St.Tropez Self-Tan Bronzing Lotion

So I was in the market for a new self-tanner to use specifically on the face. The 'Sublime Bronze' one from Loreal works great on my body. But when it comes to the face, drugstore tanners either turn me orange or break me out. Usually both. So I thought I'd seek something nicer. After spending a solid 30 minutes at Sephora's self-tanner display, it came down to choosing between a gradual tanner and what I ended up buying, St. Tropez's vaguely named 'Bronzing Lotion'. I went with this one because it was the only tanner in the whole lot whose directions implied that it was to be used on the face.

What It Is: St.Tropez (pronounced tro-PAY, ladies) Self-Tan Bronzing Lotion is a tanning lotion that claims to help users achieve a deep, believable tan that lasts longer than with most tanners. This is because it utilizes the ingredient 'Erythrulose', which works like a slower-developing version of DHA. So basically, after the DHA's effects begin to fade, Erythrulose got yo back.

Application: The first thing you notice is the color of the lotion.. a ugly shade of green. This tint is vital though, because it counteracts any orange. I applied to a freshly exfoliated face, using my fingers. It blended easily, and immediately I saw a bronze effect. It faded quickly, but only because the actual color was beginning to develop.

Smell: This product smells amazing. Seriously, no DHA smell at all. Like many, the company has some fancy odor-blocking technology. St. Tropez has it down pat, though. I can't describe the scent at all, only that it smells exotic and tropical to me.

Initial Results: The morning after I first used this tanner, I was extremely pleased with how my face looked. There was a healthy dose of color, but not as deep as some tanners have taken me. The color was nice and even, and I didn't see any spots or blemishes on the face. My skin felt really smooth, too.

Further Results: I wanted to be darker, so I used this for about 3 days after the first time. As far as color, it's strange because it seems like the results sort of plateaued around the 3rd application. Color is buildable, so I don't know why that happened. It still gave me a nice tint though. I also noticed that it seemed to be clogging my pores up a bit, but I think this was partially my fault for not exfoliating enough, trying to keep the color on my face. In the after picture below, I look substantially darker, but the natural light might have exaggerated my color a little.

After picture was taken 3 weeks after inital application. I applied the lotion 3 consecutive nights each week.

My final thoughts on this product are that it does a amazing job at what it's made for, so I'm only slightly dissapointed I couldn't get the results I wanted in terms of color. What I love is what it's brought my skintone to. Before, I had neutral undertones on my face, my coloring didn't pull more in either the warm or the cool direction. That's always made it difficult for me to find complimentary colors for my skintone when it comes to make-up. Now I have a light-medium olive complexion, and I think it's sexayyy. I love how my old eyeshadows and lippies look fresh with my new color. I'm so happy I found this product and will continue to re-buy it unless I find something better.

This retails for $30 for 4 oz, the bottle I got. There's also a 8 oz bottle for $40, so you're saving a lot of money there. Not the cheapest tanner on the market, but since I'm only using it on the face this bottle will last me a while.
The ingredients, taken from the box, are: Water, Dihydroxyacetone, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Glycerin, Apricot Kernel Oil, Glyceryl Stearate, PEG-100 Stearate, Cetearyl Alcohol, Cetyl Alcohol, Sorbitan Stearate, Dimethicone, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Matricaria Flower Extract, Ceteareth-20, Sclerotium Gum, Butylene Glycol, Potassium Sorbate, Phenoxyethanol, Sodium Bisulfite, Fragrance, Benzyl Salicylate, Cinnamal, Cinnamyl Alcohol, Citronellol, Coumarin, Eugenol, Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone, Geraniol, Hexyl Cinnamal, Hydroxycitronellal, Isoeugenol, Butylphenyl Methylpropional, Linalool, Hydroxyisohexyl 3-Cyclohexene Carboxaldehyde, Citric Acid, Caramel, Yellow 6 (CI 15985), Red 40 (CI 16035), Blue 1 (CI 42090).