Tanning Salons in La Jolla

In 2001, the first iTan Sun Spray Spa opened its doors. It had a simple goal—to make clients feel and look lovely with professional tanning services. Today, the spa has more than 20 branches around San Diego, each offering a slightly different assortment of tanning beds, spray-tanning booths, and mechanical spa services.

The Smart Tan–certified staff prioritizes keeping up with tanning technology by stocking state-of-the-art tanning beds such as the Sun Angel, which uses sensors to customize a blend of UVA and UVB rays, practically eliminating overexposure and the need to wear a beekeeper suit to detract from a burn. Many beds come equipped with stereo sound systems, misters, and fans. Just down the hall from these beauty gadgets, Mystic and airbrush machines bronze limbs without UV rays or tan crayons, and mechanical spa machines dispense relaxing red-light treatments, infrared-energy body wraps, and aqua massages.

Tan By the Sea in Carlsbad and Deep Tan & Spa in Encinitas keep skin bronzed seven days a week, regardless of the season. To deliver the sun-kissed look of Apollo's cheekbones, the facilities offer tanning beds—which range in intensity from the introductory Sunrise 3500 to the lamp-riddled European high-pressure TurboPower 25000s—as well as VersaSpa chambers that provide summer-worthy façades without the stern gaze of UV rays, misting clients from head to chakra with clear or bronzing solution in as little as 60 seconds. Decorating the salons are swimsuits, sandals by Havaianas, and products by Designer Skin, Hempz, and Australian Gold. In addition to tanning specialists, the spas' teams include aestheticians as well as technicians who can brighten pearly whites with dental-grade treatments.

Desert Sun Tanning Salon was awarded the 2011 Best Tanning award by King5, which cites the Salon's "Smart Tan Certified tanning consultants" as one of its strongest features. The consultants effortlessly guide clients through three levels of tanning beds according to the client's skin type and tanning desires, and they may even to achieve a bronze as deep as an ancient Greek statue of a lifeguard. Tanning beds are tricked out with amenities including aromatherapy, air conditioning, and piped-in music, and after their sessions clients can choose from an array of nourishing lotions to smooth onto freshly golden skin.

PETA approves of a tan-line-free complexion. It also approves of the vegan formulation that makes organic Sjolie sunless-tanning solutions, which is Sunburst Airbrush Tanning’s cornerstone product. Sunburst Airbrush Tanning’s staff uses the liquid sunshine for mobile and in-house airbrush tans to ensure clients can easily squeeze a tan into their schedules and never have to spend a week sallow-complexioned. The boutique tanning salon, nestled in Ocean Beach, staffs a team of spray-tan artists who each boast at least five years of experience that allows them to effortlessly sculpt and customize each tan with a compressor and airbrush system. Sessions average about 20 minutes to prepare, apply, and dry. The natural-looking, streak-free glow can last up to 10 days. Clients can choose to wear a bathing suit, go in their birthday suit from three years ago, or sport a pair of Sunburst Airbrush Tanning's disposable underwear.

The tanning experts at Tan Line cut down on the tedium of waiting for skin to darken inside a bed. Instead, they expedite epidermal color with sessions inside three vertical tanning machines that never exceed 10 minutes. VersaSpa sunless tanning sessions dole UV-free glows with clear or dark bronzers that contrast sharply with the dazzling smiles gained from the studio’s 20-minute ShineWhite teeth whitening treatment.