Explore Posterous

With heavy rainfall blanketing much of the country this month, Old Sol hasn’t exactly been cooperating on the suntan front. So we decided to give Mother Nature a little help—via a professional spray tan.
Spray-tanning technology has come a long way from its decade-old beginnings when people often complained of orange skin tones and short-lived, splotchy and sometimes smelly results. Our four female testers—most of whom were spray-tan first-timers—mostly found the fake tans looked natural and didn’t start fading until around day five, though some of us had discoloration on the hands and feet. And while we noticed our newly sprayed skin in some cases gave off a caramel or coconut scent, it wasn’t unpleasant and nobody else seemed to notice.

Maybe the tans make them lighter on their feet?

Melanie Mills, head makeup artist for "Dancing with the Stars" told Marc Malkin at E! Online that, with each passing season, the celebrity dancers and their pro partners are becoming more and more fond of spray tanning.

Celebrities like Jennifer Aniston and Victoria Beckham have mastered the natural-looking faux-glow -- proving that self-tanning now is more about looking healthy, than fresh off a tropical vacation. Use these application tips to get your own red carpet-worthy tan -- the safe way.