25+ Worst Celebrity Spray Tans They Want Us to Forget

Anyone who’s ever used self-tanner knows that it’s not easy getting it right. Even the best of us have been guilty of accidentally turning ourselves into an orange, or forgetting about an entire limb! Well, celebrities are no different and even Hollywood’s elite can sometimes mess up their fake tans. See the stars whose tanning fails were caught on camera. Ah, celebs — they really are just like us.

Chrissy Teigen prides herself on being relatable. Well, as relatable as a supermodel married to John Legend can be. She hit the nail on the head with this Snapchat post, though, because we’ve all messed up some bed sheets with our fake tanner.

Chrissy is basically providing a public service here, as this photo is reminding us to always have a quick shower after using spray tan. It’s also reminding us to do some squats today.

We may not be able to relate to perfectly singing Etta James’s “At Last” as a tribute. However, we can relate to Christina Aguilera’s fake tanner running down her legs. While many tabloids tore into Christina, a source who was there made it clear that Aguilera’s priorities are in order.

​​”She sang her heart out. It was a memorial service for her idol and she was nervous. It was her proudest moment. The sweat caused her spray tan to streak.” Really, who hasn’t suffered a beauty blunder because of nerves?

It seems that Kim Kardashian has committed a tanning blunder we can all learn from. Based on the color difference between her hand and her face, we can only assume that she switched spray tan brands in the middle.

While it’s wise to use separate tanner for your face than your body, you should always stick to the same brand throughout, so you won’t end up with these mix-matched results. Well, Kim — you live and you learn.

Really, it’d be fair to put the entire cast of Jersey Shore on this list, but since Snooki’s the star, we’ll let her represent the team. We all know that the wild group loves their GTL (gym, tan, laundry) time, but it seems that they have a tendency to overdo the T part.

While we may not love this look, it’s an improvement from the tanning beds Snooki used to frequent. At least spray tan isn’t dangerous. You know what? You do you, Snooki!

Claire Danes showed up to the 2016 Emmys in an absolutely stunning gold dress. Unfortunately, her skin color was trying a little too hard to outshine Claire’s frock. Between the gold garment, Danes’s blonde hair, and the fake tanner, the actress appeared to be very monochromatic — and not in a good way.

It seems that she had gotten the spray tan done right before attending the event, so it hadn’t yet finished developing. Take note, your tan should never be applied at the last minute.

Between the bleached hair, the tanned skin, and the chest augmentation, Victoria Beckham looked entirely different in her Spice Girls days. To be fair, that was the style back then, while today’s celebrities prefer a more understated look. Victoria’s gotten with the times, though.

“I don’t wear a fake tan anymore. Sometimes, I’ve been turned orange but that’s definitely a look from my past. Being overly tanned is very aging and, dare I say it, a bit footballer’s wife. Embrace your natural color!”

We have to say that Lea Michele’s overdone tan at the 2022 Tony Awards is being blown way out of proportion. While it’s definitely not the most flattering of looks, a lot of celebrities have made tanning blunders and haven’t been called out this harshly.

Some people even went as far as to say that Lea’s fake tan comes off as racist! We can’t speak about Michele as a person, but it’s pretty clear to us that this look is just an unfortunate fake tan and nothing more.

Jessica Simpson is another celebrity who’s fallen victim to the late ‘90s/early 2000s tanning craze, but she’s since changed her tune. ”There are a lot of things I’ve worn and look back on and think, ‘Oh, my.’ When it comes to beauty, I think a big misconception is the tanner you are, the more beautiful you are.”

She continued, “It’s not always true. I look back on a lot of pictures where I’m really tan, and I’m like, ‘Whoa!”’ To clarify, she’s talking strictly about fake tan and not natural skin color.

We all remember how Lady Gaga used to look when she first came out onto the music scene. There were meat dresses, showing up to the Grammys in an egg, and a lot of bad tans. Those were wild times!

Gaga has since changed her style, after making a comeback that’s focused more on acting and less on the shock factor. We love Mother Monster however she graces our screens! That being said, we’re not exactly sad to see this look go.

Paris Hilton’s tan was overdone here, which is a common enough mistake, but it also came off a bit splotchy. It looks like she layered her fake tan over an existing one, which is a big no-no. A good way to avoid the splotched look is to wait for the first tan to fade before applying a new one.

Otherwise, the new color will only highlight the breakup of the old color. Paris may live a simple life (get it?), but perfecting a fake tan is actually pretty complicated!

It seems that Miley Cyrus forgot she has hands when she was applying her tanner. The singer/actress’s entire body appears to be sun-kissed, except for her hands and inner arms. We like to give the benefit of the doubt, but hands are a pretty hard body part to forget about!

Miley seems to agree, as the pop star laughed along with the rest of us and showed her blunder off to the paparazzi. We may not ask her for tanning advice, but we can definitely learn from her positive attitude!

It’s unclear if Jennifer Lawrence’s look at the 2014 Paris Fashion Week is due to a fake tan or poorly done makeup. Either Jennifer used a spray tan that’s way too dark for her face, or she’s wearing a foundation that needs to be a shade or two lighter.

Either way, her face simply didn’t match the rest of her body, nor did she really look like herself. That’s okay, JLaw — we can’t win them all!

Lindsay Lohan used to be really into the overly-tanned look. Weren’t we all, at some point? It was around that time that the media was particularly brutal towards her. It was even famously reported how much Lohan was allegedly spending on various fake tanning products!

We don’t see how that’s anyone’s concern other than Lindsay’s. Moreover, can’t we let a bad tan be just that — a bad tan? There’s no need to turn it into a scandal.

We don’t need to tell Ellie Goulding that this particular look wasn’t exactly her best — she already knows. The singer once referenced this image in an interview, saying, “There was one incident where I wore a pink dress, pink hair, pink everything and I was the brownest I’ve ever been.”

She now says that she considers a bad fake tan to be the worst of beauty blunders. That, folks, is how you learn from your mistakes!

Ryan Reynolds is so beloved because he doesn’t take himself too seriously. That’s why Twitter blowing up over his fake tan at the 2017 Golden Globes was so funny because Ryan was most definitely laughing along! Some of the best tweets include, “Ryan Reynolds is me trying to spray tan for the first time.”

There’s also, “Y’all wanna talk about Ryan Reynolds spray tan or…” And even, “Ryan Reynolds’ spray tan reminds me of one of the greatest Friends episodes of all time…” You know the one!

This image of Teen Mom’s Amber Portwood just goes to show that we can’t believe everything we see online. Amber’s known to overdo it with the fake tanner. However, many insist that her spray tans aren’t actually this bad.

Some believe that this image was manipulated in order to make Portwood’s face appear darker than it really was. Others say that this is genuinely how the reality star likes to apply her tan. Either way, it’s a little much.

Kylie Jenner seems to have committed the same fake tan faux pas as her sister, Kim Kardashian. Just like big sis, Kylie’s hands don’t match her face.

It’s worth noting that Jenner has recently ditched the self-tanner and uploaded a series of more natural-looking photos to her social media. Fans have been delighted with the real Kylie and we have to say that, like with most people, less is more for the reality star.

Sadly, Christina Aguilera didn’t learn from fellow pop star Miley Cyrus’s mistake and she, too, forgot one of her body parts. Christina applied her fake tan everywhere, except for her armpit.

We get it, we don’t spend a lot of time thinking about our armpits either. After all, it’s not exactly the most exciting bit of anatomy. However, when applying tanner, you’ve got to consider every single body part — even the less appealing ones. Tanning blunder or not, Aguilera still looks gorgeous!

Kelly Osbourne once said that her biggest fear about fake tanner is that she’d end up looking like a Jersey Shore cast member. While we don’t think that fear was realized, we do think that she looks like she’s filming a live-action of The Simpsons or The Minions.

While some people’s fake tans turn orange, others turn yellow. That’s okay, Kelly — it’ll wear off and you’ll be back to your beautiful self in no time!

It seems that Mel Gibson is just as bad at applying fake tanner as he is at keeping his controversial rants to himself. Yeah, we went there. We’re not saying we’re happy to see the actor sporting such an embarrassing look, but we’re also not unhappy about it.

It appears that Mel has overdone both the fake tanner and the teeth whitening. The result is that Gibson resembles an overgrown Ken doll — Retired Ken, if you will. Oy vey!

Ryan Seacrest has always looked like the poster boy of a stereotypical 2000’s California surfer dude. The frosted tips, teeth so white they could glow in the dark, and the overdone fake tan.

We can’t fault him, though. It was the look back in the day! As the saying goes — ‘don’t hate the payer, hate the game.’ Well, don’t hate the overly tanned celebrity, hate the popular style of looking like an Oompa Loompa.

Kate Hudson was all of us when she accidentally ruined a lovely pair of pajamas with her spray tan. The actress posted this photo on her Instagram with the caption, “Note to self (because most people would know better)… Don’t wear white PJs to bed after spray tan #VacaReady.”

Now we’ve learned from Kate not to wear pajamas with a fake tan, and we know from Chrissy Teigen not to sleep in the nude with fake tanner. It looks like we’re going to have to buy some orange pajamas!

Hulk Hogan’s bad tan isn’t entirely his own fault, as that’s the look that’s expected in professional wrestling. Luckily, he’s able to laugh about it, along with the rest of us. Hulk posted a photo on his social media with the sarcastic caption, “I was never tan enough brother.”

He’s also taken to Twitter with a picture of himself in the ring, saying, “Something about that Florida Sun Tan not to mention the Pump Brother HH.” That tan may not be in style but the self-awareness most definitely is!

Keira Knightley’s look at the premiere of A Dangerous Method was a bit ironic, as she used the dangerous method of applying fake tanner herself. The actress, understandably, struggled to reach the entirety of her back, creating a pretty splotchy look.

Of course, Keira was still beautiful as always, but she’d probably look even better if she’d requested some assistance. Or, if she’d opted for a dress that wasn’t backless. Well, there’s always next time!

George Clooney likes to look sun-kissed but, sometimes, he looks like he was kissed by a certain country’s leader. It appears that George is making two distinct tanning mistakes that we can all learn from.

Number one, always make sure your skin is moisturized before applying a fake tan. Number two, use different levels of tanner according to the season. Part of why no one’s buying Clooney’s “naturally tanned” shtick is because he looks like that all year round!

We all know that the Kardashians gotta Kardashian! Kylie Jenner is no exception, as the reality star posted this photo on her Instagram.

The image is both equal parts thirst trap and shameless advertisement, as Kylie captioned it, “Used my @cocoabrowntan earlier from @marissacarter I love it. Shows results in 1 hour #SelfTan #CocoaBrown #1HourTan.” While we respect the hustle, we think the promotion would’ve been more effective if Jenner wasn’t covered in white splotches from a bad tanner application.

Bradley Cooper could’ve used a little more love from his stylist at the Valentine’s Day premiere. The actor’s face appeared nicely tanned from the front, but once he turned his head to the side… you could see that the spray tan was only applied to half his face!

It seems that Cooper overestimated the power of his beard, and thought it’d cover all the skin around his jaw and neck, eliminating the need for fake tanner on those spots. Sorry, Bradley — you were sorely mistaken.

We’re all pretty used to Ariana Grande overdoing the fake tanner by now, as that’s become a part of her signature look. However, the pop star suffered a rare spray tan mishap when she attended Boots’ beauty brand launch.

Ariana’s tan looked quite splotchy around her chest and shoulders, and some people claim they can even see finger marks from where she touched the tanner before it dried! Note to self, make sure your spray tan is completely dry before scratching an itch.

Selena Gomez realizes that her spray tan at the 2018 Met Gala was pretty over the top. Selena hilariously posted a video on Instagram highlighting how she feels about the look. The video features the pop star running away and it was captioned, “Me when I saw my pictures from MET.”

That’s pretty much all our reactions when we look through photos from our teenage years (word to the wise, don’t check your old MySpace). So don’t worry, Selena — you’re in good company!

Cristiano Ronaldo may be an incredible talent in the soccer world but he’s a bit less skilled in the applying fake tanner world. That’s okay, Cristiano — we’re not great at either one!

Interestingly, Ronaldo is setting up a launch of a skincare/anti-aging products line, which will include a fan tanner called Tan of the Match. While this product is ingeniously named, perhaps it would benefit from slightly less heavy advertising on one man’s body.

Jennifer Aniston showed us what her glamorous life is really like when she posted a video on her Instagram warning fans against making her same tanning mistake. The video featured Jennifer’s team trying to scrub the spray tan off the actress’s foot.

Meanwhile, Aniston warned her viewers, “Hands and feet, you must lotion before a spray tan, otherwise… you end up with a situation.” The most perfect part of this, though, was one sharp fan’s comment, “Ross didn’t tell you about spray tans?” Touché.

Simon Cowell committed the worst tanning sin possible back in 2016 — putting his spray tan before his responsibilities. We completely understand that getting ready for the day can take quite a bit of time, especially when you know you’re going to be on TV.

However, planning properly can ensure that people actually appreciate your appearance, rather than being annoyed by it. Unfortunately, Simon doesn’t agree. He kept his Britain’s Got Talent fans waiting a whole hour while he secured this look in a tanning booth.

Chrissy Teigen took the opportunity of #ThrowbackThursday to remind us all of the tan she sported for the 2008 Grammys. The supermodel captioned this image, “Grammys 2008. 10 years ago. This tan!!!”

Like anyone who’s been married for a while, Chrissy felt the need to poke fun at her husband, too. She pointed out that John Legend looks like Count Chocula in this photo. If a bad tan paired with a silly suit isn’t couple goals, we don’t know what is!

Al Pacino showed up to the House of Gucci premiere in a look that the Gucci fashion house wouldn’t exactly approve of. The actor was pretty orange and even had sunglasses lines around his eyes.

We don’t even know how you get sunglasses lines with a spray tan! Did he think it works like regular tanning and you need to protect your eyes? Or maybe this was his way of convincing us that the tan was natural? Sorry, Al — we’re not buying it.

Brooklyn Decker found herself in a dilemma when she realized she had to do a workout right after she’d applied her fake tan. The model thought she’d found a solution when she decided to exercise in a bathing suit, so her workout clothes wouldn’t smudge the tan.

We get the logic, but it seems that Brooklyn forgot about one thing that’s inevitable with a good gym session — sweat. She learned the hard way, as by the end of the workout, Decker’s tan was a streaky mess!