Anyone ghostly white but not bother with fake tan?

[StrikesMatches]

I am Irish and have the translucent skin tone instead of a passport to prove it. I'm going to a wedding next week and will be baring my arms. I bloody hate putting on fake tan (the dove glow stuff)...it smells and always leaves me feeling a bit gloopy. Is it acceptable to afflict the other guests with snow blindness?

Re make up, I buy a pure white foundation and mix it with a pale one, this gives me the perfect shade for my pale pale pale face!

I find that wearing my best colours means I look good no matter how pale I am. Look at celebrities such as Nicole Kidman and Dita Von Teese who embrace their paleness and look great.

I'm very pale, with red hair, freckles and moles. I've worked outdoors most of my life and the factor 50 comes out at the slightest whiff of sunshine. I never tan and would just burn. Most make up looks orange on me too. I used to use theatrical pan stick in my goth days, just to enhance the undead look!

I did try fake tan on my legs just once, and thought it was miserable stuff. It came off all over towels and bedclothes and left me with orange hands and streaky legs. Never again. I see no point in doing something i hate to make myself look something i'm not.

I am very pale and don't wear fake tan 'cause it's too faffy.
I pretend to 'embrace' the paleness but actually it pisses me off and I wish I was tanned. I shall wear bright red all summer as a statement though.

re foundation and powder: illamasqua skin base is amazing and comes in white, aswell as several mega-pale shades. And then the dogs' bollocks of pale powders in shu uemura colourless.

I've always been a whiter shade of pale and have never used fake tan in my life.

I have used foundation about 3 times in my life, but it is ALWAYS more orange than my skin tone, however pale I go with it.

I do tan a little bit if in the sun - despite having reddish hair and freckles and moles, my skin will go a goldeny sort of colour with care and extended low level exposure - but mostly I just CBA.

I was once with a group of friends on a beach in Portugal and very obviously the whitest skin there - some English bloke came along and tried "God, you're white, aren't you?!" as a chat up line. Didn't get him far! I did look quite blue-skinned in the photos against the pale gold sand, though, to be fair.

I don't hide it.

The sun reflects of my legs. I have tried fake tan, foul stuff. I am embracing the white.

I've got white/blue skin and I'm also a recovering fake tanner. Spent yonks painting myself slightly orange and dreaming of waking up with naturally olive skin.

Fake tan is a faff and a half. First you have to scrub off last week's fake tan, moisturise, wait for moisturiser to sink in, apply tan, walk around like John Wayne whilst waiting for it to dry. And then...............you wake up looking like someone who's wearing fake tan. One day whilst going through this rigmarole I said to myself 'no bloody more' and cast off those orange shackles for good.

Now I love my pale skin and always think 'that person would look so much better if they ditched the fake tan'. It helps that pale skin is having a fashion moment too. Hollywood red carpets are noticeably St Tropez free these days.

Everyone should wear their natural skin tone with pride.

Embrace the pale. I have that slightly blueish Celtic skin and all tan looks wrong on me. I just tell people I'm ahead of the fashion curve.

Don't get me started on makeup ladies who pursue me with bronzer!

I'd love to be able to 'own' my pale Irish skin, but I'm not a dewy porcelain dream, I'm that awful she-is-so-pale-is-she-ill? colour with mottled pink/blue legs. There's nothing Celtic Beauty about me

I stick to Clinique 'fair' fake tan and a bit of Sally Hansen light on the legs for weddings etc.

But I salute those of you who don't succumb to the faff!

I'm white with a hint of blue.

Haven't fake tanned in years-it's so much easier to go without it! A fake tan smells and if applied badly looks terrible! Be proud of the paleness!

I'm very pale. It's a family joke that I have to spend two weeks in the sun just to look white. I've never used fake tan though, it smells awful, and I don't really find the whole orange look appealing. Embrace being pale and interesting!

I'm the pale Irish you describe

My skin is bad though - red blotchy, acne, acne scars. I face tan once or twice a week to hide blemishes & make my skin tone look smooth.

I wish my skin looked lovely pale but it just doesn't - I would have so much more time without fake tanning, exfoliating etc!!!

Fake tanning is a faff, tis true...but they don't all stink these days and they don't all turn you orange! Fake tan has come a long way.

I use a little Decleor fake tan to take the edge off my natural porridge coloured skin once or twice a week. It's really rich and moisturising and turns me slightly golden not at all orange.

Me. I am not naturally orange, golden, bronze or anything but pale pink (sometimes verging on blue!).

I have ivory skin but I tan.

So I don't bother with fake.

Know it all telling me I will burn though ... ... I whip out a family photo and point to one parent, who is not white bah! I'm not a self burning idiot.

Corn silk translucent powder gives a glow to pale skin.

Ahhh.. My pastey people.

I'm am the whitest Californian you will ever meet. I was always teased about my whiteness against the sea of tanned sun worshippers. I don't bother with fake tanner, but if it's a special occasion I will put leg makeup on(it comes off with soap and water and just helps my road map legs look even) it basically just makes it look like my legs are shimmery. Other than that I rock the white. No foundation is my color so no makeup.. Thank goodness my skin is still nice enough to do that.

Another ghostly white person here.

I recently bought a beautiful, Victorian style, ankle length white cotton nightdress and DH said "wow you can't tell where the nightie stops and you start"

I don't wear make up, apart from on my eyebrows as I am losing my hair through illness what a catch

The only drawback is, is as I actually am ill, my paleness concerns every medical professional I see - I have to tell them it's normal for me.

I wear sunscreen every day and sunblock in summer. I wear a lot of black which sounds wierd but I like the contrast. DH says (tmi) very white skin and black underwear is very sexy. I have to be in a warm room though, otherwise I have a blue tinge which isn't so sexy

Oh I don't wear fake tan, it looks artificial and doesn't suit me. I don't wear make up anyway - embrace the natural look!

I bet you all look beautiful without any enhancements or fakeness.

I'm pale and disinterested...

Embrace it op! Fake tanners look like they have pale skin but have put fake tan on top...

I'm another recovering fake tan addict trying to embrace my pale skin! For years I wouldn't bare my legs unless they had at least a few days worth of gradual tanner on them (normal fake tan makes me look very very strange) but last summer I decided to give it up and who cares what anyone thinks!

I firmly embrace my paleness these days, I love to be low maintenance, but still acceptable on the eye, wherever possible.

I'm very pale and don't tan (dh and ds only have to look at the sun to go deep brown though). I don't do fake tan even the gradual stuff as it looks awful on me.

If I'm getting my legs out for a formal occasion and don't want to wear tights, I use Sally Hansen leg makeup which covers the bruises and takes the glow off my legs