Nivea Sun-Kissed Beautiful Legs Shave Minimizing Gradual Tan Daily Lotion

Although I primarily use high-end skincare and makeup, there are a handful of drugstore products that I couldn't imagine life without.  Nivea's Sun-Kissed Beautiful Legs Shave Minimizing Gradual Tan Daily Lotion for Fair to Medium Skin ($9.99/6.8 fl oz) is one of my staples.

I've previously bemoaned the issues that us alabaster beauties face when it comes to summer and self-tanner. Most high-end products are geared to medium-dark complexions and look fake or orange on me.  That's not what I'm looking for in terms of a self-tanner.

My requirements for a self-tanner?

• Not very deep
• No orange tint
• Idiot-proof
• Not too stinky
• Buildable, so I can control the shade

 If I'm not looking to look like I just spent the weekend at the beach (c'mon, everyone can immediately tell that I burn just thinking about the sun), then why use self-tanner?

I have one main motivation: I don't want to wear pantyhose in the office all summer, but I also don't want my legs to blind everyone.  I am seeking a soft glow that's not distracting and would disguise some of the imperfections visible with my (admittedly) translucent skintone.  As for wearing shorts, I couldn't care less what the general public thinks about my legs. It's about being more comfortable in the office yet still looking put together.  To achieve that, I use a combination of this self-tanner and a shimmer lotion (my latest favorite is the Clarins Shimmer Oil I talked about earlier this month).

While I have some doubts about the Shave Minimizing claims, this product ticks all of my boxes. It's incredibly light and therefore buildable. It dries quickly when spread thinly, but the lotion texture allows you to control application for probably up to 5 minutes- making it idiot-proof.  There is a self-tanner smell, but it dissipates within a couple of hours. In the summers, I tend to shower immediately after getting home to wash away the heat and sweat of summer, and then apply self-tanners in the evening.  I get about a month's worth of applications from this tube.

Are there better overall self-tanners out there? Probably.  But this works well for my purposes, and I wanted to take a moment to show a drugstore product that I love since I routinely rave about luxuries like $50 lipsticks.