Even engineers can have tan legs

I originally wrote this for my blog last year but with the arrival of warmer weather I figured that now is a perfect time to post it here as a public service reminder. There is no need to expose others to the potential blinding effects of the day-glo white pasty skin with all the great sunless tanning products on the market. Here’s one I tried and loved!

Back in May I attended a black tie wedding. For weeks I fretted about what I was going to wear to this event. I have a beautiful floor length red dress I bought to wear to a formal dinner during my honeymoon that still fits. It looks gorgeous on me but it is so, well, red – really red. The groom was a college friend and I had never even met the bride before the weekend of the wedding. I did not want to stand out that much.

My other choice was the cute chocolate number I got on clearance for my cousin’s wedding last year. It was the right blend of simple design paired with luxurious looking material in rich shimmery yet neutral colors that would be perfect for a formal occasion but not have any chance of taking attention away from the bride. The problem? It’s not floor length like the red dress. This dress’s hem line hits right below my knee caps meaning that part of my legs would be exposed. And there was no way I could wear panty hose since I would be pairing the dress with a gorgeous pair of champagne open toed heels. Repeat after me: “No panty hose if you can see your toes.”

Now, how many of you know why this is such a dilemma for me?

Just in case you have never seen a software engineer wearing anything other than jeans or cargo pants in May I’ll give you a clue. After a winter of spending my time under the fluorescent office lighting in front of a computer screen with no need to putter in the garden, mow the grass or make the whining stop by agreeing to go into the not-so-warm pool in our backyard with my daughter every evening by the time May rolls around my skin color is something I have dubbed . This delightful, nearly translucent shade of paler-than-pale does a fantastic job of making all the veins in my legs visible without the aid of contrast dye and a CT scan. And I mean all the veins in my legs, not just the varicose veins that showed up while I was playing the roll of incubator for Princess. Doesn’t that sound like the perfect accessory for my chocolate and champagne ensemble?

I didn’t think so either but I really wanted to wear the chocolate dress. Then Honey ordered his tux and sealed the deal by coordinating his tie and vest with the champagne in the shorter dress. Two weeks before the wedding I found myself needing to do something about those legs.

Book tanning or Mystic Tan appointments? Nope, not enough time in the day for that. I’d never get around to finding a place, let alone showing up and getting my tan on.

Then I remembered this review by June at Chic Critique. The next time I was in Target I made a side trip down the lotion aisle and picked up a tube of Jergens Natural Glow Daily Moisturizer. With only one week before the wedding I started to use the moisturizer. Every morning I would grab the tube and quickly slather a coat on my body. I think it added a full two minutes to my morning routine, if you don’t include interruptions by Princess or the dogs attempting to lick it off my legs. (Why do they do that? Every time I apply moisturizer the dogs try to lick it off like it is gravy or ice cream or some other yummy food. So disgusting and annoying!)

By day number two it was safe to look at my bare legs without wearing sunglasses. By the time the wedding rolled around I had a healthy golden hue to my skin that hid those veins a bit and, get this, no streaks!

I second pretty much everything that June said in her review of this stuff. It won’t make you look like you just got back from a Carribbean cruise but it will help you ‘rock the bare leg look.’