Best Tan Accelerator

If you’re looking for the best way to achieve the natural-looking, glowy, bronze tan of your dreams, a tanning accelerator is a perfect product for you.

Tanning accelerators are easy, convenient, and do an excellent job of bringing your skin from pasty and pale to sunkissed and shining in as little time as possible.

If you’re looking for a faster, easier way to get a deeper, darker, more even tan, the Millenium Solid Black and the Maui Bebe are definitely the best tan accelerators on the market today.

What’s a Tanning Accelerator?

Tan accelerators are products are designed to speed up your skin’s natural tanning processes. When used in conjunction with natural sunlight or a UV tanning bed, tanning accelerators stimulate melanin production, naturally darkening your skin to your perfect tan!

11 Best Tan Accelerator Reviews

Tan accelerators come in a variety of forms, including creams, lotions, injections, and supplements. Here are some of our favorite tan accelerators.

1. Millenium Tanning New Solid Black Bronzer Tanning Bed Lotion

This tanning enhancer uses auto-darkening tan technology to develop the perfect tan for you overnight. It also features 100x silicone bronzers that work instantly, creating a deep, dark tan that looks amazing on you! If traditional self-tanners just aren’t cutting it for you, this powerful tanning enhancer is the product for you!

Nourishing Plant Extracts

This tanning enhancer is full of nourishing ingredients like walnut seed oil, pecan seed oil, sunflower seed oil, carrot seed oil, banana extract, apple extract, melon extract, and a willow bark extract. All of these nourishing ingredients will do an excellent job at hydrating and smoothing your skin in addition to tanning it!

Super Easy to Use

This tanning enhancer is also extremely easy to use! It’s intended to be applied before tanning to create your deepest, darkest, bronziest tan yet! Just apply liberally to clean skin before tanning and enjoy a perfect tan! This product does not contain SPF, so be sure to apply sunscreen to sensitive areas like your face before spending time in the sun!

Fragrant, Spa-Like Scent

In addition to being full of powerful, hydrating, tan-enhancing ingredients, this tan accelerator is also infused with a delicious Orchid Blush scent, which adds a pleasant, spa-like element to your tanning experience!

Perfect for Pale Skin

If your skin is super pale and you’re looking for a way to magically transform into a gorgeous, glowing goddess, this tanning accelerator is the perfect product for you! It doesn’t streak or turn orange, but it does give you the deep, dark, super bronzed look that you’ve always dreamed of!

2. Australian Gold DARK TANNING ACCELERATOR Lotion

This tanning accelerator is one of the most popular, widely-sold tanning lotions in the entire industry. It’s an almost-universal favorite among tanning enthusiasts of all ages, genders, and skin tones. If you’re looking for a tried-and-true tanning lotion to boost your bronze, the Australian Gold tanning accelerator is perfect for you!

Vitamin-Rich Formula

This powerful formula is full of vitamins A and E, as well as an exclusive Biosine Complex and native Australian oils. All of these ingredients work hard to hydrate, smooth, and condition your skin while also stimulating melanin production to give you your softest, silkiest, tannest skin yet!

Smooth, Spreadable Consistency

Australian Gold tanning accelerator is also formulated with silicone and glycerin, which create a smooth, spreadable formula that absorbs quickly without leaving behind a greasy-feeling residue. You’ll be amazed by how luxurious and high-end this tanning enhancer feels!

Delicious Scent

This tanning accelerator also features Australian Gold’s proprietary CocoaDreams fragrance, which combines notes of orange, citrus, banana, floral rose, fruity coconut, and sweet vanilla to create a lush, delicious, sweet-smelling tanning experience!

Fan Favorite Product

This tanning accelerator is a fan favorite for its incredible effectiveness, smooth and hydrating formula, and iconic Creamsicle smell! It’s incredibly moisturizing, while still doing a fantastic job at heightening your tan, so your skin stays soft and hydrated! Plus, it’s never streaky, never orange, and never splotchy!

3. Ed Hardy Coconut Kisses Golden Tanning Lotion

This rich, creamy tanning lotion promises to smooth, tone, tighten, and of course, tan your skin. It uses powerful tan-enhancing ingredients to stimulate the natural melanin production of your skin without using bronzing agents. Plus, its sweet, delicious coconut scent creates an intoxicating, spa-like feel!

Nourishing Coconut

This tanning lotion’s main ingredients are coconut milk and coconut oil, but it also features a quad tyrosine blend and MelanoBronze, which stimulate melanin formation and speed up the tanning process. It also includes Melactiva, a melanin synthesizer that prolongs the presence of melanin in your skin.

Protects Your Tattoos Against Fading

This tanning lotion uses two different types of coconut byproducts to smooth, soften, and hydrate your skin. Plus, if you have tattoos and are worried about the danger of fading under sun exposure, don’t worry! This formula also features a tattoo and color fade protector that keeps your tattoo looking freshly-inked, even against your newly-bronzed skin.

Tightens and Tones

This tanning formula also features an exclusive BodyFit complex, which helps reduce the appearance of cellulite and improve tone, texture, and firmness all over your skin, especially on your legs!

Overall

This luscious, hydrating, smooth tanning lotion has earned rave reviews for how delicious it smells and how effective it is. If you love coconut scents, you could even wear this tanning lotion as a daily moisturizer, even when you’re not tanning!

4. Maui Babe Browning Lotion

This tanning lotion is made using natural Hawaiian ingredients and a secret family formula. For years, Hawaiians of all skin types and skin tones have trusted Maui Babe Browning Lotion to give them the bronzy, glowy, even tan of their dreams!

Age-Old, Trusted Formula

Maui Babe Browning Lotion is full of natural Hawaiian ingredients, including soothing aloe, that helps trigger the natural tanning processes in your skin while also healing your skin cells from sun damage. It works for all skin types, from fair to deep, as well as on sensitive skin!

Moisturizing, Nourishing Ingredients

In addition to aloe, Maui Babe Browning Lotion also contains ingredients like mineral oil, kukui nut oil, vitamin E, C, and A, Kona coffee extract, and potassium iodide. All of those ingredients help naturally deepen the tone of your skin to your most flattering tan yet!

Use in Conjunction with Sunscreen

Maui Babe is intended to be used in conjunction with sunscreen so that you can get all of the SPF benefits of sun protection along with a gorgeous, deep, even, bronzy tan! Use it with the Maui Babe’s sunscreen, or with your favorite brand!

Look Like You’ve Just Been in Hawaii

If your dream is to look like you live in Hawaii, this tanning lotion is perfect for you! It has earned rave reviews for its fantastic tanning capabilities. It works even more effectively than a tanning bed, spray tan, or self-tanning solution ever could!

5. Tan Asz U LUAU 200X Island Black Bronzer

This powerful tanning accelerator promises to deliver your deepest, darkest, most beautiful tan yet! It features 200x bronzing technology that stimulates natural melanin production in your skin, leaving you with a gorgeous, bronzy glow that makes you look like you’ve been on a tropical vacation!

Marula Oil for Moisturization

This tanning accelerator’s Marula Goddess Glow Serum formula features marula oil, a potent, ultra-light moisturizing ingredient with a high antioxidant count that sinks into your skin and promotes hydration, smoothness, and softness without irritating sensitive skin!

Doesn’t Stain or Streak

If you’ve struggled with other tanning accelerators staining your palms after application, look no further than the Tan Asz Luau 200x Island Black Bronzer! It’s formulated without DHA, which is the number one compound responsible for staining in most other self-tanners, body bronzers, and tanning lotions!

Sweet, Delicious Scent

This tanning lotion also features a delicious, exclusive Awapuhi Peach Smoothie scent, which will instantly transport you to a poolside lounge in the sweltering, sultry heat of Hawaii! If you’re looking for a tanning lotion that smells delicious AND works incredibly well, this is the lotion for you!

Salon-Quality Results

This tanning lotion is a fan favorite for being as effective as expensive, high-end formulas, while costing a fraction of the price. Also, it smells incredible, unlike other, more chemically-scented lotions. Finally, it really does work, giving you the gorgeously bronzed skin of your dreams!

6. Banana Boat Self Tanning Sunless Lotion for a Natural Looking Tan, Deep Dark

This 3-pack of tanning lotion features unique self-adjusting technology, which allows you to control the depth of your tan as it adjusts to your specific skin tone and type, giving you a bronzed look that looks completely natural, as though you’ve just come back from a beach vacation!

Hydrates, Smooths, and Tans

This formula is oil-free, streak-free, quick-drying, and enriched with nourishing ingredients like aloe vera and vitamin E, which hydrate and smooth your skin while also imparting your perfect level of bronzy tan!

Build Up Your Tan Over Time

This product is especially convenient because it comes in a pack of 3, which means you’ll never run out of tanning lotion. The more you apply this lotion, the tanner you become, so by the time you use up all 3 bottles, you’ll have your deepest, darkest, most flattering tan of all time!

Incredibly Easy to Apply

Banana Boat Self Tanning Sunless Lotion can be applied multiple times a week. It’s incredibly easy to use — no gloves or other special equipment are required! Just apply evenly to clean, dry skin with your bare hands and watch in awe as your perfect tan slowly develops!

Cult Favorite Tanning Lotion

This tanning accelerator is a real cult favorite. People of all ages, genders, skin types and skin tones swear by Banana Boat for their best, most natural-looking tan without spending exorbitant amounts of money on spray tans or tanning beds!

7. Somewhere on a Beach, Indoor-Outdoor, Instant Dark Tanning Lotion

This powerful tanning accelerator can be used indoors or outdoors, so no matter whether the weather is sunny and hot or cloudy and snowy, you can achieve the deep, dark, bronzed tan of your wildest dreams!

Never Stains or Looks Orange

The Somewhere on a Beach Instant Dark Tanning Lotion is DHA-free, which means that it won’t create unseemly streaks on your skin or stain your hands! Feel free to apply this tanning lotion without gloves, and don’t worry about developing obnoxious orange splotches on your palms!

Hydrating Ingredients

This formula is full of coconut and walnut oils, which soften and hydrate your skin to create a smooth, silky, conditioned canvas for your perfect tan! Plus, it features sea buckthorn berry, an ingredient that is extremely rich in Omega 7 and that does an incredible job at healing dry, damaged, and flaky skin!

Anti-Aging Properties

The Somewhere on a Beach Instant Dark Tanning Lotion is also infused with an advanced matrixyl synthe 6 formula, which made of powerful anti-aging peptides that eliminate fine lines and wrinkles on your skin, giving you an overall glowy, youthful appearance!

Effective without Irritating Sensitive Skin

If you’re tired of visiting tanning salons but are still looking for a product that will boost your bronze and make you look like you’ve just arrived home from a week-long vacation in the Caribbean, this product is perfect for you! Plus, it doesn’t irritate sensitive skin, and it smells absolutely delicious!

8. Brown Sugar BLACK CHOCOLATE COCONUT CREAM 200X Bronzer

This powerful self-tanning formula features the absolute highest concentration of bronzing compounds, which will stimulate your skin cells’ melanin production and help you achieve your ideal tan!

Rich, Hydrating Ingredients

The Brown Sugar Black Chocolate Coconut Cream bronzer features double dark chocolate extract, argan oil, a triple coconut cocktail, and silicones that help smooth, soften, and moisturize your skin while also promoting a gorgeous tan that never streaks or splotches!

Free of Dangerous Additives

In addition to being full of good-for-your-skin ingredients, antioxidants, and moisturizing compounds, this Brown Sugar formula is 100% of parabens and DHA, which means that it’ll never streak or cause any adverse reactions, even on sensitive skin!

Extremely Easy to Use

This tanning lotion is super easy to use! It’s intended for use indoors, so you don’t have to expose your skin to dangerous UV rays to get your perfect tan. Just apply it with your bare hands to dry, clean skin and watch as your skin transforms into its best, tannest, glowiest self!

Works on All Skin Tones and Types

This tanning lotion works amazingly, even on people with super pale, fair skin! Plus, coconut lovers will rejoice at the scent of this tanning lotion, which features a triple coconut cocktail! Finally, it never streaks, splotches, or looks orange!

9. Self Tanner – Organic and Natural Ingredients Sunless Tanning Lotion

This vegan, all-natural tanning accelerator is super gentle, even on sensitive skin, while still working as effectively as a tanning bed, spray tan, or at-home self-tanner. If you want a gorgeous tan but are trying to avoid harsh chemicals and harmful UV radiation, this tanning accelerator is perfect for you!

Natural, Healthy Ingredients

This all-natural tanning accelerator is full of skin-healthy, naturally-derived ingredients like organic coconut oil, organic shea butter, and nutritive Japanese green tea extract, which work together to hydrate, plump, and nourish your skin, leaving you soft and silky as well as tanned!

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Helps Disguise Blemishes

You can use this tanning accelerator multiple times a week, which allows you to layer levels of tan, building your way up to your preferred level of darkness! If you’re self-conscious about freckles, sunspots, or varicose veins on your arms or legs, this self-tanner is the perfect way to slowly cover them up with a gorgeous, bronzy glow!

Easy Application

This self-tanner is also incredibly easy to use! After cleansing and exfoliating your skin, use your bare hands, gloves, or a tanning mitt to apply a thin layer of product all over your skin! After about 6 hours, your ideal tan will magically develop, making you look bronzed and glowing!

Avoid Staining and Streaking

This self-tanner is beloved by fans everywhere for its thick, moisturizing consistency, gentle formula, and incredible effectiveness. As an added bonus, unlike other self-tanners, which have a brown or orange hue, this self-tanner goes on white, which means that your clothes, sheets, and towels won’t get stained!

10. St. TROPEZ Self Tan Bronzing Mousse

This award-winning, best-selling bronzing mousse promises to tailor itself to your skin tone, delivering a natural-looking tan that lasts for days without ever looking patchy, streaky, or blotchy!

Unique Lightweight Formula

St. Tropez’s proprietary formula is streak-free, quick-drying, non-sticky, non-greasy, long-lasting, transfer-free, and has no nasty self-tanner smell! This means that you don’t ever have to worry about noxious fumes, stained clothes, or a streaky, patchy result!

Paraben-Free

This self-tanner is free of parabens, sulfates, and phthalates, so you can rest easy knowing that the ingredients you’re applying to your skin won’t harm it!

The St. TROPEZ moose includes a 100%-natural DHA, or tanning agent, and is clinically proven to moisturize and nourish your skin for up to 24 hours!

Mess-Free Application

This self-tanner also couldn’t be easier to use! 24 hours before you plan to self-tan, make sure to generously exfoliate your skin. Using a tanning mitt, apply a thin layer in long swipes, starting at your ankles and moving upwards.

Make sure that the formula dries all the way down before redressing. After 4-8 hours, hop in the shower, rinse everything off, and reveal your perfect tan!

Fan Favorite and Award Winner

This is an absolute holy grail tanning lotion, especially for super pale or fair-skinned people who are sick and tired of making pricey, time-consuming trips to the tanning salon. St. Tropez products are never orange, streaky, or patchy, ensuring that your tan looks perfect every time!

11. Skinerals Self Tanner Sunless Bronzer Californium Natural and Organic Ingredients for Safe Alternative to Sun Tanning

Skinerals is renowned for its commitment to using natural, organic ingredients as often as possible, ensuring that the products you apply to your skin are as safe and gentle as possible! Their sunless tanner formula is developed to be natural and gentle, but still effective, giving you a beautiful bronzy glow that lasts for up to 7 days!

All-Natural, Organic Ingredients

This self-tanner is full of amazing, all-natural ingredients, like aloe, Indian gooseberry, acai berry, fig extract, goji berry extract, green tea, white tea, and vitamins A, C, and E. Together, they work to imbibe anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, moisturizing, and healing properties into your skin!

Vegan, Cruelty-Free, and Gluten-Free

In addition to being full of good-for-you ingredients that nourish your skin, this formula is free of petroleum, parabens, sulfates, pesticides, synthetic dyes, and synthetic fragrances. Plus, it’s vegan, cruelty-free, gluten-free, and made in the USA!

Super User-Friendly

This self-tanner is also super easy to apply! After cleansing and exfoliating your skin, use a mitt or gloves to apply 1-2 ounces over your entire body. Let the formula completely dry before putting any clothes on. After about 4 hours, rinse the formula off in the shower and watch in amazement as you reveal your perfect tan!

Rave Reviews

This product has earned rave reviews for its amazing results and ease of use. It’s a fantastic alternative to outdoor tanning, tanning beds, and spray tanning. Plus, it features natural, organic ingredients that help nourish and protect your skin instead of damaging it!

What Is the Best Tanning Accelerator? the Conclusion

With so many tanning accelerators on the market, it can be hard to choose one that works best for you. If you’re looking for a tanning lotion that you can slather on before laying out poolside or on a beach towel, consider products from brands like Maui Babe and Millenium Solid Black.

If you’re looking for a sunless tanner that doesn’t require UV exposure to work, brands like St. Tropez and Skinerals have you covered!

How Many Tanning Sessions Does It Take to See Results?

If this is your first-ever time using a tanning accelerator, its important you to know this. Some tanning accelerators need 3 to 5 sessions to produce results; since your skin cells need time to oxidize melanin, the process which darkens your skin and produces a tan.

However, after a few sessions, you’ll notice your skin deepening with every application. Before you know it, you’ll have the tan of your dreams! (Read more: Best Outdoor Tanning Lotion)

Do Tanning Accelerators Really Work?

Not all tanning accelerators will deliver the results that they promise on the bottle. The best tanning accelerators contain ingredients like antioxidants, vitamins, and fatty acids, which actually protect and nourish your skin, giving your skin cells everything they need to quickly produce melanin and develop a perfect tan!

To find a tanning accelerator that really works, look in the ingredient list for coconut oil, aloe, cocoa butter, and other fruit, vegetable, and nut extracts. (Read more: Best Tanning salons near me!)

How Long Should You Leave Tanning Accelerator On?

If you’re applying your tanning accelerator under sunscreen before spending time outside or in a tanning bed, you should only wear the product for however long you are exposed to UV rays.

Once you return indoors, rinse the product off to reveal a gorgeous, deep, dark tan! If you’re applying a sunless tanner, most brands recommend that you let the formula sit on your skin for 4 to 8 hours. Of course, the longer you let the product sit, the tanner you’ll be after you rinse it off!