By Joy Kraft
The Cincinnati Enquirer

We're sending our volunteer Fashion Panel members to the shelves from time to time to test whether advertised beauty products live up to their promises.

Product: Neutrogena Instant Bronze Sunless Tanner.

Promise: Ad touts a "perfect sunless tan instantly" to face or body with "no fake or orange color" and a formula that "shows where it goes to prevent zebra-like tints."

Tester: Robyn Habisch, 29, of downtown, director of operations at AllOver Media.

The search: Found at CVS Pharmacy, downtown, after an unsuccessful search at Thriftway.

Selection: "Being somewhat fair-skinned, I purchased the 'medium,' but there was a 'dark' as well," she says.

Cost: $9.99 for 4-ounce tube - "Pretty good considering the small amount of product required for one use and the results last for days."

Ease of use: "Easy to use; has a pleasant smell compared to other sunless tanners."

Performance: "I found it to be a little streaky. Directions say to apply to freshly exfoliated skin, and the color does appear immediately, deepening over a few hours. I applied two layers for richer color. The orange hue I had seen at first faded considerably to a more natural tan shade by the following day. It takes a great deal of blending into the skin to get an even coverage and I still have a few spots darker than others."

Results: "My color is as though I spent a weekend by the pool, not a week on the beach, which is what I wanted."

Rank: "A 6 on a scale of 10. Overall, it is a good product."

Reuse? "I will use the rest of the bottle over the next few months so I at least look like I've gotten out into the sun this summer instead of working every day."

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E-mail jkraft@enquirer.com