✦A spray tan lasts 7 to 14 days, depending on your skin and your care.
✦The colour sits in the surface layer of your skin, so it fades as that layer renews.
✦Your final colour is there 24 hours after the session.
✦Around the NUDA colour, I add two Norvell layers: one balances your pH, the other hydrates and sets the result.
✦Lukewarm showers, daily moisturizing and no exfoliating are the care habits I recommend.
A spray tan lasts 7 to 14 days, depending on your skin and your care. That is the answer I give every client. Below, I explain why it is a range, what shortens it, and how to time it before an event.
The short answer: 7 to 14 days
The top of that range comes from my own tests, on my friends, my partner and myself, with the right care. It is an observation, not a promise: two people sprayed on the same day can fade at different speeds. Clients often tell me their glow lasted 14 days. They had exfoliated well in the days before the session, in the shower or, even better, in the bath, when the skin is softened. After, they moisturized morning and night and followed my aftercare instructions.
You will read other ranges online, often shorter, because the result depends on the solution, the method and the care. Mine starts with an analysis of your skin, and I add two layers around the colour. I explain them below.
Why a spray tan fades
The colour of a spray tan only lives in the surface layer of your skin. That layer renews itself constantly, and the coloured cells leave with it.
This is why a spray tan fades gradually instead of disappearing overnight. It also explains why it fades first where your skin is washed or rubbed the most.
You wash your hands many times a day and cleanse your face morning and night. These areas usually lighten before your legs or your back.
Your glow day by day, from the session until it fades.
01 · 1 to 5 hours
The first rinse
Your first lukewarm rinse comes 1 to 5 hours after the session, depending on the depth you want.
02 · 24 hours
The final colour
Your colour is fully developed 24 hours after the session. That is the result you will wear.
03 · Every day
Moisturize, do not exfoliate
A gentle lotion every day and short, lukewarm showers. These are the care habits I recommend to help your glow last.
04 · 7 to 14 days
Your glow fades
The colour fades gradually, first on your hands and face. Exfoliate again, then plan your next glow.
A spray tan lasts 7 to 14 days, depending on your skin and your care.
The three layers I add to your spray tan
A spray tan does not have to stop at the colour. I add two layers around it, and they are not there to go darker.
Before the colour, a pH balancing mist. The Norvell xLaTan balances your skin's pH, for an even base and colour that holds longer.
The colour, your NUDA shade. I mix it on the spot and apply it by hand, layer by layer.
After the colour, a hydrating setting mist. The Norvell HydroFirm hydrates your skin and sets the application.
That is what separates a spray tan applied from a spray tan finished. I walk through the whole session, step by step, on my mobile spray tan at home page. Your care at home does the rest.
The finish: every area gone over again, then set with the hydrating mist.
What decides where you land in the range
Your skin
Every skin renews at its own pace. A drier skin sheds more visibly, and the colour goes with it.
This is also why I look at your skin before mixing your shade. The colour has to suit your complexion while it is fresh, and while it fades.
Your care
What you put on your skin decides a lot. I recommend a gentle, fragrance-free lotion every day.
In my aftercare guide, I also ask you to avoid products with alcohol, parabens, mineral oils or sulfates. They shorten your glow.
Long hot showers have the same effect. Keep them lukewarm and short, then pat your skin dry instead of rubbing it.
Your week
Some activities shorten a spray tan, simply because of water, heat or friction. Pools, hot tubs, saunas and long hot baths are the main ones.
Heavy sweating every day also wears the colour down. You do not have to stop training, but rinse with lukewarm water and moisturize after.
Exfoliating in the days before your session, never on the day itself.
Your preparation
Exfoliating in the days before your session removes the old cells that would have taken the colour away early.
Three habits help the most: lukewarm showers, a gentle lotion every day, and no exfoliating while your glow is there. They do not guarantee a number of days, your skin still has the last word.
Everything else is in my spray tan aftercare instructions, hour by hour. Read it once after your session and you will know what to avoid.
When the colour starts to fade unevenly, exfoliate again. Your skin is then ready for your next glow.
Timing your spray tan before an event
For a wedding, a gala, a prom or a trip, book your session 1 to 2 days before. Never the same day.
Your colour needs 24 hours to develop fully. With 1 or 2 days of margin, you get your final colour for the event, and it holds for the days that follow.
An example, for a wedding on a Saturday:
Thursday evening: your session at home.
Thursday night: your first lukewarm rinse, 1 to 5 hours later.
Friday evening: your final colour is developed.
Saturday and the days after: your glow for the wedding, the brunch and the start of the honeymoon.
A GLOW17 bride on her wedding day.
If the event matters a lot, a trial first lets us settle your shade in advance. That is how my bridal spray tan works.
Can a spray tan last a month?
No. Your skin renews too fast for that, whatever the product or the care.
When your glow starts to fade, exfoliate, and your skin is ready for your next session.
A spray tan is not sunscreen
A spray tan is a sunless tan: it gives you colour, not protection. It does not replace sunscreen.
Keep wearing sunscreen, with or without your glow. If you are getting ready for a sunny trip, this matters even more.
I Answer
No, as long as they are lukewarm and short. Your first rinse is water only, then you go back to your normal routine from the next shower on. Pat dry and moisturize after.
Yes. Chlorine, heat and long soaking all wear the colour down. A swim now and then is fine, but rinse and moisturize after.
The first rinse comes 1 to 5 hours after the session, depending on the depth you want. Your final colour is there after 24 hours.
Ana Maria, GLOW17
Ana Maria, founder of GLOW17, holds an esthetics diploma from Académie d'Esthétique New Age (650 hours) and is NUDA certified. She assesses your phototype and undertones, then mixes your NUDA shade on site. Her exclusively mobile service brings her to your home in Laval, Montreal and the North Shore.
