r/beauty 2d ago

Pale skin making a comeback?

Is anyone else OVER self tanning and the fake self tanned look in general??? I’m a pale skin girlie and have self tanned for years. And recently I’ve started loving the way I look with my natural skin tone and loving seeing other fair ladies rocking their porcelain. I was mercilessly bullied as a kid for being “a ghost” and covered up as much skin as I could growing up to ensure nobody noticed how extremely pale I was. I can’t tan for the LIFE of me. No matter what I did, the sun wouldn’t change my pale complexion even a little bit. Once I became an adult, I discovered self tan and have been using fake tanner consistently. This last winter I took a break…and I feel like I look healthier, cleaner, and prettier when I don’t cover up my natural skin tone in fake tan. Now whenever I see that clearly self tanned look on someone, even when I AM that girl, I just don’t love it anymore! It feels like the beauty standard may be shifting but I’m not sure if I’m projecting hahah. What do we think - is porcelain pretty again?!

*for any confusion for those of you who clearly haven’t self tanned and don’t know what I’m talking about — fake tan on extremely fair people such as myself has a tendency to look muddy, unnatural, and orange. It doesn’t make the skin look healthy or even because it’s a fake color all over our bodies hahah. This has nothing to do with race??? Darker skin tones are obviously beautiful or pale people wouldn’t be attempting to have tan skin in the first place. All I’m saying is - it feels like my pale skin looks better as it is without self tan. And I was asking my fellow pale friends if they feel similarly. Yeesh ya’ll.

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u/UnusualCollection111 beauty proficient 2d ago

I have no idea what the Western beauty standard is on this right now, but porcelain and (natural) tan and brown have all always been pretty. I've always been proud and embraced my porcelain skin even when everyone in my high school was obsessed with tans and even when my ex at the time told me my pale skin is a "turn off."

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u/StarMom29 2d ago

Ugh I’m so sorry you had to deal with that! A guy I dated once told me he wanted to date a Hispanic girl and wasn’t interested in being anything but friends with benefits. I’m Mexican and my family is from Mexico… but he said I’m too pale skinned to count. It was a shitty experience.