Self tanner that doesn't turn orange

Bondi Sands Technocolor 1 Hour Express Foam has the best record: 20 of 22 reviewers who mentioned color said it looks natural, not orange. Most reviewers weighed in on St. Tropez Purity Bronzing Water Face Mist, and results split by store: 25 of 28 at Ulta against 16 of 27 at Sephora. Reviewers tend to write about orange when it happens to them, and Dr. Dennis Gross Alpha Beta Intense Glow Pad has the weakest record here at 14 of 28.

  • 261 store reviews counted
  • Ulta and Sephora shoppers
  • Jan 2017 to Sep 2026

Updated . How we count

Does it turn orange? What buyers said
  1. Bondi Sands Technocolor 1 Hour Express Foam 22 said either way
  2. St. Tropez Purity Bronzing Water Face Mist 55 said either way
  3. Bondi Sands Salon Quality Self Tanning Foam 29 said either way
  4. St. Tropez Express Bronzing Mousse 27 said either way
  5. Isle of Paradise Self-Tanning Water 28 said either way
  6. Coco & Eve Sunny Honey Bali Bronzing Foam 24 said either way
  7. Dr. Dennis Gross Alpha Beta Intense Glow Pad 28 said either way

Share of reviewers who stated an outcome for orange tones. Ranked by the lower bound of a 90% confidence interval, so a product needs both a good share and enough reports to rank high.

Bondi Sands Technocolor 1 Hour Express Foam Best record Bondi Sands Technocolor 1 Hour Express Foam 20 of 22 say it doesn't turn orange See price & reviews on Amazon
What stands out

Bondi Sands foams hold two of the first three spots, while Coco & Eve Sunny Honey Bali Bronzing Foam (13 of 24) and Dr. Dennis Gross Alpha Beta Intense Glow Pad (14 of 28) sit at the bottom.

The ranking, product by product

Praise and complaints are the points reviewers repeat most, shown as a share of each product's counted store reviews.

1 Bondi Sands Technocolor 1 Hour Express Foam

Bondi Sands

Technocolor 1 Hour Express Foam

20/22 say it doesn't turn orange

Ranked on Ulta reviews, where it is 20 of 22. 14% say it is easy to apply and 11% say it fades evenly. 7% mention transfer onto sheets or clothes.

What buyers praise

  • Easy to apply 14%
  • Goes on even 11%
  • Fades evenly 11%
  • No tan smell 7%

What buyers complain about

  • Transfers onto sheets or clothes 7%
Where buyers said it
  • Ulta 20 of 22
  • Brand site 1 of 1 shown, not counted
2 St. Tropez Purity Bronzing Water Face Mist

St. Tropez

Purity Bronzing Water Face Mist

41/55 say it doesn't turn orange

55 reviewers weighed in, more than for any other product here, and the verdict depends on the store: 25 of 28 at Ulta against 16 of 27 at Sephora. Among dry-skin reviewers it is 8 of 8, among combination-skin reviewers 2 of 9.

What buyers praise

  • Goes on even 25%
  • Easy to apply 23%
  • No tan smell 5%

What buyers complain about

  • Streaky or patchy 13%
  • Tan smell 7%
  • Fades patchy 3%
Where buyers said it
  • Ulta 25 of 28
  • Sephora 16 of 27
By skin type (Sephora reviewers)
  • Combination2 of 9
  • Dry8 of 8
  • Normal1 of 4
  • Oily2 of 3
By skin tone (Sephora reviewers)
  • Fair to light12 of 18
  • Light-medium to medium1 of 3
3 Bondi Sands Salon Quality Self Tanning Foam

Bondi Sands

Salon Quality Self Tanning Foam

22/29 say it doesn't turn orange

Ranked from Ulta reviews alone. 20% say it is easy to apply, while 13% say it transfers onto sheets or clothes and 10% say it fades patchy.

What buyers praise

  • Easy to apply 20%
  • Goes on even 20%
  • Fades evenly 7%
  • No tan smell 7%

What buyers complain about

  • Transfers onto sheets or clothes 13%
  • Fades patchy 10%
  • Drying 7%
  • Tan smell 7%
Where buyers said it
  • Ulta 22 of 29
4 St. Tropez Express Bronzing Mousse

St. Tropez

Express Bronzing Mousse

19/27 say it doesn't turn orange

21% say it is easy to apply, but 8 of 27 reviewers who mentioned color said it turned orange or looked fake. 10% say it is too expensive.

What buyers praise

  • Goes on even 24%
  • Easy to apply 21%
  • No tan smell 10%
  • Quick to develop 7%

What buyers complain about

  • Too expensive 10%
  • Tan smell 10%
  • Fades patchy 7%
  • Transfers onto sheets or clothes 7%
Where buyers said it
  • Ulta 19 of 27
5 Isle of Paradise Self-Tanning Water

Isle of Paradise

Self-Tanning Water

19/28 say it doesn't turn orange

Sold at Sephora. 40% say it goes on evenly, though 13% mention streaks and 17% a tan smell.

What buyers praise

  • Goes on even 40%
  • Easy to apply 17%
  • Quick to develop 7%
  • Good value 7%
  • No tan smell 7%

What buyers complain about

  • Tan smell 17%
  • Streaky or patchy 13%
Where buyers said it
  • Sephora 19 of 28
By skin type (Sephora reviewers)
  • Combination10 of 14
  • Dry3 of 6
  • Normal4 of 5
  • Oily2 of 3
By skin tone (Sephora reviewers)
  • Fair to light13 of 19
  • Light-medium to medium2 of 3
  • Medium-tan to tan2 of 4
Acne-prone reviewers
  • Said it worked4 of 8
6

Coco & Eve

Sunny Honey Bali Bronzing Foam

13/24 say it doesn't turn orange

Reviewers are split at 13 of 24. 16% say it is easy to apply, while 12% say it fades patchy and 12% mention streaks.

What buyers praise

  • Goes on even 16%
  • Easy to apply 16%
  • No tan smell 8%

What buyers complain about

  • Fades patchy 12%
  • Streaky or patchy 12%
  • Too expensive 8%
  • Tan smell 8%
Where buyers said it
  • Ulta 13 of 24
  • Brand site 2 of 2 shown, not counted

Share of 25 store reviews that mention each point. A full bar is 50%.

7

Dr. Dennis Gross

Alpha Beta Intense Glow Pad

14/28 say it doesn't turn orange

Has the weakest record here at 14 of 28, ranked from Sephora reviews alone. 23% mention streaks and 20% a tan smell.

What buyers praise

  • Goes on even 20%
  • Easy to apply 13%

What buyers complain about

  • Streaky or patchy 23%
  • Tan smell 20%
Where buyers said it
  • Sephora 14 of 28
By skin type (Sephora reviewers)
  • Combination7 of 12
  • Dry3 of 4
  • Oily1 of 4
By skin tone (Sephora reviewers)
  • Fair to light9 of 15
  • Light-medium to medium4 of 6
Acne-prone reviewers
  • Said it worked5 of 10

Share of 30 store reviews that mention each point. A full bar is 50%.

Where these numbers come from

The 7 products ranked here carry 17,357 reviews at Ulta and Sephora. We searched them for orange tones and read the newest matching reviews, up to 30 per product and store, posted between Jan 2017 and Sep 2026.

A review counts only when the reviewer used the product themselves. We drop reviews written in exchange for a free product or a sweepstakes entry (0 on this page), and products that are no longer sold.

Ulta also shows reviews first posted on brands' own websites. They run much more positive than store reviews of the same products (across 19 products with both, 76% of brand-site reviewers said the product solved the problem, against 55% of Ulta shoppers), so we show them on product cards but never count them.

Because we searched for the problem, people who had it are overrepresented. Compare products with each other rather than reading a share as your own odds.

Skin type, skin tone and age splits use what reviewers chose on Sephora's review form (and age on Ulta's when given). We only show a split when enough reviewers fall on each side.

Amazon buttons appear only on products that most reviewers here say fix the problem (at least 60%, with enough reviews to trust it). Everything else gets no buy link.

An AI model labels each review against a fixed list of points, and we spot-check the labels before publishing. We publish counts, never the reviews themselves.

Read the full method

Product pages we read

  1. Bondi Sands Technocolor 1 Hour Express Foam Ulta (28 reviews counted)
  2. St. Tropez Purity Bronzing Water Face Mist Ulta and Sephora (60 reviews counted)
  3. Bondi Sands Salon Quality Self Tanning Foam Ulta (30 reviews counted)
  4. St. Tropez Express Bronzing Mousse Ulta (29 reviews counted)
  5. Isle of Paradise Self-Tanning Water Sephora (30 reviews counted)
  6. Coco & Eve Sunny Honey Bali Bronzing Foam Ulta (25 reviews counted)
  7. Dr. Dennis Gross Alpha Beta Intense Glow Pad Sephora (30 reviews counted)

People asking about it on Reddit

  1. Best self tanner that's not orange? r/MakeUpAddictionUK, May 2025, 15 comments
  2. self tan that isn’t orange r/beauty, May 2024, 13 comments
  3. NOT orange self tanner r/beauty, May 2025, 12 comments

Questions buyers ask

Which self tanner doesn't turn orange?

Bondi Sands Technocolor 1 Hour Express Foam leads at 20 of 22. St. Tropez Purity Bronzing Water Face Mist follows at 41 of 55 and Bondi Sands Salon Quality Self Tanning Foam at 22 of 29.

Does St. Tropez self tan turn orange?

It depends on the product and the store. 41 of 55 said St. Tropez Purity Bronzing Water Face Mist looks natural, and 19 of 27 said the same for St. Tropez Express Bronzing Mousse. With the face mist, Ulta reviewers were 25 of 28 against 16 of 27 at Sephora.

Does Bondi Sands self tanning foam turn orange?

Not often, by these reviews. 20 of 22 said Bondi Sands Technocolor 1 Hour Express Foam looks natural, and 22 of 29 said the same for Bondi Sands Salon Quality Self Tanning Foam.

Does the Dr. Dennis Gross Alpha Beta glow pad turn orange?

For many reviewers it does. 14 of 28 who mentioned color said it turned orange or looked fake, which is the weakest record here.

Related problems

Self-tanner Self tanner that doesn't streak Top pick: St. Tropez Purity Bronzing Water Face Mist 224 buyer reports Self-tanner Self tanner that doesn't smell Top pick: Coco & Eve Sunny Honey Bali Bronzing Foam 249 buyer reports Bronzer Bronzer that doesn't look orange Top pick: Too Faced Chocolate Soleil Bronzing Stick 399 buyer reports

HiveTried earns a commission when you buy through the "See price & reviews on Amazon" buttons. It never changes the ranking: the order comes from buyer reports only, and a product gets an Amazon button only when buyers here say it works.