out that neither product contains a sunscreen, so if you are using them you should apply a sunscreen before going outdoors. There are tanning moisturizers with sunscreen, but I didn’t include them in my personal trial.
I am sure that if you search products in the $30 to $50 range, you could find one that worked better and more quickly than either of these, but that range is a bit outside my budget for moisturizer, tanning or otherwise. For my money, I’ll stick with the L’Oreal Sublime Glow, and a more natural tone, along with a lovely shimmer and silky skin.
And in case you were wondering about the wedding, all eyes were on the beautiful bride, and no one noticed my mis-matched legs!
