I’m in George Carlin’s camp, I don’t try to tan, just neutralize the blue.
My daughter inherited this.
She finally decided to start wearing makeup and went in to one of the mall stores to get advice. She started with one clerk helping her. An hour later she had five clerks running around the store trying to find a foundation that was a match for her skin. They finally settled on ivory, something-or-other. It was about the same shade as printer paper.
She is an actor and they did promotional pictures for the play she was in. When the prints came back she looked radioactive. The rest of the cast looked fine but the reflection of the light off her skin over exposed the film to the point that it looked like she was glowing from within.
I chose swarthy, although I am not actually sure what it means. Pure Ashkenazy descent (as far back as anyone remembered) but relatively dark skin. I tan readily and it stays forever. Once I was travelling in a bus with my brother in coastal Mississippi and a border patrol guy got on the bus and came directly to our seat and asked to see his ID. He was perhaps a shade darker than me at the time. Obviously the border patrol guy thought he might have been a wetback. My father was regularly taken as Italian, although he had blue eyes (and so do I).
I stay out of the sun and am never happier outside than when it’s grey, overcast, with a hint of drizzle.
I don’t tan. If I’m out in the sun without 100 point sunscreen, I burn. Bright pink. Hurts. A few days later it peels. And the new skin layer is pasty white. Repeat as needed.
That’s one of the reasons I’ve never taken to outdoor sports like gold or baseball. I see baseball players on a diamond and just think how hot and burnt they’re getting.
I was looking for a peach kind of color on your poll. Dirty peach. Something like that. I didn’t see it, so didn’t vote. I’m kind of typical white Illinois guy color. Peach, right?
