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@beingcrystalnicolee went in sceptical, checked in at five hours completely unconvinced, and woke up the next morning a full convert. Here is her unfiltered 24-hour review of the Cyklar tanning milk.
The self-tan category has a long history of not quite knowing what to do with deeper skin tones.
Most formulas are developed with lighter skin in mind, and the result for darker-skinned women has typically been either an orange cast, no visible result at all, or an uneven finish that makes the whole exercise feel pointless.
So when @beingcrystalnicolee decided to put the Cyklar tanning milk, specifically marketed for dark skin, to a real, unfiltered test on camera, we leaned in.
“I don’t know y’all. I’m a little sceptical with this one,” she opens, holding up the bottle with the measured energy of someone who has been let down before.
“I am a black girl who tans. My body is looking a little uneven, a little dull this time.”
The stage is set. The expectations are real. And from here, she takes us through the whole thing, upto the morning after.
The 24-Hour Review
First Application
“This Just Feels Like I’m Putting on Body Oil”
The texture stops her immediately.
“Oh wait. Creamy. Whoa, whoa,” she says as it comes out of the bottle.
She was clearly bracing for something thicker, more clinical, more obviously self-tan.
What she got instead is something that glides on with the consistency and feel of a lightweight body oil with no drag, no streaking, no overpowering smell.
“This just feels like I’m putting on body oil. Is this really a tanning milk? I don’t know y’all.”
For anyone who has wrestled with sticky, pungent traditional self-tanners, that alone is already something.
5 Hours Later
The Doubt Arrives…
Cyklar advises waiting four to six hours to see initial results, with up to 12 hours for the full development.
At the five-hour mark, Crystal checks in, and she is not sold.
“The tan is not loud. I need my tan to scream and I just feel like right now it’s giving…”
The pause after that sentence does more work than any words could. She holds up a before-and-after comparison on camera and invites her followers to weigh in.
“Am I tripping? Let’s look at before, and then here is now. What do y’all think?“
“I spoke too soon. Ah, hold on.”
@beingcrystalnicolee
The Next Day
The Morning After: The Full Reveal Changes Her Verdict
Before
The next day, she comes back to camera with a completely different energy.
“Get into it girls. The next day and I actually think I look more bronze, more glowy. I really do love it.”
The tan that felt imperceptible at five hours had spent the night doing its work.
By morning, it had deepened into exactly the kind of result she was hoping for.
The detail that matters most: “It matches the glow and tone of my face perfectly.”
For anyone who has dealt with a body tan that reads as an entirely different shade to their face (too orange, too muddy, too obviously fake) that single sentence is everything.
“This tanning milk proved me wrong because I spoke way too soon. Y’all see the skin.”
The before and after she shows at the end is the kind of result that makes you reach for your phone immediately.
A deeper, more even, genuinely bronzed version of her skin, and not a hint of orange in sight.
Sceptical going in. Fully unconvinced at five hours. Completely converted by morning.
Her Honest Verdict
If you are a deeper-skinned girl who has written off self-tan because nothing ever showed up right on your skin; the Cyklar tanning milk is worth a serious look.
It develops slowly, it matches your face, and it gives you bronze and glow rather than orange and regret. Just do not judge it before breakfast.
The Product
Reviewed Product · Self Tan
Cyklar Tanning Milk, Formulated for Dark Skin
“I think I’m a fan.” — @beingcrystalnicolee
And after that before and after? So are we. Will you be trying this?
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