3 Fake Tanning Lessons

Every summer I attempt fake tan. I’ve been trying it for years and I’ve never been confident with it. Due to my general inexperience and inability to do beauty ‘stuff’ well- I feel like it’s impressive to be as bad, yet enthusiastic, as I am! I tend to go for a tinted body moisturiser that will gradually develop a tan with each application. This year I thought I’d give a ‘proper’ tan a try… and lets just say I LEARNT SOME STUFF. That stuff is what I’ll be sharing today, so that you might be able to save yourself from the embarrassment of being tangoed.

RESEARCH: The fake tanning world, it’s a mess. I feel like I was FOOLED by pretty instagram posts and ‘online influencer’ reviews. I went for Isle of Paradise and I was left MAJORLY disappointed, I have contacted their customer services twice but with no response. Anyway I think that doing yourself some proper research is a great idea. Look at numerous reviews, tutorials on YouTube and discuss with your fake tanning friends to see what their favourite products are! The more information you have, the better informed you can be to get yourself a great product… that won’t leave you the same shade as Tangy Cheese Doritos.

Exfoliate: Oh exfoliation is KEY. It’s probably the golden rule in terms of fake tanning as it will allow you to create an even tan and will help it to come off in a natural way. I really like this one from Sanctuary Spa, but Soap and Glory is another good brand to check out! It will just help rid any dead skin, making your skin silky smooth and ready to be bronzed up. I think I’ll try and keep up with the exfoliation into the winter months, especially as its a nice extra step in my shower routine. I love a good exfoliation followed by some moisturiser to make me feel v fancy.

Make sure the BASE is READY: This is one step that I really should have listened to myself. I basically fake tanned on top of my peeling skin- always wear suncream. Incase you were wondering, the fake tan just clings to the peeling skin, creating a line around the new skin- which remains pale. Turns out that is not a good look. Another good way to make sure your base skin is ready is to moisturise areas where tan builds up. This tends to be areas like the wrists, elbows, ankles and sometimes the knees… It’s all a learning experience!

Amy