Despite having Portuguese, Italian and Polish ancestry, my skin does not tan. Ok, so the Portuguese and Italian are probably too many generations ago for it to count but my Dad is frequently mistaken for being of Mediterranean origin and can tan in seconds. The Polish is only a great grandfather on my Mum’s side so not that far back. I just don’t tan, two weeks in the sun and the only way you can tell I’ve changed colour is by looking for white bits. I come back from my summer holidays (those where I leave the UK) and friends look at me quizzically and ask if the weather has been ok. It used to be that I actually wouldn’t change colour. I could spend a day out in the sun and I wouldn’t burn. This maybe due to my Mums insistence that we spend the entire summer holidays covered in white sticky suntan lotion I thought I’d developed a permanent resistance to the sun. In the last year or two, this seems to have changed and I do now have the propensity to burn. Which considering I have a huge number of rather large a-typical moles and have been told by a specialist that I therefore have a higher percentage risk of skin cancer isn’t a good idea. At least factor 25 and never out in the mid-day sun for me.
Not only do I not change colour naturally in the sun I don’t seem to be able to fake tan. I’ve tried several different brands and means of application and yet I always turn orange. My skin tone just doesn’t seem to suit a tan. O works as a gardener so he has been outside for the last three months, his face and arms are very tanned (farmer tan – he looks like he is wearing a permanent white t-shirt). #2 is naturally darker than me and living down South she sees more sun than I do. #1 is currently enjoying a fortnight’s holiday during which she will be lying in the sun constantly with her only activity to turn the page of her book or top-up her glass of wine (jealous? Yes I am). Her family get back to the UK two days before the wedding so there is no time for their tans to fade.
I will not be fake tanning or any sort of tanning for the wedding but I can’t help feel a little bit envious that I'll be the palest of all. I’m just going to have to wear my porcelain/blue hue with pride.
I don't tan either, I just burn really badly and then go back to pale, I'm happy with that though.
ReplyDeleteI can imagine you will look stunning with your porcelain skin :)
pale and interesting... One of my bridesmaids is the same colouring and she's a little funny that she'll be the only one pale.. but she'd look ridiculous with fake tanned skin.. your going to look beautiful!
ReplyDeletealso farmers tans.. good look!
you excited..? ekkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk
pale skin is awesome! P.s. my whole family can tan except me so I feel your pain (I am also Italian and Portuguese but the Irish in me has bullied them both)
ReplyDeletePale & interesting is so much better!
ReplyDeleteI never did any fake tanning etc either; figured im not normally tanned so why bother for my wedding day; still wanted to be me!
Oh meant to say; yippee, its your wedding week beginning!!!
ReplyDeletePale and interesting all the way, love your skin tone :D I didn't fake tan, it would have looked and smelled horrible. I find it really weird that some skin types of women are encouraged to bleach their skin to look paler but if you're "too pale" you're told to apply smelly and usually unnatural looking tanning agents, when I find natural skin hues so much more beautiful!
ReplyDeleteLate to the defense of pale – but as someone who's been compared to snow white before (I think it might have been a compliment?) you know where I stand.
ReplyDeleteNever fake-tanned either – despite knowing a few PR girls who have offered to do it for me like I'm an american teen movie makeover project!
I guess the only odd thing is that I do actually tan (I was almost brown as a kid with blonde hair... I suspect I might have been swapped somewhere down the line!)
Don't go changing!
I love the look of porcelain white skin, you should rock that. You don't see it so much nowadays. Nicole Kidman pulls it off well :)
ReplyDeleteGosh, we bloggers are a pale lot! I'm also not a fan of fake tan, and I burn easily so need a lot of time in the sun before it penetrates the factor 50 and I tan.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the others - why change for your wedding day?
You are not alone. I don't tan either. I have two choices, pale and burnt. I am sure you will be so beautiful no will notice that you are the palest one there.
ReplyDeleteI do if i am very, very careful, but about half an hour in the sun can mean I'm burnt to a crisp. I was as pale as could be for my wedding, and i actually stayed out of the sun for a week before to make sure i didn't end up with tan/burn lines of any sort. I figured it was more true to be natural!
ReplyDeleteThat's why I got married in winter :) Avoid my pink bits and odd lines from the sunshine. I never fake tan, the idea scares me... But I also concur with the other commenters, pale and beautiful, plus with fewer lines when you're old!
ReplyDeleteI am exactly the same. No fake tanning for our wedding. I didn't care that I was bright white! One of my bridesmaids ended up looking very orange in most of the photos from fake tan! Eeekkk
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