1.Wear sunscreen – Yes, on top of your suntan or burn because we don’t want to keep tanning or burning your skin. We need the skin to settle down and the best way to do that is to protect it from the sun.

a. At the supermarket, try La Roche-Posay Anthelios Sunscreen, Neutragenia with helioplex, Blue Lizard Sensitive Mineral, Banana Boat Light as Air or the Equate brands. A minimum of SPF 30 is what you are looking for.

2.GENTLY exfoliate – Skin with a suntan or a sunburn is fragile and should be treated with a lot of TLC. Exfoliating your skin gently, not by scrubbing but caressing your skin, will remove the outer layer of dead skin so that the new, smooth skin underneath is more easily revealed.  A physical scrub could be used or you can use a chemical exfoliant to help, which largely contain alpha hydroxy acids (AHAs) like glycolic acid or lactic acid, and beta hydroxy acids (BHAs), like salicyclic acid.

a. At the store, I like Paula’s Choice Skin Perfectin 2% BHA Liquid Exfoliant, Elf Cosmetics Holy Hydration!, or Glytone Exfoliating Body Wash

b. Interesting tid-bit: Cleopatra, the Queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt, renowed as a “woman of surpassing beauty”, took baths with milk, especially goat milk, because of the heavy concentration of lactic acid (AHA) in it, again to remove dead skin cells, revealing smoother, brighter skin underneath. A simple way to do this at home, is to put cold wash cloths in your refrigerator soaked in milk and then apply it to your sunburned or suntanned skin!

3.Next step – make it rain! Now that the dead skin is out of the way, bring in the moisturizers. Good moisturizers include aloe vera, like Up & Up Clear Aloe Vera gel.  Another pro-tip, for suntans/sunburns, put the aloe in the fridge and get it cool before you apply it to your skin – feels like heaven when it hits suntanned or sunburned skin!  Another moiturizer to consider is Neutrogenia Hydro Boost Body Gel cream to provide another protective layer above your skin. If you have time before the big day, at least 2 weeks, the skintan will naturally blend with the steps we are outlining.  If you do not have at least 2 weeks before the weeding day, then we need to use a self-tanner or body makeup.  In this case, apply mositurizer only to the suntanned or sunburned skin to create a barrier for the tanner/makeup only to be applied to the paler skin.  Now do a little bippity boppity boo with a makeup songe and slowly blend your skin color to match the tanned skin.

a. Tanner products to consider: SOL Body Gradual Sunless Tanning lotion, Tan Luxe THE BODY Illuminating Self Tan Drops or Bondi Sands Tanning Foam

b. Body makeup products to consider: Dermablend, Dior Backstage or Vita Liberata Body Blur

4.Vitamins – this is an extra step to boost results. You can try some ingredients like vitamin C and niacinamide, which work to lighten skin tone.  They do take a few weeks to work but if you have the time they are worth the effort.

a. Some good options include Aveeno Positively Radiant Body lotion, Sol de Janeiro Bom Dia Bright Body Cream or AmLactin Daily Vitamin C lotion

5.Last step – Sit back, drink water and think about something else because your skin is going to be just fine. A sunburn causes dehydration so hydration is important.  Under no circumstances should you peel your skin…just don’t…its not only gross but it also harms the healthy skin underneath.