26 Beauty Habits to Break Right Now

Don't Try to Mask the Scent of Self-Tanner with Perfume

If you've ever spritzed yourself with your favorite fragrance soon after applying a self-tanner, you probably learned the hard way that the combination can temporarily give your skin an eerie and otherworldly green tint. The likely reason? Some antioxidants used in fragrances chemically react with DHA—the ingredient in sunless-tan products that darkens your skin—causing patches of your tan to turn a light shade of green, says Ni'Kita Wilson, a cosmetic chemist and vice president of Englewood Lab in Englewood, New Jersey. To avoid a sci-fi pallor, resist the urge to apply fragrance (and other body products like deodorant and lotion) for at least six hours after self-tanning.