Welp, it's October in Florida. Which means we're still baring our bods in shorts, tank tops and sandals, even though our beach outings are but a faded memory.

Last week, Deal Diva Stephanie and I decided we could use a little color on our skin. Enter Josh DeBlock, our talented and fabulous hairdresser whom we've blogged about in the past. Josh recently moved from the shuttered Wicked Salon (R.I.P. Wicked!) to the Salon Lofts on 4th Street N in St. Petersburg. And to our delight, he brought a new feature to his repertoire: Airbrushed sunless tanning! We had to give it a whirl.

Sunless tanning is fun. If you've never tried it, or haven't tried it since the Great Orange Disaster of 1992, you ought to revisit. When customized right, it's pretty authentic-looking, without the worries of burning or wrinkles. It can be messy, yes, and get a hold of some of the cheaper stuff and you're looking at hours of smelling like corn chips while the stuff processes.

Josh got a hold of V.I.P. Premium Blends, spray tan formula to the stars. It contains no parabens and has natural moisturizers and lemongrass scent, according to the product's site, and Kim Kardashian, Heidi Klum and Victoria Beckham supposedly swear by it. Good enough for us! But how does it look?

We visited Josh's new loft, where he had a weird-looking pod-shaped tent set up for us and his airbrush gun ready to go. We stripped down to our bikinis and he used a darker shade for me, an appropriately lighter shade for Stephanie. The airbrushing felt like a mist of cold air, which was a little shocking at first but felt sort of nice and relaxing by the end. He sprayed a little, dabbed a little, had us hold out our hands like bear claws and shut our eyes without squinting to make sure the formula didn't settle into creases.

We immediately looked and felt 10 pounds thinner when we stepped out, thanks to the added bronzer that eventually rubs off. Meanwhile, the V.I.P. Premium Blends did their thing, and here's what we loved the most: It actually smelled good. Very nice, in fact, sort of fruity and floral. Not at all corn chippy!

It's now been almost a week and I still have "tan lines."  (See self-portrait above.) I've always done sunless tanning on my entire body, though I think I like doing it with a bathing suit for that Coppertone girl look.

Here's a photo of Stephanie about a day or two after the spray-down, and as you can see, she doesn't look terrible. Pretty sexy, in fact.

And here's me, dressed like a normal person, except with a nice, sunny glow instead of my usual too-much-time-in-the-office look.

We give Josh two thumbs up! And yeah, we're a little biased, but what can we say, this guy keeps us looking great. For the month of October, Josh is offering a promotional price of $25 for a spray tan session, which gives you about a week of color. After October, it'll cost $30. We have referred many folks - including my male boss who has difficult hair - to Josh, but anyone can check him out themselves at www.salonlofts.com/joshua_deblock.
  

Deal Diva Emily

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