Fake Bake Self-Tan Liquid is a top seller on Amazon.com this week. Let’s look at the label to see what makes it cook.
Fake Bake Self-Tan Liquid Ingredients
Water, SD Alcohol 40-B
These are the solvents for the liquid. The alcohol is needed because the active ingredient is only partially soluble in water.
Dihydroxyacetone (DHA)
This is the chemical that gives you the fake bake look. It reacts with the proteins in your skin to form a golden brown (and sometimes orange!) color.
Dimethyl Isosorbide
A penetrating aid that helps the DHA skin into the upper layers of your skin. (It does NOT carry it deep enough to into the bloodstream.)
Propylene Glycol, Glycerin
Humectants that help modify the consistency and feel of the lotion. Also provide some moisturizing effect to skin.
Polysorbate 80
Emulsifier that helps hold the other ingredients together.
Erythrulose
A sugary material that also reacts with skin protein to create a tan-like color. Works with DHA to give darker, more realistic skin tones.
Tetrasodium EDTA
Helps preserve the formula.
Fragrance (Parfum)
Helps cover the odor of the DHA.
Blue 1 (C 42090), Yellow 5 (19140), Red 40 (CI 16035)
Colorants
Coumarin
Used in most sunless tanners probably to provide additional masking of the smell of the DHA.
Image credit: Amazon.com
If you’re in the market for Fake Bake 
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
R u going to make a blog post on one of my earlier questions in the forum on how makeup used on corpses before the funeral is different from convention makeup? Would be so kewl and you could repost it for halloween! on another note…I wonder if there will ever be non DHA based tanners?
I use St Tropez self tanner, as it seems to “stink” les than others and the color is more natural. Why does that particular brand have less of an odor than others? (I think I’ve tried nearly all). Are there other (less expense) brands with similar ingredient list? Help out us pale skins!
@Klee: If you can post the ingredient list I’ll take a look at it.
Is it the amount of DHA that effects what color a tanner will come out, or does it have to do with the other ingredients in the formula- just curious why some tanners make me a nice brown color and other make me look like a carrot.
I’ve tried so many self tanners. I am very pale. They all seem to smell and it is very difficult to get it to look even. Is there a way to apply the Fake Bake so that you don’t get that streaking uneven color?
The amount of DHA will affect the intensity of the colour – so more will result in darker. Other ingredients can affect the shade of the colour as these have an impact on the stabilty of the DHA. DHA will react with other ingredients (and even itself) to produce chemicals that will still work to change the skin’s colour will just give different colour (hence the orange look).
Odor is related to this as well. So fresh products will generally give better results and stink less than products that have been sitting around for some time.
Interesting- thanks Alchemist!
This is a great alternative for tanning beds. It is less expensive and you can get tanned on your own. Thanks for dishing out its ingredients. I might want to check it out on Amazon and try it for myself.
What is the story with all the recent warnings about DHA possibly being able to get past the top layers of skin and possibly into the body? Some are saying that it can damage your DNA and other scary-sounding things. I have no clue whether any of this is true, but there are several sources who are warning everyone to avoid it until more research is done.
Any insight about all this? Have been avoiding my precious self-tanner because of all this fuss. Sheesh.
@Clover: Great question – we’ll have to look into this. If we find out any info we’ll post it to the blog.
I have used self tanning liquids before, but the color never seemed to come out right on me.
I follow the instructions carefully, but absolutely no luck.
I haven’t tried Fake Bake but I will definitely give it a try this summer.
Jane