Before a trip

Arrive already glowing.

A large share of the studio's appointments are women flying out in a few days. The point is not to skip the sun. It is to not spend the first three days of your holiday pale, self-conscious, and tempted to burn yourself fixing it.

Why it is worth doing before you fly

You feel different in a swimsuit on day one instead of day five. That is genuinely the whole argument, and it is the reason clients keep rebooking before trips. The secondary benefit is that you are far less tempted to chase colour with a long unprotected session on the first afternoon, which is how holiday burns happen.

You also arrive without tan lines from home, which matters if you are switching between swimsuits.

When to book

The same rule as any event applies: one to three days before you leave, with two days being ideal. That gives the colour time to develop fully and gives you a normal shower or two before you are packing and sitting on a plane in fresh clothes.

Keeping it alive while you are away

This is where most vacation tans are lost, and all of it is avoidable.

It is not sun protection

Important, and often misunderstood. A spray tan does not change how your skin responds to UV. If you normally burn, you still will, at exactly the same rate. Wear SPF regardless of how bronze you look.

You can absolutely still tan in the sun over top of it if that is what you want. But the tan you already have offers no shielding, and a fresh burn or recent sun damage is a reason to postpone an appointment rather than book one.

Prep still matters

Exfoliate and shower the night before, not the morning of. Skip lotion on the day. The prep and aftercare guide has the full routine, and it is the difference between colour that lasts the whole trip and colour that patches by day three.

Packing dark, loose clothing for the journey home from the studio is also worth remembering, since the guide bronzer can rub before your first rinse.