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Sunbed Cream With Bronzer vs Without: How to Choose

Sunbed Cream With Bronzer vs Without: How to Choose - Delux Tanners
Buying guide

Sunbed cream with bronzer
or without?

Half the sunbed creams on a salon shelf put colour in the tube. The other half help your skin make its own. Both work, for very different jobs. Here is how to tell them apart and which one suits you.

2kinds of sunbed cream on every shelf
Day onewhen a bronzer shows colour
2-3sessions before a bronzer-free tan shows
0colour to rub off with bronzer-free
1What bronzer means2Side by side3Which suits you4Check the label
With bronzer, some of the colour is make-up. It shows straight away and fades or rubs off on its own schedule.
Without bronzer, all of the colour is yours. It builds over sessions and fades as your skin renews.
Neither is a shortcut past UV. A bronzer-free cream supports the tan your skin makes. It does not make one by itself.

Part one

What "with bronzer" actually means

"Bronzer" on a sunbed cream usually means one of two things.

DHA and erythrulose (self-tan ingredients)
A sugar that reacts with the surface of your skin and turns it brown over a few hours. It is the same chemistry as fake tan. It looks like a tan, smells faintly like one, and comes off as your skin sheds.
Instant colourants (caramel, iron oxides)
Pigments that tint the skin the moment they go on, a bit like a body make-up. They show up instantly and wash or rub off just as easily.

A bronzer-free cream has neither. What it carries instead are ingredients that support the tanning process your skin runs under UV, plus skincare. What a tanning accelerator actually is has the longer version.

Part two

Side by side

With bronzer Without bronzer
Colour you see Some of it is on the surface All of it is your own tan
When it shows Straight away Builds over two to three sessions
On sheets and clothes Can transfer Nothing to transfer
Palms and dry patches Can catch extra colour Nothing to catch
Showering after Wait as the label says Whenever you like
How it fades Bronzer fades first, often unevenly Fades evenly as your skin renews
Smell DHA has a biscuity smell Whatever the scent is, nothing else
A bronzer gives you colour tonight. A bronzer-free cream gives you colour that is still yours next week.

Part three

Which one suits you

With bronzer

If you need colour now

An event this weekend, no time to build.

  • 1
    Instant resultYou walk out darker than you walked in.
  • 2
    TransferSheets, collars and white tops are the usual casualties.
  • 3
    Patchy fadeThe bronzer and your own tan fade at different speeds.
Without bronzer

If you tan regularly

A routine, a holiday coming, or you are done with orange.

  • 1
    Your own colourNothing sits on top, so nothing goes orange.
  • 2
    Clean finishGet dressed straight after, no marks on anything.
  • 3
    Even fadeWhen it goes, it goes evenly.

Where bronzers win, because we said we would be fair

If you need to look tanned by Friday and you are starting pale, a bronzer will get you there and a bronzer-free cream will not. Instant colour is a real advantage and we are not going to pretend otherwise.

We just think most people tanning every week want the colour to be theirs.

Part four

How to check any tube in ten seconds

Look for DHA or dihydroxyacetone. That is self-tan.
Look for erythrulose. Self-tan's slower cousin.
Look for caramel or iron oxides (CI 77491, 77492, 77499). Instant colour.
None of them? Bronzer-free. Then check what is doing the work instead.

Every Delux cream and Sun Sauce is bronzer-free and DHA-free. The ingredient dictionary lists everything in every tube.

Quick answers

Frequently asked

What is the difference between a sunbed cream with bronzer and without?
A cream with bronzer puts colour on your skin, either self-tan (DHA) that develops over hours or instant colourants. A bronzer-free cream adds no colour and instead supports the tan your skin makes under UV, so all the colour you see is your own.
Do bronzer-free sunbed creams work?
They support your skin's own tanning, so the colour builds over sessions rather than appearing instantly. Most people see a difference in two to three sessions and a proper base in two to three weeks.
Will bronzer come off on my sheets?
It can. Self-tan and instant colourants sit on the surface of your skin and can transfer to sheets and clothes. A bronzer-free cream leaves nothing on the surface to transfer.
How do I know if a sunbed cream has bronzer in it?
Read the ingredient list for DHA (dihydroxyacetone), erythrulose, caramel or iron oxides. If none are there, it is bronzer-free.

Colour that is yours.

No bronzer, no DHA, nothing on the surface. Just a cream that supports the tan your skin makes.

Shop Island Coconut
Shop Electric Melon
Delux · Bronzer-free, DHA-freeShop now
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