Fake Tan Essentials

I thought I would share with you my current fake-tanning routine.  I have had my own fair share of disasters in this area, you know the ones..oompa-loompa tan, orange palms - need I go on?  So now that I have found something that works and is relatively inexpensive to boot, I had to tell you about it.

Exfoliation really is key to achieving the best faux-tan result.  I have wasted a lot of money tried many different exfoliators but generally I find them not scrubby enough.  A blob of cream with 2 scrubby beads in it just aint gonna cut it.  So around a year ago I picked up these Soap and Glory Exfoliating Gloves and I have never looked back.  Pop these on whilst in the shower, get them wet, use your shower cream of choice and scrub away.  Now, these kinda remind me of a brillo pad for the body as they are very scrubby, but I am a fan of that as it really seems to boost the circulation and, most importantly, get rid of any flaky skin or dry areas.  Plus, you can just throw these in the washing machine and they'll last for ages.  

Next up I have a self tan mitt.  The person who designed this ingenious bit of kit seriously needs to give themselves a pat on the back.  It is basically a piece of thin foam, backed with plastic, so that when you use this to apply your tan, you don't end up with the dreaded orange palms - genius!  You can pick these up for a couple of pounds in Primark.

My tan of choice recently has been the Karora Self Tan Mist in Dark.  I was sent this to try a while back and I am really enjoying using it.  It has a fine mist spray which doesn't dump all the product in the one area.  I usually spray this on and then buff it in with my mitt, just to make sure it's even and well-blended.  It dries quickly too so that's a bonus - no standing flapping your arms about (just me?).  I usually fake tan before bed, and then shower off any residue in the morning, so I'm not sure how long the tan takes to develop.  However it leaves an even, natural colour on my skin.

Somehow, it looks like my hand is a totally different colour in both the before and after pictures, but I think it's just the angle it's at.

Karora have their own website, however as they are an Irish company I'm not sure if they ship to the UK.  They also have a range of products on the Cloud10 Beauty website.  Karora have produced this handy application video, which you can check out here.

Review: Soleil Tan de Chanel

Hello beautiful people!

Today I would like to give you a little review on this much talked-about item from Chanel...

Previously known, I think, as Bronze Universal..but for today now it's called Soleil Tan de Chanel.  It is basically a cream bronzer.  I have always had this on my 'to-buy' list, but always hesitated splashing the cash as I wasn't sure it would work with my oily skin type.

So imagine my delight when my lovely mum picked this up for me in duty free!

The first thing that struck me was the texture of the product, I think I expected a mousse consistency (think Maybelline Dream Mousse), however it's more of a cream-gel.  It has quite a lot of 'slip' when swatched but at the same time doesn't feel greasy, hurrah!  It is also quite firm to the touch, which is good because when I first opened the packaging it seemed quite shallow and I had visions of me using this up very quickly.  However you can give this a good old swirl with your brush and it hardly seems to dent it at all!

In terms of colour, I would liken it to a light milk chocolate mousse colour (I'm currently on a fasting diet so please forgive the food references!!).  It's quite a neutral bronze and isn't overly pink or yellow based.    I was concerned that this colour wouldn't show up too well, as I had been using Hoola by Benefit which is a fair bit darker.  Once I applied it though, it was love!  It created this very natural, skin-like finish and the colour was a perfect sun-kissed bronze.  Here is a little swatch, left is applied and right is blended...

If you are on the look out for a new bronzer, I'd definitely suggest getting yourself along to a Chanel counter and trying it out.  Yes, it is pricey, but I honestly think this will last a long time, even with daily usage.