St. Tropez sunless tanning products are a favorite among beauty editors, but the brand's salon-only airbrushing formula has quickly become the gold--er, bronze--standard for celebrities.

From perenially tan stars, to ones you'd never expect (we're talkin' to you, Miley Cyrus), celebs are being spritzed on the regular by technicians like Anna Stankiewicz, the airbrush guru at NYC's Rita Hazan Salon.

As a fan of the line's at-home lotions, we were curious about what made the salon airbrushing so superior. Sure, there are obvious reasons, but there are also a few drawbacks, like the nudity. And the price. So we spent 15 minutes with Stankiewicz to find out what all the fuss was about. The end result? She made us a believer.

Here's why celebrities love airbrush tanning:

Reason One: The timing.
At home, women are advised to shower and exfoliate before tanning, so that areas with dry, thick skin don't turn dark from absorbing too much product. But a pre-tan scrub is not necessary before airbrushing (the technician can vary the intensity of the spray from part to part), so you can save time and get right down to business. As soon as you're done, the product dries almost instantly. "I've had people in and out in 15 minutes," Stankiewicz explained.

Reason Two: The color.
The airbrush product doesn't come in just one or two shades -- it spans the full range from subtle glow to George Hamilton-bronze. To illustrate this point, on "Dancing with the Stars," contestants are sprayed down with a hue that St. Tropez created just for the show. "Do not try this at home!" joked one of the company's execs of the super-dark shade.

Reason Three: The simplicity.
Perhaps the greatest benefit of airbrush tanning is that you don't do it yourself, and we all know celebrities love delegating their beauty needs to others. Fiona Locke, St. Tropez's LA-based tanning expert, explained that airbrushing has become a regular ritual for her clients, which include Evangeline Lilly, Olivia Wilde, Miley Cyrus, Kim Kardashian and Ashley Greene. "There are clients of mine that I see on a weekly basis," she said.

For anyone who doesn't have a salon or spa with St. Tropez airbrushing in their area, the company is introducing a line of wash-off tints. These products will provide instant-dry color that washes off in your shower (read: no tanning action). Look out for the line in March 2010 on the St. Tropez website.