Beauty pageants are a very real (and expensive) pastime for many girls around the world. Whether we are talking about child beauty pageants or college beauty pageants, there are many benefits associated with them. However, there is also a lot of pre-pageant work that these girls do before they ever compete.

Many contestants take pageant lessons in the spare time in order to perfect their walking, performing and interviewing skills. They also generally take lessons to improve their chosen talent. In addition to the lessons, pageant contestants often focus on eating healthy and getting enough daily exercise in so they will look physically fit in their formal wear and swimwear during the competitions too.

Beauty may be only skin deep, but there’s an appeal — especially for young beauty pageant contestants — to making that skin appear golden, glowing and unblemished. While tanning is not a requirement for beauty pageant contestants, it’s considered a necessity by most girls. Most people agree that tanned skin looks better than the bright white hue of untanned skin. Since tanning is something that so many people do (whether they are in beauty pageants or not) a lot of young girls don’t realize the dangers associated with tanning.

Tanning can lead to premature aging, skin cancer and a number of other negative side effects. Therefore, if you or anyone you know is planning on getting a tan for an upcoming beauty pageant, wedding or just because they want to, make sure they understand the dangers of tanning and how they can avoid them.

Spray Tanning is the safest and best way to go for immediate tans. Most clients usually get spray tans the day or two before attending an event where their skin needs to be dark. Most pageant contestants, need a deep golden brown color without tan lines so they look flawless on stage in their swimsuit and formal attire. Spray tans generally last a week to ten days, but it is common for the contestants to get sprayed a couple times throughout the competition week for the different preliminaries.  Spray tanning is the best option for fast, speedy and safe tans and it will also keep your skin looking youthful and amazing when you are older. 

Below are a few tips from our beauty pageant clients on spray tanning for pageants and other occasions where great tans are desired.

Spray tanning is the best option for getting your skin to look flawless on stage without laying under the harmful lights in the tanning beds. While under stage lights, you skin starts to look washed out so giving it a nice tint really makes a difference. I would never go onstage in my swimsuit or gown without my spray tan!!                            -Emily, Miss Baltimore 2016

My best advice for spray tanning is to                                                      #1, Find someone who is experienced and who you trust.            #2, Exfoliate and moisturize your skin because you spray will all around look better and hold better with healthy skin under it. #3, Don’t be afraid to go a little darker than normal. A good dark tan will always look good on stage even if you look crazy in person.                                     -Shea, Miss Anne Arundel County 2016

Good Luck to all of my clients that are competing for Miss Maryland 2016 and Miss Maryland Outstanding Teen 2016!

You may be asking yourself, “Can’t I just use a sunless tanner at home and get the same results as a professional spray tan”?

Here is the main difference between getting a professional spray tan and using a tanning lotion at home; consistency!

It is very hard for anyone to spread a lotion on themselves evenly. You could also miss places completely. Having a friend put the lotion on might keep you from missing as many places, but you will likely not have your entire body coated evenly.

Think of someone finger painting your body. There will be places with a thin layer of paint and mounds of it in other places. This will affect the final outcome of your at home tan.

When you have a professional spray tan, your Tanning Artist will have you stand in certain positions, so she can spray every inch of your body. She will have a start point and go in a pattern that leaves no spot unsprayed and also doesn’t over spray any section. This will leave you with an even tan.

Your Tanning Artist will also be able to use your skin type and natural coloring to choose the perfect color of “Tan”. With a lotion self tanner, it is very easy to pick the wrong color and your tan will look unnatural.

To put this in a more visual way, think about cars you have seen that have awesome paint jobs; nice even color. Now think of a car you have seen where they used a roller to paint it or even cans of spray paint from the hardware store; creases, bubbles, dark spots and light spots.

Now ask yourself, which “paint job” do you want on your beautiful body?

Who is ready for Miss America Pageant on Sunday September 13th?

Spray tanning and its many facets is a wonderful way to give your skin a healthy glow while avoiding the harmful UV radiation in tanning beds. How you look onstage is the end result of months of training and preparation for your pageant. Unfortunately, the harsh lights of the stage “wash out” everyone’s skin tone, and highlight flaws, scars, and imperfections. Getting a spray tan as part of your pageant prep will not only even out your skin tone, but will also make your skin look tan and healthy when you are in the spotlight. To achieve a glow that will withstand harsh stage lighting, make sure you go with a professional spray tan!

Over the past year, I have really gotten into the pageant world! Superior Spray Tanning was a sponsor of the Miss Frederick pageant and tanned most of the contestants. From there, we sponsored many title holders around Maryland including Miss Frederick and Miss Frederick Teen, Miss Appalachia, Miss Mason Dixon and Miss Carroll County Teen. I was also asked to be a judge for Miss Baltimore Teen pageant. I enjoyed interviewing the different girls and experiencing a pageant from a different angle.  I am so glad that the pageant world had moved away from the dangerous tanning bed and onto the safer way to tan for competitions……airbrush spray tanning.

A few spray tanning tips for the perfect pageant spray tan!

Local Pageants

If you are doing a local pageant, definitely get your spray tan a day or two before the pageant. Make sure you wax/shave beforehand and that you get your tan AFTER your manicure, pedicure, massage, or any other spa treatment that might possibly exfoliate the skin.

State Pageants

State pageants are usually a week in length and usually the spray tan you get pre-pageant is not going to last the entire time. Most of the girls get spray tanned before they “check-in” to the pageant, then again the evening before swimsuit/physical fitness and one last one before the final night.

Yes, the solution is important and so is a skilled spray or air brush technician. However, Exfoliation is crucial!

The main ingredient in all spray tan solutions is DHA.  (Dihydroxyacetone)   The ingredient has been approved by the FDA since the 1970s and comes in a variety of cosmetic products.

DHA derived from raw sugar cane and reacts with the amino acids (proteins) in the outer layer of the skin to produce a bronze color.

Since DHA reacts with dead skin cells, patches of dry skin may result in uneven or patchy coloring.

The day before getting a spray tan, exfoliate your body with a loofah or scrub and moisturize well.   The best analogy I can give you, I obtained through research on Spray Tanning.

Have you ever painted a wall in your room or house?  What are the first steps? PREPERATION! Very important for the ultimate results with spray tanning also.

The tedious and time consuming scraping, patching, sanding and primer are the worst part of the job, but the most important for a good-looking and long-lasting finish.

Poor surface preparation will result in uneven texture on walls, and make your room look worse than before you even started. Spray tanning is much the same!  Prep your skin in the same manner, with an extra focus on elbows, knees, feet and ankles. Then moisturize and stay hydrated with lots of water.

Treat your skin like a fresh canvas and exfoliate and moisturize on a regular basis. This is very healthy for your skin and will result in a flawless, longer lasting spray tan.

If you have questions or inquiries don’t hesitate to contact us. We will be glad to help you and put your mind at ease with any aspect of Spray or Air Brush Tanning.

Superior Spray Tanning artist have a foolproof way to achieve desired skin tone for body builders.

Individuals who are involved in body building know for a fact that not only do they need to develop a perfect muscular build but they also need to appear healthy and glowing. Most body builders these days acknowledge the fact that their chances of impressing the judges will be many times increased if they eliminate their pale and unhealthy looking skin. We have to admit the fact that human nature demands us to look attractive all of the time.

Because of the nature of the sport, body builders must have the proper muscular form at the right angles of the body. Fair-skinned body builders are always discouraged since this their pale skin color tends not to not emphasize their musculature. It has been common in the past that body builders are expected to have darker richer skin tones. It is well-known in the body building culture that bodies that are naturally dark look better and more impressive compared to those that are fair. Fair skin, as mentioned earlier, gives the impression of a pale and unhealthy person and is not aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Tanning is an easy fix to this issue and an appointment with a tanning artist is highly suggested.
Now, if you are a body builder and your skin color is naturally fair then you might want to consider making some changes. There are body builders who would really work at exposing themselves to the sun in the hope that their skin color would change and develop a healthy looking tan. However, many of them have been disappointed by the fact that the natural way of getting a tan is not really very effective or consistent when it comes to skin tone. It is a known fact that the skin will always have a natural inclination to return to its regular color and prolonged exposure to the sun will only lead to an imperfect and uneven skin tone. Not only that, it could also lead to skin cancer if you don’t properly protect your skin with sunscreen. This can put fair skinned body builders at a great disadvantage.

Many people are Spray Tanning because it is a safer more consistent way to tan. Todays advanced technologies are producing healthy natural looking tanned skin through artificial means. Today body builders are motivated to make use of Sunless Tanning in order to get a richer, darker complexion. The sunless tanning method is an awesome way to achieve these results because you do not actually need to lie down under the sun for hours in order to get rid of your fair complexion.

If you are interested in getting a sunless tan you should consult with a tanning artist for the best results. Then you will see that having a beautifully tanned, healthy-looking appearance will boost your confidence for any body building competition. Superior Spray Tanning has the answer for you!  Give them a call today and get your bronze on.

Are you getting ready for a photo shoot or other special event? If you want to look great and wish you could have deep, sexy tan, all year round, but you don’t want to suffer the harmful effects of a tanning bed or the sun’s rays, then sunless tanning is the solution for you. Superior Spray Tanning  can give you the natural, beautiful glow of healthy tanned skin for your entire body without experiencing the sun’s damaging UV rays by getting an airbrush tan.

An Airbrush Tan is very long-lasting, and your tan can be as dark or light as you wish. Not only will your sunless tan give your skin a that gorgeous, sun-kissed look, you won’t have to worry about getting sunspots, wrinkles or risk cancer because it is an all-natural process that contains natural ingredients like DHA, that nourish your skin, not dry it out because it is not a paint or a dye.

However, if you don’t have the time to go to our spray tanning salon, you can have the salon come to you. You can have a beautiful tan right in the comfort of your home by getting a convenient Mobile Sunless Tans. Imagine, you no longer have to call and go to an appointment or fight traffic to speed to your tanning salon, wasting your precious time because the mobile spray tan has swept the industry. There are also some great benefits to having customized sunless tanning done in your home:

•  Spray Tans Last Much Longer. While wet tanning solutions like lotions tend to last only 2 or 3 days, spray tanning can last from 7-14 days depending on your skin’s reaction.
•  Accessibility. With Mobile Spray Tanning you can get tanned whenever you want, wherever you happen to be. This is a wonderful benefit if you happen to live in a cold climate that hardly gets any sun.
•  Less Staining. Typically, wet sunless tanning gels, lotions, and mousses, tend to leave stains on your clothing and hands. Spray tanning evaporates much faster leaving fewer stains.
•  Much Better Results. Spray tanning leaves you feeling much cleaner because you are not applying tanning lotions or creams, while leaving blotches and streaks on your skin.

Availability. With airbrush tanning you can choose from a wide variety of spray tan shades, but make sure you choose the correct shade for your skin tone. Remember the orange lady you saw walking down the street? . . . you don’t want to look like her. You should also get from your spray tanning professional; or you try applying a small dab of the solution on section of your skin. This way you can see what works for you.

Finding Spray Tan perfection gives your confidence an incredible boost, and will give you a sun-kissed, healthy look for your photo shoot. You should keep in mind, however, that the key to getting sexy tanned skin is to consult with a spray tanning professional to help you look your best. Book an appointment today with us and get that beautiful bronze look you so desire.

Water can be hazardous to a fresh spray tan. You should avoid water as much as possible, for the first 8-10 hours after your tan to assure your skin maintains that golden glow. This includes hand washing dishes (can I get an amen?)

If you do get watermarks or lightening due to exposure to water, you can apply or use a little of tanner or lotion to correct the blemish. Be careful to only apply it to the affected spot you are trying to correct. For example; if you have washed dishes and your hands fade, you will not be applying more tanner to your entire arm, just your hands. But, be very careful in applying the tanner because it may worsen the damage. Your skin might become dark if you apply too much of the tanner on already tanned areas.

Even perspiring can be a problem for your spray tan, be sure to keep yourself cool and dry. Working out, yard work, even heavy house cleaning is not recommended in the immediate hours after your tan is applied. If it is going to make you sweat, just let it go for a day, it will still be there tomorrow. Just relax and let the tan set.

Maintenance for your Spray Tan.

After the first 8-10 hours or so, you can start maintaining your golden glow. You can take a quick shower using mild soap and warm water only.
Shave as little as possible. Shaving may take off your top layer of skin that is holding the tanning solution. A little tip is to use hair conditioner to shave with instead of soap or shaving cream along with a sharp new blade. This is why exfoliating before getting a spray tan is so important.

When getting out of the shower, do not rub your skin with the towel, pat yourself dry. This also applies to washing your face, hands…pat dry!

To keep your skin soft you should apply a good, preferably natural, skin moisturizer after every shower and as needed during the day. A moisturizer with at least 3% DHA additive will help you keep your color intact longer. DHA is an ingredient that is in the tanning solution and great for your skin.

Avoid wearing tight clothing that will rub your skin. You could see fading in certain areas where your clothes are rubbing. Color on your skin maybe different than other people because each person’s skin is different, these are just some general tips to help you keep that color you desire during the week or so that your spray tan will last. If you have any more questions don’t hesitate to ask your tanning artist during your appointment.

How it All Works

If you’ve ever seen a sliced apple turn from white to brown, you’ve seen how spray tanning products work on your skin.

Natural chemicals cause the inside of the apple to turn brown when it’s exposed to air. The naturally occurring dihydroxyacetone, commonly known as DHA, does the same thing to your skin. DHA is the main ingredient in sunless tanning sprays. In fact, the Skin Cancer Foundation warns against using any sunless tanning product that does not list DHA as the active ingredient.

DHA is a colorless sugar derived from plants such as sugar beets. It has been used to treat medical problems such as skin-pigmentation disorders for more than 50 years. It’s also been approved by the U.S. FDA for cosmetic use for decades. It was first used in a tanning product by Coppertone in the 1960s, although that early attempt tended to turn people orange. DHA products have been significantly improved since then, partly because the refining process is better.

DHA has an enzymatic reaction with the outer layer, or epidermis, of the skin, causing the dead skin cells to turn temporarily dark. By contrast, the sun’s rays and the UV lights used in tanning beds penetrate into the deepest layers of skin. That’s why they cause lasting damage.

Just as it takes the apple a while to turn brown, so can it take several hours for the DHA to darken your skin. That’s one reason our top of the line spray tanning solution includes a temporary dye or bronzing agent. Our clients want to see immediate results and we understand why! Unlike the darkening caused by DHA, the dye will wash off the first time you shower — or “run” when you sweat. Another common ingredient in spray-tanning products today is erythrulose, also a natural sugar, which gets some credit for the more natural (not orange) color of newer spray tanning products. Our solution also contains botanicals, moisturizers and aloe vera to help the skin absorb the tanning solution quickly and avoid excessive dryness.

Happy bronzing!

Many teens and twenty-somethings want that bronzed glow all year ’round, and when they can’t tan outdoors, millions use tanning beds to get it. Every year, nearly 2.3 million teenagers in the US tan indoors annually, and with prom season right around the corner, the temptation to tan is even greater. But with the big night fast approaching, new research has found that the use of sunbeds during a person’s teens and twenties is linked to an increase in melanoma risk, the deadliest form of skin cancer. People that have ever used tanning beds have a 15 percent higher risk of developing melanoma. More alarming still, based on 7 worldwide studies, people who first use a tanning bed before age 35 increase their risk for melanoma by 75 percent.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) conducted a thorough review of several studies associating tanning bed use and melanoma risk. The researchers showed that the use of sunbeds under the age of 35 can increase melanoma risk by 75 percent. “This new research substantiates what we’ve believed for years about the danger of indoor tanning,” said Perry Robins, MD, President of The Skin Cancer Foundation. “It clearly increases the risk of skin cancer, especially in young women, who are the biggest users. Perhaps people will finally start to listen now that this study and other recent research provides some science to back up the belief.”

If the threat of melanoma isn’t enough to scare teens away from tanning booths, they should know that 90 percent of visible skin changes commonly attributed to aging are caused by exposure to ultraviolet radiation. UV tanning accelerates the signs of aging, including wrinkles, leathering and fine lines, which can be seen as early as in one’s 20’s. Yet many teens will still desire a bronzed glow for prom. One safe alternative is sunless spray tanning.

Spray Tanning deliver a perfectly safe tan that typically lasts for 5-7 days. Unlike tanning beds, they don’t involve dangerous ultraviolet rays, they are made with completely harmless common ingredients.

• Making use of shades.
• Avoiding sunburns.
• Sun protection using hat, sunglasses, and clothing.
• Avoiding UV tanning.
• Use of sunscreen with a broad spectrum.
• To keep the newborn babies out of the sun.
• Periodic examination of the skin.