Beauty

[the busy brunette]

Hi, ladies -

I have a beauty question that I'm sure at least one of you can (hopefully) help me with! I'm going to turn 31 next week and still do not use anything other than a moisturizer with SPF on my cleansed skin (I do wear make-up, just nothing else in terms of skincare). However, my mom keeps telling me that now is the time that I should start using a serum. She said she saw on "The Doctors" recently that they recommended a reasonably-priced serum from the Boots No. 7 line at Target (not sure if it contains retinol - anyone know?).

Part of my hesitation with using serums was the price - so this at least will help since it is available at Target. Part of my hesitation is using retinol since I never have before. I've heard I'll have to work my way up to it - start maybe twice a week and then work up to more. And the other part of my hesitation is that I use self-tanner on my face. I have used BE Faux Tan for a while now and love it. It gives me a great glow that I normally do not have. I have super dark brown hair and EXTREMELY pale skin, so I just feel more confident using it, and I've found I can use less make-up and actually look more natural.

So my big question is how I will use my self-tanner and a serum (that obviously exfoliates) together. I don't want to give up my self-tanner. I have tried before and HATED it. I've tried just using different bronzers instead and foregoing the self-tanner, but didn't like that, either.

Do any of you use both a self-tanner and a serum with retinol? How do you do it without your self-tan basically coming right off?

Thanks so much in advance for any help you can provide!

ophelia