Hope you don't mind me putting in my .02 cents.
Last year, being my usual pale self and wanting to show off the muscles I'd managed to accumulate doing Cathe's weight programs, I tried a few "self-tanners" and found them to be not worth the effort, or the money.
This year, I will probably use the self-tanners for a special occasion or two in the summer -- one that does not include swimming.
Here are the problems I have with self-tanners, some of which other posters have mentioned.
#1: If you live alone; it's pretty well impossible to apply the product to your back. That translates into brown front, snow-white back. I've even tried the kitchen sponges with long handles attached -- but it comes out blotchy and uneven. (with square sponge marks -- gag!)
#2: Personally, I don't like the feel of the self-tanning lotion (or any other lotion, for that matter) on my body when the weather is hot and humid. I find it very uncomfortable, sticky and downright yucky. (It's like wearing a thin layer of honey on your body -- which is fine if you're a Queen Bee).
#3: The lotion comes off when I'm sweatin' to Cathe and I always have blotchy marks (they look like small freckles) on the chest area, my underarms and between my thighs (ya, I know, time to do more plier squats!).
#4: Step into a chlorinated pool, or the ocean, and you can kiss your brown skin good-bye. You go in looking like the Girl from Ipanema, and come out looking like Casper the Friendly Ghost.
#5: It comes off in the bath and leaves a bathtub ring like you wouldn't believe. Oh, and it does leave a brown smudge on your bedsheets.
#6: It takes up precious time to apply evenly. If your life is already busy, like most of us, you don't have enough minutes in the day to sit around naked waiting for the paint to dry (although your significant other might not mind!).
#7: If you don't keep your "tanned: skin moisturized or don't re-apply the self tanner on a regular basis, your skin starts to look "scaly" -- like an alligator bag.
#8: If you have skin imperfections such as bruises on the body or age spots on the face, the tanner accentuates them.
Anyways, not to dissuade you, but those are some of the pitfalls of self-tanners. As I said, I might use the product once or twice during the summer for a social event, but I doubt I'll have the patience for doing it for the entire summer.
Again, just my .02 cents!
Patricia