*Every* Time Someone Compliments Me on My Skin, It’s Because of Isle of Paradise’s Supersize Self-Tanning Drops (and They're Currently on Sale!)

The process is simple: Dollop half a teaspoon (roughly a quarter-sized amount) of moisturizer on your hand. Use the eye dropper to squirt anywhere from two to 12 drops of the tanning solution on top, mix together and—to paraphrase Buffalo Bill, put the lotion on the skin. Four to six hours later, you’re glowing like you’ve spent the afternoon lounging by a pool, with the kind of lit-from-within radiance typically reserved for ingenues who haven’t been beaten down by the world yet.

At least that’s how I felt, especially after colleagues suddenly started interrupting Zoom calls—or slacking me on the side—to ask about my skincare routine (yes, people actually do that! It’s not just a thing influencers say to shill products!). I got compliments at daycare drop-off, when hanging out with my friends, in the aisles of Target, and truly, the only thing that’d changed was my morning slathering of Isle of Paradise, mixed with BYOMA Moisturizing Gel-Cream (again, because an IoP insider said the $15 moisturizer was key to a dewy glow).

It didn’t give me a dramatic tan, largely because I only use three to four drops, but I loved that it was:

• Totally streak-free
• Evened out my skin tone (and minimized my sunspots)
• Not sticky (ever feel your face crunch when you smile after using self-tanner? No thank you.)
• Lightly scented—with only the faintest whiff of Dihydroxyacetone (DHA), the ingredient in self-tanners that creates that bronzed look (and often smells yeasty)

I love that I can control how tan I want to be, based on the amount of drops I use. As you can see, most days I opt for something that’s very subtle, just lightly sunkissed, like I get my vitamin D from the sun and not a bottle of vitamins. (Though I did fake my return-from-Key-West tan by going heavier on the application, since I’m a hardcore SPF 30 to 50 user.) Isle of Paradise recommends going for nine to 12 drops per half teaspoon—and yeah, let’s just say that anything higher than seven makes me look more like an NSYNC doll from the “It’s Gonna Be Me” video than an extra in the Barbie movie. I use it primarily on my face and neck, but the drops can be mixed with lotion and used all over your body.

So yes, while I’m still working on that whole “tired” thing (who can get in eight hours when Stranger Things and Only Murders in the Building are working on new seasons and you need to catch up?!), this little faux-glow has been a big confidence booster, which I hear helps you genuinely, uh, glow.