THE latest gimmick in tanning is more than simply getting a glow – it’s about contouring and shaping.
Touted as safe, quick and non-wrinkling, the sculpted airbrush tan at the Brazil Bronze Glow Bar promises to deliver that glow – along with a six-pack, better cleavage and more muscular thighs.
The Post decided to investigate.
“A lot of men with beer bellies come in to get a six-pack,” jokes Sally Blenkey-Tchassova of the Brazil Bronze Glow Bar, which offers both a regular airbrush tan ($50) and the sculpted tan ($80).
“You are the perfect candidate,” she told me. Great.
Inside a curtained-off area called the “Glow Bar,” Blenkey-Tchassova twisted off a bottle of Brazil Bronze serum, attached it to an airbrush utensil, and sprayed away as I stood there in my underwear. (You’re offered a plastic G-string, but I decided to wear my own.)
Blenkey-Tchassova explains that her Brazil Bronze serum contains a smaller DHA molecule than most self-tanning products, which she says may cause blotching or smell bad.
For the sculpted tan, she follows the abdominal wall with the airbrush.
As she sprays, she barks orders, telling you where to stand as she hoses you down with what looks like brown watercolor paint.
The airbrush feels like a cool sprinkler hitting your legs on a hot day, or what you’d imagine a car might feel like at the end of a carwash.
“Most people think it would be very embarrassing,” she says. “We are very aware that it’s not the most savvy thing to stand in your underwear and spray, so we talk to people about silly stuff to take their mind off it.
“It’s like playing Twister with telepathy thrown in.”
After the spraying, you move to another room to blow-dry your new tan with a hairdryer. (I ended up burning my butt. Who blow-dries her body?)
The results were immediate. I had a much darker complexion – but no obvious six-pack.
Even so, people definitely realized something was different.
“You look so pretty today!” said one friend.
“Why are your hands orange?” asked another.
At night, my legs itched and there were blotches on my palms and fingers. But overall, I liked what I saw.
Too bad it lasted only five days.
Brazil Bronze Glow Bar, 580 Broadway, Suite 203 (between Prince and Houston streets); (212) 431-0077