It's fine to fake it, just don't bake it
You say potato, I say poh-tah-toe; you say golden sun tan, I say malignant melanoma . . . In the crazy world of summertime tanning, it is useful to remember, in a catchy kind of a way, that one peron's idea of a healthy- looking bronzation is another person's health alarm call.
It can be hard to keep this in mind when bombarded with bronzed beach beauties every summer, especially if, like me, your natural colouring looks like something that should be added to tea (I'm often referred to as the English rose type). If, consequently, you have a genuinely low tan-ability factor that means you'll never stray far from the milky tone, you also know it can be confidence-crushing to be the Belisha beacon on the beach and the bikini-clad butt of many a resulting joke.
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It's a strange beauty conundrum we face nowadays. We all know that sun exposure is not good for us, not in large, super-hot doses at any rate. Yet, when it comes to our holidays, to what we want to get out of them and how they're judged on our return, a tan is still considered to be crucial. It seems it still makes us look healthy, refreshed, glowing, energetic, even slimmer. But pale, contrary to the saying, is not interesting: it just looks dated, Victorian, a little bit na?ve.
Even here I run into my own contradictions. On the one hand I yearn to look like something in a Lartique photograph, all tanned and toned on a deserted beach with a parasol and a rowboat to hand. On the other, I consider Botticelli's Venus to be one of the most beautiful women ever to have been pictured and she is almost the same colour as the surf. So what to do?
One answer, of course, is to fake it. There are many good fake tans these days. Saint Tropez is one of the best - if it's too brown for you then try mixing it with a little bit of moisturiser (Palmer's Cocoa Butter is good and helps to give a yummy smell). Better still, book an appointment and have it applied for you - do we really have time to figure out how best to tan our backs and avoid streakiness in places we can barely even see in a mirror? Decleor is also an option that should be much sought-after. Their Hydrating Self Tanning milk gives a very natural (I shy away from saying healthy) glow that will never make you look like a human tangerine.
How you fake it is just as important. One friend suggests going on holiday and, without drawing attention to it, simply staying out of the sun. Then, at night, in the privacy of your own bathroom, apply a little fake tan on face, décolletage and the tops of your arms (Clarins is one of the best, especially for the face), and the next morning everyone will exclaim how well you look and how you caught the sun. No one will be any the wiser, even when you arrive home. But remember to apply the tan where you would naturally gain colour. One big problem with faking it is applying the stuff like moisturiser. Think about it logically - your underarms won't ever tan like your upper arms.
I've also found it's worth taking a good bronzer on holiday and to lightly brush it over face, arms, shoulders etc before going out in the evening - again, everyone will think you have just tanned smartly. For this, Jean Paul Gaultier Le Male Bronzer is best - because it's made for men, it has no shimmer so looks less obvious and more natural.
Ultimately, though, the only way to deal with the tanning issue is to accept that pale - or at most golden - is not just acceptable but fashionable, even desirable. Just as it was revolutionary for Coco Chanel to eschew corsets and embrace tans (before then the sign of field workers) so nowadays we must turn the tides of taste and allow at least the possibility of accepting something new, of realising that what seems liberating on the one hand may have serious limitations on the other.
It's already changing - just look at how the Piz Buin advertisements have evolved from representing treacle as the shade to achieve to championing a more golden syrupy colour. The rise of the moisturiser with fake tan included is also a way of saying that going for the glow not the burn is enough (Dove and Clarins are both great options here).
谁说只有古铜色才美？
你管它叫马铃薯，我称之为土豆；你说晒出来是古铜色，我称之为恶性黑素瘤……在这个流行疯狂日晒的夏季，记住以下这点很有用：一个人希望拥有的看起来很健康的古铜色皮肤，对于另一个人来说，却是健康的警钟。
“晒黑”的两难处境
当你每个夏季都遭到古铜色皮肤的沙滩美人的“炮轰”时，很难牢记这一点，特别是如果你像我一样，皮肤的自然颜色就像那种应该被加到茶里的东西的话（我的皮肤就经常被人说成是那种配英国式玫瑰茶的奶白色），就更难记住上面这点了。因此，如果你确实天生就不容易晒黑的话，那就是意味着，你永远不会远离奶白色，那么你也就知道，结果会成为沙滩上的“红绿灯”和身着比基尼的笑柄，这会摧毁你的自信心。
这是我们当前面临的一个有关美丽的奇怪的两难问题。我们都知道暴露在日光之下，对自己不好，至少不要暴露在大面积、超高热度的日晒之下。然而，在谈到假期的时候，晒黑仍被认为是至关重要的因素，它是我们希望通过假期得到的，也是我们归来时评判假期好坏的标准。似乎晒黑仍会使我们看起来身强体健、精神抖擞、容光焕发、精力充沛，甚至显得更苗条。但是与之相反，苍白的肤色就没什么意思了：它只会看起来过时、有维多利亚时代的特征，还有点天真。
在这方面，我甚至进入了自相矛盾的怪圈。一方面，我希望自己看起来就像拉蒂格（Lartique，法国摄影大师――译者注）照片中的形象――在一片废弃的海滩上，全身晒成棕褐色，手持一把阳伞，身边是一艘划艇。而另一方面，我又认为波提切利(Botticelli)笔下的维纳斯(Venus)，是有史以来图画中最美丽的女人之一，她拥有几乎与浪花一样的颜色。究竟该怎么办呢？
如何伪造古铜色
当然，办法之一就是伪造这种颜色。如今有许多很好的模仿晒黑的产品。Saint Tropez是最好的选择之一――如果你觉得太黑了，可以尝试掺一点保湿霜（Palmer的可可油(Cocoa Butter)很好，而且还散发一种香味）。更好的办法，是预定一项服务，让别人给你涂黑――我们真有功夫去判断自己背上涂多黑才算好吗？或者，能避免那些我们甚至从镜子里都看不到的地方出现条状现象吗？思妍丽(Decleor)也该是倍受追捧的一种选择。它的保湿自助式晒黑乳液(Hydrating Self Tanning milk)抹在皮肤上，会发出一种非常自然的（我羞于说“健康的”）光泽，决不会让你看起来像个人肉橘子。
如何进行伪造同样重要。一个朋友建议去度假，只是不要待在阳光下，但别让人注意到就行。然后，到了晚上，在浴室的隐密空间里，抹点人工晒黑膏在脸上，胸前袒露的部位和胳膊上部（娇韵诗(Clarins)是最佳选择之一，特别是用于面部的产品），第二天早晨，每个人都会对你的气色以及日光浴的效果惊叹不已。没人能看得出来，即便当你到家时也是如此。但要记住，将产品涂在能自然接受阳光照射的部位。假装晒黑的一个大问题，就是像抹保湿霜一样使用这种这些化妆品。符合逻辑地想一想――你的下臂怎么也不会晒得像上臂那么黑。
我还发现了一种在度假时值得带上的古铜色化妆品，傍晚出去时在脸、手臂、肩等地方稍微涂上一些――所有人又都会以为你只是漂亮地晒了一把。在这方面，Jean Paul Gaultier Le Male Bronzer最好，因为它专供男士使用，没有油光，所以看起来不那么明显，而且更为自然。
古铜色不是唯一选择
不过，最终对付晒黑问题的惟一方法是接受这种观点：白色――或者顶多是金色――不仅是可以接受的，而且是时尚的，甚至还是人们所渴望的。正如从摒弃紧身内衣、转而崇尚晒黑（以前这是户外工作者的标志）对于可可?香奈尔(Coco Chanel)而言具有革命性一样，今天我们必须改变品味的潮流，至少允许有可能接受新鲜事物，也有可能意识到：在一方面看来是解放的事情，可能在另一方面看来就是严重的束缚。
情况的确在改变――看看Piz Buin的广告，它已经从提供晒后护理用品，转变为追捧一种更有黄金质感的颜色。掺有人造晒黑膏的保湿霜的兴起，也说明只要拥有那种光泽、但不用被晒伤已经足够了（在这方面，多芬(Dove)和娇韵诗都是很好的选择）。
