Tanning Salons in La Presa

The OC Tan brings the sparkling soulshine lingering within each customer to the surface through a variety of tanning services. The Elixir tanning bed ($20 per session) envelops tanners in 51 body bulbs—one for each U.S. state—for 12 minutes of air-conditioned tanning. Disappear into the Mystic Tan spray booth ($35) as a pale newspaper reporter and emerge 60 seconds later as Supertan, the poorly named hero with a healthy glow. For those who love the taste of tanning bulbs but hate the sound of laying down, the Solarforce 652V ($20) offers a 10-minute tan in a stand-up unit that can accommodate clients up to seven feet tall. The ultimate in tan architecture at The OC Tan, however, is the King 420 bed ($40), which combines aromatherapy, aquatherapy, and a non-claustrophobic design into 12 minutes of high-pressure tanning. A five-minute airbrush tan is also available ($55), with custom application and results lasting up to a week.

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.

Without an ounce of help from the sun, staffers at The Glo Studio turn pallid bodies into golden temples. A solution concocted from 100% organic DHA and 95% all-natural ingredients imbues skin with sun-kissed color, leaving youthful tissues untouched by UV rays or sentient beach castles. In around 15 minutes, an airbrush artisan cloaks clients in a custom tanning blend, transforming human pelts with a choice of natural-looking light, medium, or dark hues.

At SoCal Tanning's locations in Fallbrook and Oceanside, experienced staffers guide clients to rooms populated with tanning beds designed to bronze skin quickly. Before treatments, tanning techs can explain the benefits of an 8- or 20-minute bed or the advantages of their legs-only machine, which is ideal for parents who spent a day at the beach buried up to the waist in children's sand creations. They’re also able to educate clients on sunless tanning and help them experience the gilding mist of automated spray-tan booths, such as the Magic Tan and the Mystic Tan HD.

At the Fallbrook location, manicurists lacquer nails with shellac polish that’s formulated to resist chips for up to two weeks, and aestheticians treat skin with facials and waxing treatments. Alternately, Oceanside's staff forces wrinkles and age spots to retreat back down into skin cells with red-light-therapy treatments. In addition, both studios are staffed with a team of stylists that clips and colors tresses.

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.

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.