I was a total self-tanner addict a couple of summers ago, and this was my totally flawless regimen.
First, exfoliate like crazy. I have a dry body brush that I use before showering. Once in the shower, I use a little body scrub and also make sure I get a very close shave on my legs (and anywhere else I need/want to shave).
Out of the shower, dry off, and then first use Neutrogena self-tanner mist on the body, everywhere. Start off with the lightest shade, then when that's empty in a few weeks, move on to a darker shade if you want to. Let the mist dry for a while, then follow-up with the Jergens Natural Glow gradual stuff, again matching the tone to the Neutrogena mist. By using the mist first (and getting your back primarily with the mist), you'll alleviate any streaking the lotion might leave behind, and the lotion step also helps to blend in the mist.
Once my skin is totally dry, I then would follow-up with a shimmery lotion, but that was kind of an optional step, only if I wanted a little extra glow.
For face, I used a lotion only, one specifically for face, as well as a little bit of cosmetic bronzer to even everything out.
This sounds complicated, but it really never took me more than about five minutes, and I'd only do it about every three days or so. On the days I didn't do the whole thing, I'd use non-tanning regular body lotion to keep my skin soft and keep the color fresh. Everytime I shaved, I did redo everything from beginning to end.
I didn't look streaky ever, but another thing I did was not go too unrealistically dark. I'm naturally quite pale, and to me the change was extremely noticeable, but nobody else really noticed much more about my summer complexion other than that I looked "healthy." If you want to go from really pale to really dark, you'd be better off going to a professional spray tanner or at least getting a little help with the hard-to-reach spots.
Good luck!
Self Tanners
