Our love affair with a tan…

If you are like me, you’ve had a long-time love affair with the fake tan. What’s not to love?  It makes you look slimmer, fitter, gives you glowing white teeth and it won’t give you wrinkles, sun spots or skin cancer, like spending too much time in the sun can.

After our first foray into self-bronzing, we graduated onto the harder stuff and made our way through some of the best fake-tanners around. Of course, over the years we’ve had many a tanning mishap. I once had orange stripes so pronounced someone asked if I was going to audition for a part in ‘Cats’.

A tan is the beauty industry’s secret weapon; tan conceals fatigue, evens out skin complexion and lifts hue. It makes our teeth look whiter and our eyes brighter, not to mention the instant lift in confidence and feel good factor. Using self-tan is the safest way to achieve a natural looking glow – avoiding the ageing UVA, UVB and Infrared Rays from the sun.’

Our top tips on how to get the most out of your self-tanning products.

1. Forgetting to exfoliate

With tan it’s all about prep, the more effort you put in the better your tan will be. Exfoliating creates an even skin surface for the tan to be applied onto, thus resulting in a more uniform color and in turn a steady fade.

2. Not closing your pores

Splash your face with cold water or keep make up wipes in the fridge and run over your face just before you apply tan. This will close pores and thus stop tanning from blocking them.

3. Losing track of time

If you’re using clever tans with quick developing technology, like the new, set a timer on your phone so you know to shower your product off after the right time – the longer you leave it the darker you’ll be.

4. Neglecting your dry bits

Moisturize your dry areas (hands, elbows, knees, feet, any areas with eczema or psoriasis)  using an Aloe Vera based body lotion. Aloe Vera is the magic ingredient when tanning and it acts as a blending agent in the most absorbent places.

5. Not using a mitt

A mitt to tan is like a hairbrush to hair – ESSENTIAL. The foamy mitts are our favorite and aid in a streak frees application – as well as protection the palms of your hands from getting tanned. Machine washable on cold and easy to do the back when flipped back to front so the foamy side sits on the knuckle.

6. Using oils

Unless you’re using a specified tanning oil avoid using anything oil based as oil breaks down self-tan.

6. Getting frustrated

The first time you did a smokey eye or attempted a halo braid – it wasn’t perfect and it’s the same with tanning. Keep going, keep tanning and I promise you, you will succeed.