There is a particular week every year, usually the one after Halloween, when the calendar on my kitchen wall stops being a calendar and turns into a negotiation. Something gets written in pencil on the 26th. Then something on a Friday in December, then two things on the same Saturday, then a note that just says gift for Mom? with a question mark that will still be there in three weeks.
If your fridge looks like mine, this post is for you. Santa Cruz does the holidays in its own way: fog in the morning, a sweater by four, string lights on the wharf, and at least one party where someone insists on eating outside because it's technically still possible. The season runs about five weeks, from Thanksgiving to the last glass on New Year's Eve, and this year the big days land kindly. Thanksgiving is Thursday the 26th. Christmas is a Friday. New Year's Eve is a Thursday, which means the first of January is a Friday and the whole world gets a long weekend to recover.
Here is how I'd plan it, week by week, with the handful of days worth holding.
First, the one thing to know about timing
A spray tan is a little like bread dough. It goes on, and then it needs time to rise. The bronzer you see when you leave my studio is the color that tells me where I've been; the real tan is still developing underneath it, and it keeps developing for about a day. That's why I always talk about events in terms of the day before them, and sometimes two days before.
The second thing is rinse time. Rapid Development and Unity NR rinse at 2, 4 or 6 hours, depending on how deep we go. Bronze Organics and Classic Bronze rinse at 8 to 12 hours, which usually means you sleep in them and rinse in the morning. I give you your exact time before you leave. Not early because you got bored, not late because you forgot: the time I give you is the one that sets your depth.
After that first rinse, the bronzer washes away and what's left is your tan: even, settled, and yours for about 7 to 14 days. One appointment covers a week of parties. Two, well placed, cover the season.
Thanksgiving week: the long table
Thanksgiving is the least glamorous holiday on the calendar and somehow the most photographed. Somebody's niece has a new phone. Somebody's uncle wants a picture of everyone in front of the bookcase. You will be in all of them, probably holding a serving spoon.
Picture it. It's Wednesday the 25th, around eleven in the morning. The pies are either made or ordered (no judgment), the guest list has stopped changing, and you have a quiet hour before the grocery store becomes a contact sport. That's your appointment. A Unity NR tan at eleven, a rinse in the late afternoon, and by Thursday morning the color has finished developing, and you look like you went somewhere warm in October and just never mentioned it.
If you can't get away on Wednesday, Monday or Tuesday works beautifully too. Your tan will be a day or two into its life, which is often when it looks its most natural.
One small kindness for Thursday itself: if you're the one at the stove, a tan doesn't mind a hot kitchen. It does mind a long, steamy afternoon at the sink with your forearms in dishwater. Delegate the dishes. You were going to anyway.
The first week of December: the party invitations arrive
December's invitations tend to come all at once, like birds landing on a wire. The office party. The neighbors' open house. A friend's annual thing with the mulled wine that is somehow always stronger than last year.
This is where a little planning pays off. Look at your first two weekends of December and find the busiest one. Book your tan for the Wednesday or Thursday before it. A Thursday tan with Unity NR, rinsed before dinner, carries you from a Friday office party straight through a Saturday open house and into the following week, with the color settling nicely by Sunday.
Unity NR is the formula I'd suggest for the whole season. I sprayed myself with it last week and forgot I'd had a spray tan at all: no dry, tight feeling, just soft skin and a color that kept getting better. Infinity Sun makes it as a skin care formula that happens to tan, and calls it ultra-hydrating and sweat-resistant, two things a December of warm rooms appreciates. The bronzer is soft and neutral (the NR stands for non-red, made to keep red tones away on fair skin without muting the warmth), and the formula reads like a good skin care shelf: niacinamide, hyaluronic acid, peptides, vitamins A, C and E, antioxidants and botanicals. Winter skin, especially here where the heater runs every evening and the wind off the bay is no joke, appreciates the company.
If one of your parties is the kind with a dress code, the Shimmer Hydration Treatment is the finishing touch: a soft shimmer I spray over a tan that has already developed, so it's a quick visit on the day of the party, and it's gone with your first full shower. It's for the night you want your shoulders to catch the candlelight.
The middle of December: the big one
Most people have one party that matters more than the others. It might be a gala, a family dinner where your grown children bring people home for the first time, a holiday portrait, or a date night at a restaurant with linen napkins and a host who remembers your name.
For that one, give yourself two days. Book on the Wednesday for a Friday event, or the Thursday for a Saturday. You'll have the full day of development, your first rinse behind you, and a whole spare day for the tan to settle into itself. Nothing about it will feel new or fresh-out-of-the-box.
This is also the week to think about your face. If you'll be photographed up close, I'll talk with you about the depth around your face and neck so your makeup and your tan agree with each other. A tan that matches your foundation is the difference between "you look wonderful" and "did you change something?" We choose the depth together, so it does.
Christmas week: the quiet days and the busy ones
Christmas lands on a Friday this year, which gives the week a nice shape. Monday and Tuesday are for errands and wrapping and the realization that you have, once again, bought tape and cannot find it. Wednesday and Thursday are for travel, or for people arriving, or for both.
If you're going somewhere, a tan before the trip is one of the small pleasures of the season. A Monday or Tuesday appointment gives you a day of development and a spare day, so your tan has settled in time for the airport, the in-laws and the first night's dinner. If you're staying home and hosting, a Tuesday tan still leaves you plenty of time before guests arrive on Thursday.
And if Christmas week is the week you simply don't want to think about one more thing, skip it. Your Thanksgiving tan will have had its run by then, and your New Year's tan is only a few days away.
New Year's Eve: a Thursday this year
New Year's Eve on a Thursday is a gift, because it means the Tuesday and Wednesday before are perfect tan days. Tuesday the 29th gives you two days. Wednesday the 30th gives you one, with your rinse done by the evening.
New Year's is the night of the satin dress, the sequins, the shoulders, the backs, and the part of a tan I love most is how it makes people feel on a night like that. One of my clients once told her hairdresser that a fresh spray tan feels like someone just handed you a cocktail. The next client in my chair corrected her: not a cocktail, a bottle of Veuve, and not to share. I've never found a better description. On New Year's Eve, at least, nobody argues with the champagne version.
A few practical notes for the season
The basics don't change in winter, but a few things are worth saying out loud.
Preparation still matters. Exfoliate the day before your appointment, using exfoliating gloves on every part of your body, and skip lotions, oils and deodorant on the day itself. Winter skin is drier, so moisturize generously on the days before, just not on the day of.
Your heater is not your friend. Dry indoor air pulls moisture from your skin, and a moisturized tan fades more evenly. Keep a good moisturizer by the bed. The Hydrating Skin Extender was made for exactly this.
Hot tubs, hot yoga and long baths can wait. Give your tan its first day, then enjoy your life. I'd wait at least 24 hours before swimming, and a tan always prefers a quick shower to a long soak.
Sunscreen stays on outdoors. A spray tan is color, not protection. Winter sun on the bluffs is still sun.
A packaged season, if that helps
If you've counted along, the season above uses three or four appointments: one for Thanksgiving, one for the early December parties, one for the big night, and maybe one for New Year's. That's exactly what a tan package is for. A 3-tan package in your favorite formula settles the season in a single decision, and it stays valid for twelve months, so if December gets away from you, the last tan waits for January.
And for the people on your list
The holidays are also when I hear, every year, I've always wanted to try it. Usually from a sister, a best friend, a daughter home from college, or a mother who has been very curious for a very long time. A deSoleil gift card is the easiest present I know: it fits in a card, it doesn't need wrapping paper, and it comes with an appointment with me, which means a first-timer gets every step explained before we begin. Nobody has to know what they're doing. That's my job.
How to book the season
Look at your calendar. Circle the dates that matter. Count back one or two days from each, and those are your appointments. If you'd like help working it out, tell me the dates and I'll work backward from them.
Then go and erase the question mark next to gift for Mom? I have a suggestion for that one too.
Warmly,
Jana
