One step from “Dancing With the Stars” that experts would caution against trying at home: self-tanning to equatorial extreme.
“In the ballroom world, it’s part of the routine to get really tan,” said Melanie Mills, head makeup artist for the show, which just wrapped its fourth season and is tentatively scheduled for its fifth in September. “[Professional dancers] use these crazy, hideous products that are really orange and inhuman. I’ve actually toned it down, I really have.”
She has converted the show’s dancers to a spray tan from California Tan (californiatan.com), which substitutes a natural brown for the old radioactive orange glow.
But dancers such as Cheryl Burke and Edyta Sliwinska wouldn’t dream of giving up the “extreme dark” intensity.
“These girls are a good seven tones warmer than what they are normally,” Mills said. “Cheryl and I are always battling. I’m like, ‘You’re too tan!’ It’s all in fun.”
“Dancing With the Stars” goes through about 6 gallons of self-tanner in a season, not to mention the body stains, body bronzers, body shimmers and body glitter that are layered on top of it, which counteract the wash-out effect of the stage lights.
“I have someone on my team who just deals with the bodies,” Mills said.
Maybe you never can be too tan to tango, but the trend for the spectator set is subtlety.
“The max for a regular person should be about two to three shades darker,” Mills said.
Indeed, it’s not a good sign when a concerned colleague asks if your tan has healed.
