Jergens 3 Days to Glow

I am totally fine being pale. I have come to terms with the fact that I can’t get a tan. It’s just not meant to be. Do I get jealous of people with a nice tan? Of course. But I know that I will never be able to just lie outside until I get dark. Jergens reached out to me and asked if I would take part in a “Three Days to Glow” test. A few days later, I got this package of gradual tanner in the mail, ready to start the challenge.

Jergens Natural Glow 3 Days to Glow Moisturizer is a gradual tan that is supposed to leave you with skin a full shade darker in only three days. For this, I got the three little packets, so one for each day.

The directions state to smooth on evenly, allowing several minutes to dry prior to dressing. Wash your hands after application. You will begin to see a subtle development of colour within several days. If colour change is not as noticeable as desired, apply more frequently.

I will start by saying that I definitely had the wrong shade. It comes in two, fair to medium or medium to dark. I received the darker one. “Within several days” is just false. It was more like within an hour. The lotion went on clear, and I couldn’t tell a difference, so I thought nothing of it. Less than an hour later I noticed that my arm was noticeably darker. Same for my legs. Boom. Tan. It wasn’t ridiculously dark or orange or anything strange. It was a really natural looking glow, just like the name implies. 

Before, and then 3 days later.

The main ingredient in this cream is DHA, as well as erythrulose. DHA is a pretty standard gradual tanning ingredient that slowly darkens in color over time. It reacts with erythrulose to slow down that process for a more natural finish.

This is really moisturizing. It is still kind of chilly and dry a lot of the time here, so I’ve still been using my heavier winter skin care. This is nice because I don’t have to moisturize, then tan. I can do it in one go.

I did have some difficulties with this. I chalk them up to being because I am inexperienced with tanning creams. Because I couldn’t see the color, it was easy to get uneven patches. It wasn’t tiger stripes or any horror like that, but I did have a brown spot here and there. Next time I’ll just have to be more diligent. Like the bottle says, it is odorless. There also wasn’t any color transfer at all to my clothes or my bed sheets. I was really careful to wash my hands extra well immediately after but they did seem a little bit more tan than they were before.

After the third day, when I stopped applying it, it did begin to fade. After a week it was really streaky and I had to scrub at my skin to get the last bits of it off. It was hard to get rid of it. So, once you start using it, you kind of need to keep using it.

I think this is great if you’re looking for that little bit of extra tan. I’ll be purchasing this as soon as I get to the states (any day now!)