The Irish obsession with tanning

IvaBigWun

Id be partial to a few tanning sessions in the buildup to a holiday but whats the obsession with looking like an Oompa Loompa? Tanning cream seems to be worse, Ive yet to smell some off a girl that didnt have a whiff of 20 year old moisturiser.

Do you use sunbeds and why?

xzanti

I stopped using sun beds... dont see the point tbh.. I just use self tan if Im going out (and I dont think I look like an "Oompa Lumpa" its quite subtle the one I use.. and equally if Im going on hols I'll just self tan all over because by the time it wares off I'll be starting to tan in the sun anyway.. and Im unlucky with the weather I still have my trusty bottle in my case to top up... Better than frying myself on some sweaty sunbed in the back of a chartbusters if you ask me

~Leanne~

Used to do the sunbeds but not anymore, dried my skin up like a prune!! Also dont want to look like old leather by the time im 40!!
I used fake tans alright, just twice a week to get rid of the pasty look and no i dont look orange - i know how to apply properly and use the right products!

Nasty_Girl

I don't use fake tan because for the simple reason : it looks fake.
I know tons of people who use it fanatically and some who just use it for the odd special occasion and it looks so fake.

They're all either orange or an unrealistic shade of brown that I have seen

I'd always been a deathly looking vampire type when it comes to skin so when i worked outside on a beach for two summers in a row I built up a healthy deep almost all over body tan.
Needless to say I was the envy of quite a few class mates!
The tan was great, it covered up lines on my face, I didn't need a lot of make up going out or anything it was great.

However, then after about 5-6 months it faded away and left me feelin like sh*t appearance wise.
I was very tempted to hit the bottle (the fake tan bottle that is!) but then thought "no way if I start this now I'll never stop" so I gave up me tanned lifestyle and just got on with it.
When friends and well wishers coo at me "oh you should try this it's so good" I bite my tongue to stop meself from saying "well it looks sh*t on you so I'll keep me money thanks!"

Pythia

IvaBigWun wrote:

Id be partial to a few tanning sessions in the buildup to a holiday but whats the obsession with looking like an Oompa Loompa? Tanning cream seems to be worse, Ive yet to smell some off a girl that didnt have a whiff of 20 year old moisturiser.

Do you use sunbeds and why?

Wouldn't use a sun bed as I have pale white skin and red hair. It just wouldn't be clever!
Fake tan, on the other hand, I use all the time.

spiderlegs

I don't use sunbeds. Why? Because they can give you cancer!!!
You'd be mad to use them!!

mike65

Ireland of the 21st century is full of chavs!

Mike.

Binomate

All fake tan is horrible.

spiderlegs

Binomate wrote:

All fake tan is horrible.

Opinion is seconded.
Only johnson's self tanning lotion in small amounts is acceptable.At least it doesn't KILL you.

LegacyUser

spiderlegs wrote:

Opinion is seconded.
Only johnson's self tanning lotion in small amounts is acceptable.At least it doesn't KILL you.

If this is the same stuff as my ol' doll uses, then it smells like CURRY!!:(

spiderlegs

Eh could be....It's never smelt like curry on me before though.
As I said above though.At least it's not killing her.

Nightwish

I only tan when the sun does it to me naturally. Fake tan looks....well, fake.
I concur with Mike65!!!

Azureus

i wouldnt go near sunbeds ever-theyre a ridiculous and dangerous invention with no other purpose than to satisfy peoples vanity,as nice as the tan may look they arent healthy. not a fan of fake tan either myself (ive rarely seen a natural looking one and badly applied tan is just not pretty imo) but its far better than sunbeds.

d4gurl

I agree. Fake tan is just that fake! Its actually so tragic and pathetic when I see girls coming into class looking like oompa loompas!! I really do not see the point. That said my skin tone is quite tanned naturally and I probably do not see it from the point of view of those with a fairer complexion! I know a good few people who can pull it off without looking too orange!

NoDayBut2Day

I hate it when people obsess over tanning; there's nothing wrong with having pale skin!! Sure, tans are nice, but so is the "pale" look... If we were all tanned, there'd be no variety and no uniqueness!!

SprostonGreen

I actually like fake tan on girls. Well not so much the face, but on the rest of the body, if its done right and a good brand, it will look good.

I see that I'm alone on this opinion, but who cares.

TerrorFirmer

bruachain wrote:

If this is the same stuff as my ol' doll uses, then it smells like CURRY!!:(

This is pure speculation, but perhaps she is rubbing mcdonnell's quick make curry powder all over herself.

It's an off brown colour, which might explain both the crappy tan and the smell...

:v:

Anyway - fake tan looks horrible. It really just is too fake, and ridiculous looking in alot of cases. Even for though who apply it well, it still looks crap. And the amount of 15 year old schoolgirls that look like a freshly peeled orange....sheesh

*Oul_Doll_Cork*

Fake tan looks horrible if you can tell that it is fake tan! Sure everyone is going on about people who look like oompa loompas but these are the ones who can't apply it or are using the wrong products obviously because it should look like you aren't wearing any! :rolleyes:

I don't wear tan or make up during the day however at the weekends when I go out I do like to get dolled up! I do apply tan on a friday night and i never look like an oompa loompa! It always looks great on me actually... I suppose some people just know what they are doing and other's don't! Same as make up.. when it's done properly it looks great but you always get the ones who cake themselves in it and have white lines around their faces!!! :rolleyes:

So, I for one am all for fake tan (if applied properly!)

Nimrod's Son

Yeah, I don't understand this tanning obsession either. If you want a tan, go to a warmer climate. Fake tans, by and large, look stupid. There's nothing wrong with the pallid look (quite partial to it myself as it happens). It's better than looking like an extra from a Tango ad at any rate.

IvaBigWun

bruachain wrote:

If this is the same stuff as my ol' doll uses, then it smells like CURRY!!:(

lol

Thats the best description of it Ive heard yet

Siogfinsceal

personally i use fake tan because I look dreadful white!! I have wierd skin in the summer I go very dark and get mistaken for being spanish all teh time it really suits me and I look healthy. In winter my skin goes deathly pale I lok awful you would never think i could tan and peole ask if im sick!! So I use sun beds are fake tan I dont look like an ooompa loompa my skin looks better with colour ive stopped using the sun beds for a bit to give my skin a break and all those cancer stories started to freak me out if i use em too often

simu

People want what they don't have - pale people try to look tanned, dark-skinned people try to lighten their skin and so on. The fake tan obsession is probably a wish to stand out from the crowd or maybe people like the feeling of a change in appearance and the sense of freedom that brings or maybe they just want to look like they came off the set of The OC - who knows?!

Many users of this forum will be happy to hear that extremely pale, Geisha-like skin is supposed to be a new trend - I wonder if it will catch on here?!

Sangre

Pythia wrote:

Wouldn't use a sun bed as I have pale white skin and red hair. It just wouldn't be clever!
Fake tan, on the other hand, I use all the time.

Pale skin + red hair = not meant to looked tanned.

I hate the look of fake tan. I like having very pale skin, though it does make finding foundation light enough (without going to Asha) pretty difficult.

Liquorice

I've never worn fake tan and doubt I will because I'm happy enough with my complexion. I don't look good with a tan, I have deduced this from looking back at photos from childhood holidays and I suppose I just like having pale skin. I'm not sure why fake tan is so popular, one reason could be that the mre exotic-lookng you are, the more attractive you are, another could be that people feel that pale skin makes them look washed out. I don't think it's fair to say that no-one can apply fake tan well, I've seen a few people whose only giveaway is that it's winter, but I've also seen a lot of blotchy tans, orange palms, orange tans, lined tans, and one poor girl on a Friday afternoon coming out of school with elastic patterns imprinted into her tan from her school socks.

Bob the Seducer

I find fake tan hillarious, I mean I'm thinking of one case in particular and a ginger girl walking around in the west of Ireland a nice hue of tangarine in the middle of winter isn't going to fool anyone, every time I saw her I automatically started singing the oompa loompa song (slightly reworded) quietly to myself!

ferdi

its tragic, who are you fooling? fake tan, no matter how well applied is always obviously fake. its sad, going into any dublin club and there are all these golden brown to tango orange girls hand-bag dancing around the place trying to look sophisticated, their dignity hidden beneath a sh1tty cake of insecurity.

Loomis

A tan can be very sexy on a girl
But I don't think I've ever seen a fake tan that wasn't obvious it was fake.That horrific orange tint to a girl ain't good

Aurther Hugh

Could this be one of the most overworked topics on this forum? I swear it's giving the worthy topic of fashion and appearance a bad name.
To be on topic...fake tan is fine, I use it, I don't use it, whatever the occassion/ outfit demands. I wouldn't pretend to be too cool to admit it. I'm pretty dark so it mostly looks ok; we've all had disasters. Sometimes bare pale flesh is not a good idea and a bit of fake tan, even when not pro applied can be preferable.

Nickibaby*

Aurther Hugh wrote:

Could this be one of the most overworked topics on this forum? I swear it's giving the worthy topic of fashion and appearance a bad name.
To be on topic...fake tan is fine, I use it, I don't use it, whatever the occassion/ outfit demands. I wouldn't pretend to be too cool to admit it. I'm pretty dark so it mostly looks ok; we've all had disasters. Sometimes bare pale flesh is not a good idea and a bit of fake tan, even when not pro applied can be preferable.

Here, here

dudara

Only in very small quantities on my legs as they can be as white and bright as a lighthouse. Never ever anywhere else, as I've got plenty of freckles

Talliesin

The orange thing I find slightly scary-looking.

In general I find that people look best with their own skin colour, whether it's delicate blue-white, extremely dark or anything in between it will generally look better than if tanned, dyed or bleached.

Weirdly when someone I once knew did develop a very nice tan, it turned to be neither a tan nor fake tan; she had jaundice and was fortuante in the way the bilirubin combined with her colouring. Strange really, she was pretty sick but looked healthier than she had in ages, I suppose Keith Richards was right when talking about his drug-use he said "as long as you have a tan, stupid people think you're healthy".

BlueSpiral

My school must be Wonka's Chocolate factory.
There is oompa-loompas everywhere, wish they'd learn to apply it correctly, tans look sort of odd in winter.:v:

McGinty

I go for the pale and interesting look, ie: no sun beds or fake tan, I save money and my skin.

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

dundalk cailin

i very rarely apply fake tan, simply cos its so hard to and not worth the bother of it rubbing off on your clothes, and the panic that ensues in a downpour! the only problem is my friends apply it like its going outta fashion, and i look so pale next to them, and in photos!! even if i do apply it, i still look whiter than them

hmm i may need to find some paler-skinned friends

Tar.Aldarion

dundalk cailin wrote:

hmm i may need to find some paler-skinned friends

That would be an ecumenical matter.

Sangre

Funny, one of the posters here uses way to much fake tan according to Know Your Nerds.

dundalk cailin

Tar.Aldarion wrote:

That would be an ecumenical matter.

what doe sthat mean, i only recognise it out of fr ted

dundalk cailin

Sangre wrote:

Funny, one of the posters here uses way to much fake tan according to Know Your Nerds.

is that someone who says she doesnt use it or like it??

RainyDay

Nasty_Girl wrote:

I'd always been a deathly looking vampire type when it comes to skin so when i worked outside on a beach for two summers in a row I built up a healthy deep almost all over body tan.

There is no such thing as a healthy natural tan - regardless of how good it looks. It is burnt skin, plain & simple.

eth0_

Fake tan looks particularly hilarious on ginger, freckly girls. It looks RIDICULOUS. Just look at Lindsay Lohan!

tinka

the amount of girls in my school who cover themselves in make-up and fake tan is unreal. i'm starting to doubt whether these girls actually own mirrors as they some into school looking like haven't washed in weeks. their skin tones vary between violent orange and dirty brown. have they no shame?? :rolleyes:

Pepe LeFrits

eth0_ wrote:

Fake tan looks particularly hilarious on ginger, freckly girls. It looks RIDICULOUS. Just look at Lindsay Lohan!

Quoted for truth!

Nasty_Girl

RainyDay wrote:

There is no such thing as a healthy natural tan - regardless of how good it looks. It is burnt skin, plain & simple.

Well it was as healthy as a tan can get, given that it came mostly from the wind and not the sun

highlight100

It's so easy,a very very small ammount of fake tan on your arms and wear tights on your legs,it is quite easy to select the right shade of tan nylon for yourself,the more expensive ones are best. Nobody likes orangenia legs(especially men!):)

Pythia

eth0_ wrote:

Fake tan looks particularly hilarious on ginger, freckly girls. It looks RIDICULOUS. Just look at Lindsay Lohan!

I don't get any complaints.

joejoem

RainyDay wrote:

There is no such thing as a healthy natural tan - regardless of how good it looks. It is burnt skin, plain & simple.

*Joejeom runs for cooker*