Okay, so who watched bbc3 last night? Nicola Roberts made a documentary to make girls and boys aware of the dangers of Sunbeds. It was truely shocking. It really opened my eyes as to how dangerous the sun, let alone sunbeds can be.
I myself am a self confessed "tan-a-holic"- whether it be real, or fake. I have fake tanned since the age of about 15, and usually use sunbeds from the months approaching summer and continue to do so to keep my holiday tan until about October. Never again. From now on, I will stick to using tan from a bottle, until I learn to embrace my natural pale skin.
Theres nothing wrong with pale skin at all, however I personally feel my best when I have a glow.
With all the media attention the dangers of tanning has caused, I have decided to give my personal thoughts on a few bottle tans that I use.
St Tropez Self Tan Bronzing Mousse.
This is a 240ml bottle and retails at about £30.
I do like this product, But I don't think its all its made out to be. With its "super lightweight" formula, I feel its a bit too thin and doesn't achieve a very good tan effect until after about 2 or 3 applications, I like to have a product that works well after one application so that I don't have to worry about tanning a few days before an event where I want to be super tanned.
I put this product on at night and shower it off in the morning, it applies dark so you can see where you have and haven't applied it to. I'm used to this routine as all of my self tanners use these directions, but some of my friends find this routine a bit annoying. I prefer it because you can see where you have tanned, and therefore aren't left with any horrible streaks!
St Tropez is one of the more perfumed self tan products. With its "innovative fragrance technology", St Tropez have created a "subtle refreshing" smell to take away the typical self tan musky smell. I don't have a problem with the smell of this product, however I did use the St Tropez Tan Maintainer, and feel the product was a bit too perfumed for my skin.
I have repurchased this product a few times now, as it is a very good self tan for general day-to-day!
St Moriz Instant Self Tanning Mousse
This is a 200ml bottle and retails at about £3.99
I still can't actually believe how alike St Tropez and St Moriz are. St Moriz is basically a rip off of St Tropez, just a lot cheaper. For just 30ml less than my St Tropez (see above), it cost £26 less! St Moriz is a little less fragranced, and I think possibly a little more watery, but for £3.99- who cares!
The only problems I have had with this product are the lid leaks a little bit, but you usually find this with a lot of self tanning mousses and locating it. I found my bottles in TK Max, and stocked up as I have heard its not always around. I know that Savers sell it too, and some other small "bity" shops. If you can't find it, its available on eBay and on amazon, although I think it sometimes costs a little more.
Fake Bake Beyond Bronze Instant Premium Tan
Matte Medium
This is a 125ml bottle and retails at about £7.99
Okay, So I'm a huge Fake Bake fan and always have been. I enjoy using all of there products, but I have never really liked using instant tan, as I feel I may aswell use a normal self tanner and get the same affect, with it not washing off immediately/streaking in the rain etc.
I purchased this for two reasons, 1. I was going out and didn't feel as tanned as I felt I should be and 2. It was Fake Bake and I felt that they may suprise me and change my mind about instant tans..They didn't really.
I'm actually quite disapointed. I have only used this product once and will only do so again in the event of an "emergency".
On the bottle, it doesn't say how long you will have to wait for the product to dry, however it does say:
"NOTE: Allow to dry throughly before dressing"
I waited..and waited. It felt tacky on my skin for about 30 minutes after applying, and when I thought it was dry and continued to dress, I realised it wasn't dry and ended up with fake tan all over the cream top I wanted to wear. Taking the top off was also an issue as it was absolutely covered!
I imagine that this product would be okay to maybe add to an existing tan, but hmm. I'm still not really sure on this product and feel that maybe something like Rimmel Sunshimmer would be better, as the consistancy is also a bit thicker.
This product comes in shimmer and matte- both light and medium.
Fake Bake Beyond Bronze Plus Self Tanning Lotion 170ml
Fake Bake Beyond Bronze Plus Self Tanning Mousse 118ml
Both retailing at about £18
These are two of my absolute favourites. I have always used Fake Bake and feel that it gives you a really good colour after even just one application. They both apply onto the skin very dark, which allows you to see where you have applied to to avoid streaks. They apply very easily, I find both products quite velvety to the skin.
These products did come boxed with a little pair of application gloves but I think they now just come with the bottle alone. This doesn't bother me at all, I use a mitt to put on all of my fake tan- I've never really liked putting self tan on with gloves, but if you do want to, you can buy these in most shops.
Fake Bake isn't really perfumed either, which I do prefer. Sometimes the perfumed products are slightly too strong, especially if you are going to bed after applying.
I love the whole of the Fake Bake range (minus the new Instant lines), which leads me onto my super favourite...
Fake Bake Intense Golden Bronze Xtreme Darkest Self Tanning Gel
This is a 170ml bottle and retails at about £27.99
Wow. Wow. Wow!
This product is recommended for the experienced tanner. It's really dark and I love it!
Its exactly the same as other Fake Bake products, it applies dark so I apply at night and shower off in the morning.
It applies alot better than the normal lotion as this is more of a gel formula, however, it does dry ALOT quicker. Its "fast acting and fast drying" which means you have to be quick, I think this is probably why its recommended for the experienced tanner because I imagine if you wasn't used to the routine of fake tanning, you could potentially end up in a bit of a state with this product. This also comes with gloves, but I do prefer to use a mitt.
I really love this product, it has more of a smell than the Beyond Bronze products, but nothing unbearable. It gives the most intense colour after just one application.
One problem I did have is the pump. I had to return the bottle prior to this one because the pump didn't work. When I returned it, the sales lady did say she had had a few of these back because of the pump, but how popular the product was. I'm not sure why this happens but its really fustrating when you get yourself ready to tan, and it won't even come out of the bottle. So I would advise that maybe you check the pump before you leave the shop.
However, I would definately highly recommend this product.
Theres so many different self tanners on the market, I think you do have to just find the one thats right for you and your skin. However, I do hope I've helped!
Happy Safe Tanning!
xx
Little mini boobtube dresses.
The first three items I actually purchased last weekend, but I thought I'd still share them with you.
Sunglasses (Top left) - £1
