The Bachelorette Spray Tan: Timing, Group Tips & What to Wear

Book your bachelorette spray tan one to two days before the party or the flight, never the morning of. The tan develops over about eight hours and looks its most natural on Day 2, which is exactly when you want to be standing on a rooftop in Miami or around a table on Atlantic Avenue in matching sashes.

The bachelorette is a strange event to plan a tan around. It is often a trip, sometimes a single night out, occasionally a full weekend at someone’s summer house in Deal. There is sun, water, dancing, a lot of photos and, usually, a group of women with very different skin. This guide covers all of it. For the full picture of hosting a group, including room setup and guest order, start with the spray tan party guide.

Timing: count back from the first photo

The question is not when the bachelorette starts. It is when the first photo is taken. Count back two days from that, or one day if two does not work.

• Flying out Thursday night? Tan Tuesday or Wednesday. You will land on Day 2 or Day 3.
• Saturday-night party in Brooklyn? Tan Thursday. Rosie is shomer Shabbat and closes on Friday an hour before sunset, so Thursday is the natural slot.
• Sunday brunch bachelorette? Friday morning works.

Flights are fine on a developed tan. The thing to avoid is getting on a plane during the first eight hours, sweating through a cramped seat with a fresh coat on. If your only option is a same-day tan, book it early enough that the first rinse happens before you leave for the airport.

Beach and pool trips

Salt water, chlorine and long days in a swimsuit all fade a spray tan faster than a week of normal life. A tan that lasts seven to ten days at home might look tired by the end of a long weekend in the sun. A few things help:

• Rinse off after the pool or ocean instead of letting it dry on you.
• Pat dry. Never rub with a hotel towel.
• Moisturize morning and night. Dry skin flakes, and flaking skin takes the tan with it.
• Pack a tan extender for the last day.

And wear sunscreen. A spray tan is color sitting in the top layer of skin, not protection. Rosie writes about this in spray tanning before a vacation.

Tanning the group: five women, five blends

The fastest way to make a bachelorette group look strange in photos is to give everyone the same tan. Put a fair, freckled maid of honor and an olive-skinned cousin from Ocean Parkway in the same solution and one of them will look orange and the other will look like she did nothing.

Rosie mixes for each person. She looks at the skin, asks what it did at the end of last summer, and asks how dark that person wants to be. The goal for a group is not matching color. It is matching believability: everyone looking like a slightly sunnier version of herself.

Should the bride go darker?

Some brides want to be the deepest in the group for the photos, and that is fine if it suits her skin. Others want to stay close to their wedding-day shade so the bachelorette pictures and the wedding album look like the same person. If the bachelorette falls four to six weeks before the wedding, it falls in the window Rosie recommends for a trial. Ask her whether it makes sense to combine the two; a party tan is not automatically a stand-in for a proper trial, and she will tell you what she would want to see. The trial itself is explained on the bridal spray tan trial page.

Studio or at home?

Two ways to do it, depending on how many of you there are.

Five or more: a mobile party

Rosie’s mobile minimum is five people. She comes to the maid of honor’s apartment, the bride’s parents’ house, or the summer rental, sets up in a private room and tans everyone in turn. It turns the tan into the first event of the weekend. Mobile parties are quoted per booking based on headcount, location and timing. Details are on the mobile spray tan page.

Two to four: the studio

Smaller groups come to the private studio in Midwood; ask Rosie whether she can book you close together so you go as a group. Each tan is about twenty minutes. Prices are published: $100 for a Spray Tan, $150 for a Spray Tan+ with a take-home kit of tan-safe soap, tan extender and natural lotions. That kit is worth it for a trip. Full prices are on the services page.

If the bachelorette is really the start of the wedding tans, and the same women will be tanned again for the big day, read about bridal party spray tans, which are $120 per person. For how all these numbers compare with the rest of the city, see how much a spray tan costs.

What to wear, and what to pack

To the appointment

• Loose, dark clothes. A dark robe or oversized sweats.
• Flip-flops or slides.
• Old dark underwear or a dark swimsuit.
• No lotion, deodorant, perfume or makeup.

Matching bachelorette robes are lovely in photos. If yours are white satin, bring them to put on after the first rinse, not before. More on this in what to wear to a spray tan.

In the suitcase

• A gentle, sulfate-free body wash.
• A plain, oil-light moisturizer.
• A tan extender or gradual tanner for touch-ups.
• A dark pillowcase if you are worried about the hotel linens.
• Sunscreen. Again.

The white outfit problem

Brides often wear white at their bachelorette. White is fine on a developed, rinsed tan. It is not fine on the first evening, when the cosmetic bronzer is still on the skin. Plan the white outfit for the second night of the trip or after the first rinse.

A simple plan for the maid of honor

1. Lock the date and first-photo moment. Count back one to two days.
2. Count heads. Five or more, ask about mobile. Fewer, book the studio.
3. Call or text Rosie at (917) 326-0303 with the date, group size and location. There is no online booking.
4. Send the group the what-to-wear list and prep reminder two days ahead.
5. Remind everyone that changes need at least 24 hours’ notice. Full wording is on the policies page.
6. On the day: snacks, straws, dark towels on the couch, no dancing until it has developed.

Do that and the hardest decision left is the restaurant.