Self tanners have come a long way since their orange, foamy, streaky roots. Thanks in part to innovations coming out of the UK and a desire to look natural and not smell like a huge bowl of cookie dough after using the products, self tanner brands have had to up their games to stand out in an increasingly crowded marketplace.

While traditional foams still exist, brands have expanded their coverage ranges, have offered more gradual tanning options, and have even introduced formulas that work in or immediately before a shower.

To cut through the hype and gimmicks, we tested ten formulas, both new and classic. Two pale people with varying levels of self tanner experience here at Racked spent the last few weeks slathering self tanner onto every available extremity.

Starry-eyed, privileged beauty meets world: that’s the formula for countless media-based coming-of-age stories since the dawn of The Bell Jar, and it’s a formula debut author and former Vogue intern R.J. Hernández finds reductive and troubling. They’re simplistic, he says, and not reflective of reality.

We know how these stories go. The protagonist, a young, plucky and privileged, educated — if insecure — white woman, gets the job of her dreams at a glossy and learns the world of magazine publishing isn’t all that she imagined it would be. She is aghast at the reality: evil figureheads, backstabbing coworkers, corporate politics, and little-to-no opportunity to grow. But she ends up learning something about herself in the process. 

"In contrast, my protagonist isn’t a privileged white woman, but a queer person of color who is struggling within this world, because he doesn’t fit in," Hernández tells Racked. His first novel, An Innocent Fashion (HarperCollins, July 5), casts a light on these oft-ignored stories. 

Nearly 30 years after the Air Max 1 transformed the way we see technology and footwear with its visible air soles, Nike is giving the sneaker an innovative makeover, complete with the brand’s lightweight Flyknit technology.

The new shoe, dubbed the Air Max 1 Ultra Flyknit, is the first time Nike has constructed the Air Max sneaker with Flyknit, a technique that utilizes yarns to create a formfitting and featherweight knitted silhouette, making them the lightest Air Max 1s to date.