Best Spray Tan Machine For Home Use: Easy Start Guide

The best spray tan machine for home use is easy to get started with, gives a professional level spray tan, and is affordable!

I’ve picked 5 beginner spray tan machines below that don’t cost a fortune, but have all the features you’ll need to get a professional level spray tan at home. This is just the basics.

Module 3: Best Spray Tan Equipment For Beginners

How to start a spray tan business: intro, module 1, module 2

I keep this list regularly updated to make sure you’ll always find the best option for your budget. And if you’re not sure where to start, check out my buying tips at the bottom of the list.

Let me walk you through:

This post contains affiliate links.  If you click and purchase, I may make a commission. Read my full disclosure here.

Top 5 Spray Tan Equipment Starter Kits

I love to get a spray tan at home. So, I need a spray tan kit that gives a professional tan but is easy enough for my husband to spray me with. It also needs to be small enough to store in my linen closet.

Here are my top picks for the best spray tan kits.

1. MaxiMist Lite Plus
2. Bronze Tan
3. Belloccio Turbo Tan
4. Naked Sun Onyx Spray Tan Machine
5. Norvell M1000 HVLP Spray Tan Machine

Spray Tan Equipment For Sale On Amazon

MaxiMist Lite Plus—At Home Spray Tan Machine

It took me a while to find a great spray tan machine for home use that I really loved, and I went through several looking for the right one.

My go-to brand is MaxiMist spray tan equipment. They are super reliable, budget-friendly, and easy to set up and use! These machines are the ones that I always go back to in my own spray tan business and I have to say that they are workhorses.  They just don’t quit.

Easy to use and reliable the MaxiMist Lite Plus is my #1 pick for the best spray tan machine for home use. The lightweight (only 5 lbs) compact design makes it easy to store in a cabinet or closet. And the flat bottom cup on the spray gun sits upright to easily fill with your favorite spray tan solution.

This spray tan kit comes with a detailed instruction manual and 3 of the Tampa Bay Tan solution samples to get you started.100% Vegan, Not Tested On Animals, Paraben, and Gluten-Free, Natural and Organic ingredients.

There is an upgraded version of this machine, the MaxiMist Lite Pro which comes with the pro-gun.

The MaxiMist line of spray tan equipment has various sizes of machines rated for different volumes of spray tans.

If you are interested in a higher volume spray tan system check out choosing the best mobile spray tan equipment—coming soon!

Bronze Tan Spray Tan Machine

The Bronze Tan spray tan machine is perfect for home use. This airbrush tanning kit gives a smooth and even sunless tan and it’s small, lightweight, and easy to clean!

The flat bottom cup makes it easy to sit the spray tan gun down when you are not using it and filling the cup with spray tan solution is easy.

This is perfect for beginners and comes with a step-by-step training program making the setup a breeze.

This spray tan kit does NOT come with any spray tan solution samples so don’t forget to order some.

Belloccio Premium T75 Spray Tanning System

This compact HVLP spray tan machine comes with so many extras and is super affordable!

The kit includes the spray tanning machine and gun, a user’s guide, and a FREE Online Link for the Belloccio Airbrush Tanning Getting Started Guide Video – 24 Minutes. Super helpful for beginners!

I love the built-in spray gun holder and the flat bottom on the unit.

The Belloccio spray tan kit comes with 4 spray tan solution samples to get you started. The variety pack comes with 8%, 10% & 12% DHA Simple Tan Solutions and their Opulence Solution to allow you to pick the tan that will suit your skin type.

Naked Sun Onyx Spray Tan Machine

If you like a little glam in your beauty routine then the Naked Sun Onyx Spray Tan Machine is for you. The high-end finish gives this machine a luxury salon professional look and feel. Its quiet and lightweight design is perfect for spraying at home.

I love the spray tan gun holder built into the machine and bonus points for including its own duffel bag to store your machine & spray tan supplies. The bag measures 19in L x 11in H x 10in so super compact to store when you are not using it.

The Naked Sun Honey Glow spray tan solution pack comes with 3 solution samples: Honey Glow Dark 8oz, Honey Glow Violet 8oz, and Honey Glow Rapid 8oz.

Norvell Sunless Kit – M1000 HVLP Spray Tan Airbrush Machine

Norvell is a sunless industry standard and the M-1000 HVLP Mobile Spray System is a great starter machine for beginners.

This lightweight system produces a smooth spray. Comes with a spray gun quick repair kit, operation manual, and a shoulder strap.

This spray tan gun does not sit up by itself making it a bit awkward to handle and refill the solution.

3 samples of the Norvell Tanning Handheld Solutions line are included with the M-1000 – Ultra Vivid ‘Cosmo Light’ 8oz, Venetian 8oz, and Dark 8oz.

A sunless training program is also included to learn the fundamentals of sunless tanning.

Best Spray Tan Tent For Home Use

The Original Pop Up Airbrush Spray Tanning Tent

I’ve been using this spray tan tent since I started doing mobile spray tanning 20+ years ago. I’ve owned many other tents through the years that claimed to be better but this is the tent that has stood the test of time!

The Original Spray Tan Tent is sturdy and large. It really does a great job of keeping the spray tan overspray in the tent. It doesn’t wobble about when you are spraying and the fabric is washable and tough so it doesn’t rip. Plus, the low memory steel supports coil easily when it’s time to pack your tent back in the large bag!

Fighting to get a spray tan tent folded and back in the bag is NO FUN and the Original folds easily.

I have used my Original Spray Tan Tent for spray tan parties, sorority events, bridal spray tans, home spray tans, girl’s night out events, and more.

I consider this a must-have for keeping things clean when doing spray tans in my home.

Best Spray Tan Extraction Fan For Home Use

A spray tan extractor fan filters the overspray out of the air and prevents the mist of the tanning solution from floating around the room landing on your floor and/or furniture. It also keeps you from breathing in any of the airborne spray tan solutions.

There are professional extraction fans like the one that I have at my spray tan studio. For home use, I recommend a simple fan with a filter.

Lightweight, portable and simple to set up, an extractor fan is super helpful for home tanning to keep your space clean.

Wave Spray Tan Extraction Fan

The Wave Spray Tan Extraction fan has a built-in compartment to hold the filter. The filter is washable so you don’t need to purchase disposable filters. This is really convenient.

Comfort Zone 3-Speed Box Fan

Or a box fan turned backward with a 20 x 20 furnace filter works great too! I just use a bit of black duct tape to attach the filter to the fan.

Home Spray Tan Solution-Where to buy

Just like with any beauty product there are different kinds of tanning solutions, different quality of products, different levels of tanning ingredients, and colors of bronzers that you can buy. The different levels allow you to control the color that you get from your home spray tan. And the quality of the product you choose can decide how good your tan looks and how it wears.

The colors are usually listed as light, medium, dark and extra dark or sometimes Level I, Level II, Level III, Level IV

Many spray tan machines come with samples of spray tan solution when you purchase the equipment. These are included to get you started spraying but by no means are the only spray tan solutions available to use.

There are over-the-counter spray tan solutions that are good that you can buy from Amazon or from the manufactures website.

There are also custom blended boutique brands of spray tan solutions that are sold to spray tan artists. These are often of better quality but not always available to be purchased as a retail product.

How to do a spray tan at home

So now that you know all about the spray tan equipment that you need to do a spray tan at home. HOW do you actually spray yourself?

Your equipment will come with basic instructions on how to set everything up and get started. From there I would head over to YouTube! There are tons of videos showing you how to apply a spray tan that will be super helpful in getting you started with your first spray tan at home.

The more you practice the better you will get. And if you decide to start your own spray tan business someday you can invest in professional training to take your basic skills to the next level!

Is it worth buying your own spray tan machine?

If you LOVE your spray tans and you are getting them every week.  Or you are obsessed with your self-tanner, at a certain point, you may start to wonder if you could take your sunless game to the next level and spray yourself at home?

Yes, you can!

Investing in an affordable at-home spray tan machine might be more cost-effective than going to a spray tan studio. Once you learn how to spray may give you better results than a lotion or mousse self-tanner.

The best part is that you won’t need to book an appointment or leave your house. And you can touch up your tan whenever you want when you have an at-home spray tan machine.

Can you use a spray tan machine on yourself?

There is a learning curve and you may find it hard to spray tan yourself at first. This is where a best friend or partner comes in handy and you can spray each other!

With a little practice, you will perfect your technique and it will be easy to spray yourself. I do it all the time!

How to choose the best beginner spray tan machine for you

Need a bit more info on where to start? Here are five things to look for when choosing a spray tan machine for use at for home:

1) Volume of use

Spray tan machines are rated for how many tans they can do before overheating. A spray tan machine used to spray yourself at home or maybe a friend or two can safely be rated for lightweight use. If you think that you will be spraying more people at a time then it will be best to purchase a spray tan machine that is rated for higher use.

2) Decibels

When you have the spray tan machine on and it is running it can be loud. It sounds a bit like the vacuum cleaner when it is running. Some machines are louder than others. I always try to choose one that is as quiet as possible. The noise rating is listed as DECIBELS or Db. The lower the number the better for your ears.

3) Overspray

Think about hair spray when you spray it.  Some of the product floats and lands on the counter or the floor in your bathroom.  Overspray creates a mess that you have to clean up and it wastes spray tan solution. Obviously, you don’t want spray tan solution on your furniture. A higher-quality professional spray tan machine is going to lower the amount of overspray.

4) Weight

Home spray tan units are lightweight, compact, and easily stored.

5) What spray tan solution are you using

Heavy thick solutions require a stronger compressor to spray them properly and not burn up the equipment. Spray tan solutions described as going on “warm” or being “comfortable” for your client are normally thicker solutions. This could limit you to the solutions that you will be able to use.

What is the easiest spray tan machine for beginners?

There are several great options to choose from for your first spray tan machine. Depending on what type of spraying you will be doing after you learn how to spray a tan. Some of you may only be spraying yourselves. Others might be spraying your group of friends. Maybe you even have dreams of opening your own spray tan business one day. Luckily, there are plenty of options available. And I am always here to help guide you.