COCO

Awkward experience to the 10^th degree!
The business is not even a salon but a office like space with the receptionist in one corner and located diagonally on the other corner is the spraying booth. The receptionist was nice with explaining the procedure but since I was a newbie, I had her repeat some steps twice which she seemed irritated with. The spraying booth had decent capacity but knowing the receptionist was sitting right outside was just plain uncomfortable.
Thank goodness the spray was quick and easy so I was able to get out of there. My tan results: I only can tell I went a shade or two darker from my normal fair skin. My friends couldn’t even tell I got tanned. Argh.
I won’t be coming here again…

I stopped by Coco Boutique while walking through Laurel Heights, after seeing a very enticing promotion on a sandwich board outside the building — buy one massage get one free! My friend and I spent about 20 minutes speaking with the new owner, Moe, who explained that he just recently bought Coco Boutique from the previous owner, and he is now doing massage and tanning (I think before it was only tanning — it looks like he hasn’t even updated the website yet to reflect the new massage availability). I didn’t have time to try it today but I am so coming back soon for a massage — I will update this review at that time, but with a special like that in the Laurel Heights/​Pac Heights/​Marina area I had to jump on Unilocal — $ 60 for two 60-​minute massages is unheard of! Moe has I think over 10 years of massage, body work experience and is really professional so I’m super excited to try him. Will let you know.

Since I have very fair skin, I came here for some quick color before an event I was attending last week. Before my appointment, I did the usual tanning treatment rigamarole, showering and exfoliating immediately beforehand. The woman here was very polite and friendly, providing me with a full explanation of how the mist-​tanning booth works. I carefully applied the ‘barrier cream’ she gave me, paying special attention to my cuticles, heels and toes before I stepped in to strike my Charlie’s Angels kung fu pose (her term for it). I stood in the booth naked in various «ballerina» or «warrior» positions while I was chemically blasted.
Unfortunately, I was NOT thrilled with the results. After all the prep, I came out looking VERY streaky (not just in my feet and ankles, but also my arms and chest)!!! I now know that I do a much more professional job at home with my Neutrogena self-​tanner from Walgreens — next time I will save myself the hassle and $ 35.

This being my first tan ever, I was very nervous. But everyone made me feel comfortable and inviting. They helped me get over my nerves and I actually had fun! The tan came out nice and even, considering I was as white as a ghost. They really understood what I was looking for and delivered what I wanted. I really appreciated that.

We’d eaten around the corner a few times, and I’d been wanting to try Coco for awhile. We finally had a good opportunity before we went to Costa Rica. Tan was ok, not as even as I hoped. My feet looked RETARDED. My b/​f was happy I didn’t go to a tanning bed though, and a little color’s better than no color in a bikini.

I don’t do spray tanning very often, but I had a wedding coming up and wanted to be a bit more bronze. I was in and out of the place in 10 minutes. Yes, the space is a bit cozy and maybe even a tad awkward at first, but it’s really not that bad. And the results are great. My skin looks very natural and not at all orangey. On Tuesday you get $ 5 off your service and first timers can do buy one get one free… a great deal! I’ll definitely come here next time I’m feeling pasty.

Staff people need a serious reality check — if I wanted angry teenie bopper attitude, I’d shop at Abercrombie. Oh and I paid $ 30 for two sessions that left me stark ass white.

Now that I’m spending way too much money to fend off wrinkles & sunspots, I’ve become a sun-​phobe. But of course I still like the look of a tan — esp when I travel so I’m a big fan of the spray-​on kind.
After trying several places in the city — I found one I really like — coco. I like the color of the solution there best for my skin. And it’s really intimate — therefore private and easy.
However, a couple of tips for Virgins of the Spray so you don’t look like Paris Hilton crossed with an Oompa Loompa…
It’s not the color so much that’s a fake tan giveaway — it’s the streaking, so make sure you use the towel to pat down areas where there is excess tanning solution — the attendant will explain how to do this
Also — the feet & hands are a giveaway so make sure to put plenty of blocker on them — the attendant will also explain this
Wear loose black clothing to the appt as some of it will come off on your clothes & don’t plan on wearing white at least for 2 days afterward
Also don’t change your sheets the day you get the tan as some may come off while you sleep the 1^st night
You need to not work-​out or shower for 6 – 8 hours afterwards so plan accordingly
Bring body spray with you as the solution can smell a little funny until you shower
Make sure your face is clean & make-​up free before you go in
If you can deal with all that — the results are worth it. A tan also makes you appear thinner — bonus!

I love to be tan. I don’t love skin cancer. I love COCO :) This place is a really nice (small) boutique, which I found to be extremely comforting. I’ve been to a lot of tanning places in the city and this is my favourite of all of the spray tan places. Not to mention, they are also extremely friendly. This place is very personal, so if you want your tanning to be more anonymous, then you probably wont like this place. Oh yea, and this place didn’t seem like the greatest beginner place. I’ve been spray tanning for years so I’m pretty good at it, but if it’s your first time, this place might not be the best as they just seemed not to explain stuff as much as other places do.

I found this place more than inviting. It was small, sure, but for a first time tanner I couldn’t have asked for a better place. Late hours, so I was able to go really late while all the other businesses were closed, park right in front, and go in. It was quick, in and out. I would however recommend the positions on a card or something in the booth: I forgot what I was supposed to do after I stepped in there!

COCO is beyond intimate. The entire salon is the size of a $ 550-​per-​month bedroom in San Francisco (read: tiny). The reception desk is about three feet from the curtained-​off mist-​tanning booth; you’ll feel like you’re getting naked in front of whoever’s manning the salon. As I said, intimate.
After suffering my 60 seconds of spray-​tanning at COCO and as I was drying away the remnant tanning solution, the woman at work reminded me to make sure that my tan was even. I turned to look at my back in the mirror and laughed out loud: a solid band of paleness marked my skin in relief. Ever increasing our level of acquaintance, the receptionist stepped in to help «paint» tanning solution on to the blank canvas of my back.

This was my first experience with mist tanning. I chose COCO because of its positive Citysearch review and its introductory offer-​buy one tan, get another free. It is a small place, but that makes it private-​you don’t have people waiting for you to finish because the waiting room is elsewhere in the house. It was a little awkward for me at first beause the curtain that separates you from the receptionist and the door is kinda low so I got a little paranoid. The receiptionist was nice both for my first time and when I had to go back there a day later for touchups because it was very splotchy. Kelly helped fix me up-​she was very patient and persistent as she wiped down the marks and sprayed on some more core-​she was very understanding and cool. It was kinda a scary experience being in the MagicTan booth-you’re in there with the door closed, don’t know what to expect, then you hit the button and suddenly a cold blast of brown something mists you while your eyes are closed. I didn’t get the many positions right and I didn’t realize that you should immediately step out after it’s done otherwise the color starts to streak down your legs so my color job was unsucessful.
I went back the second time because that was part of the deal and still, no luck. Those Magictan spray booths are tricky! You have to wipe down a certain way, apply lotion to certain areas, be careful not to smear anything. Like last time, my feet, toes, soles, hands and palms got really, really dark. Very obvious. The rest of my body came out okay, but the legs were disappointing, like last time. I had these spots from, I guess not wiping correctly, smears, and places where there’s wasn’t tannage at all-​quite uneven. I’m planning to try aerosol spray tanning next week by a technician so hopefully that’ll work better otherwise I guess I’ll have to live with my pasty gams.

location is fine. experience is gross. orange hands & feet. there’s a deal (for your first visit), but i didn’t bother going back.

When I’m feeling really pale and I’m going to be showing some skin for a special event, I like to get a mist tan for instant bronze. When I first went to COCO, I was pretty shocked by the size of the place. It’s a tiny room where the receptionist sits in the corner and the spray booth is about 5 feet away from her. There’s a big curtain so that you have some privacy. Thank goodness the whole thing only lasts 60 seconds. I was pleasantly surprised at how helpful the girl working there was — after I got out of the booth, she gave me personal attention and made sure that there were no streaks and touched up parts that needed it. I was very happy with the tan I got after one application. It wasn’t orangey and people thought I had just gotten back from Hawaii.