Raymi Visits Urbansun Tanning Salon

September in Toronto and you can already feel the chill in the night air.  Winter is coming.  Girls want to lock in their suntans the same way a squirrel stores nuts. A good tan makes your eyes brighter, your teeth whiter, your arms and legs sexier, more toned = more shapely;  a good sun tan gives the illusion of a healthy active lifestyle, which is the sexiest trait of all, in men and women.

September is also film festival month in Toronto, and this is the very best time for people to show off well tanned faces – not at the movies of course, but at the parties afterwards.  My Facebook feed is absolutely filled with TIFF parties this month, and some of them are real, and come complete with Hollywood celebrities, Canadian actors, producers and directors.

So to darken my not-so-glorious summer tan in time for this exciting season, I went to Urbansun tanning salon in Scarborough (2555 Victoria Park) and got lightly baked in their sun capsule before being even further darkened in a Mystic spray booth.  Let me break it all down for you.

First thing I did after signing the registration book, and using their free Hempz lotion (is this really made form marijuana?) was to step into the Sun Capsule X7  HP. I found out later the HP stands for High Performance tanning system, and I think that’s moe than just good advertising.

The Sun Capsule is amazing. I could get in the habit of coming here and doing that once a week. It’s a two stage rig – the first area is a change room where I took off all my clothes, and then I stepped into the second pod and was bathed in white light in the patented 5.5 sided, 220 watt tanning system, complete with 54 220 hp sunlamps. It was warm and fuzzy in there.

Urbansun has the Mystic Spray Tan System

Urbansun tanning gallery has ten locations across Ontario and most spots have the Mystic spray tan system which many people in the beauty industry will tell you is the very best spray tan technology out there.  I can’t believe I just wrote the words ‘spray tan technology’ like that’s a thing, but here’s what their website says about the goop they sprayed all over me:

The new Mystic Tan formulation technology features a proprietary blend of Paraben-Free ingredients that deliver a superior natural-looking tan. Erythrulose and DHA work in combination to produce a tan that lasts longer, fades more evenly, and provides a natural colour for all skin types and tones. High concentrations of Aloe Vera, and added antioxidants such as Green Tea extract, Açai, and Larrea Divaricata, can help to protect your cells against damaging free radicals. We’ve also added an odor control system that helps eliminate the DHA development reaction odor. The formulation was developed in a fragrance-free, bronzer-free, clear base solution allowing for individuals to personally customize their sunless experience.

The process started with the assistant helping me get ready. Dance music was playing in the background and that put me more at ease.  I asked Marianna to turn it up, but she said I had to listen to the instruction soundtrack during the spray tan to get the timing right.  If I was more experienced she wouldn’t have had to help me get ready, but this was my first time and she wanted to make sure I got the very best results with no accidents. We put a lots of lotion on my feet and hands which she predicted would get more tanned than normal – and it might appear uneven here and there – no splotchy tan on your feet or hands looks normal, is the gist of it.

This sunless spray tan uses advanced next generation electrostatic technology with a nozzle pattern designed for complete and even spray tan coverage for all body shapes and sizes. The automatic voice is a lady who speaks with urgency. She prompted me at every point of the process from the moment I switched the machine on to when I did the robot front and back and the rig sprayed my body – a titillating sensation in that well ventilated area. The drying process only takes a few minutes.

Here is a video of my whole visit.

Here’s me leaving. The best results appear the next day …  Just in time for my red carpet TIFF walk.

Follow Urban Sun on Twitter @UrbansunToronto, and find Urbansun on Facebook, the Eglinton location