So summer is almost here and this means only one thing: it's time to show those bare limbs of ours and so it's time for tanning, and if you aren't between the lucky ones who live next to the beach or who could plan a nice vacation for the next months, I bet you already have bought a good bottle of self tanner. Whether you're planning on applying it on your face or your legs or both, I know everyone had troubles with getting a mark free self tanning experience at least once in their life times, so here are a few tips I've learned this last few years...
▸ Chose your favourite formula: this is pretty subjective actually, but for me when it comes to my body I always love mousses more than lotions as I think they're a lot easier to apply and dry a lot faster. I'm using the Fake Bake Luxurious Golden Bronze Self Tanning Mousse* (£22.05) which gives a pretty natural and beautiful golden glow without looking orange in the slightest. For the face I'm loving the Clarins Radiance Plus Golden Glow Booster (£15.80) which is amazing in building a gradual natural-looking tan. In general I love gradual tanning products a lot better, but I still understand why you should feel the need of an instant self tanner now and again, however if you prefer the latter I'd suggest to don't go for the darkest colour at the beginning especially if you're quite pale as they can make you orange in a few seconds and you don't want that, right?
▸ Cleanse: I think the cleansing step is so important because you only want to apply a self tanner onto clean skin to be sure it's all even out, has the same texture and there's nothing between your skin and the self tanner that can avoid the colour to show up evenly on the entire surface.
▸ Scrub or exfoliate: when it comes to self tanning I think you need to always make sure your body and face are free from dead skin or dry patches as these are the main reasons why marks and streaks appear. When it comes to my body I always like a good harsh scrubbing action and so I definitely prefer very thick grainy scrubs, while on my super sensitive face I don't really want to go for a harsh exfoliation and I generally prefer going for a chemical exfoliator such as the La Roche-Posay Effaclar Astringent Micro-Exfoliant Lotion (£8) usually at least half an hour before applying the self tanner, to make sure everything is all even.
▸ Blend well: whether you're using something like the Clarins Booster to be mixed with your usual moisturiser, or anything else, always make sure you're blending the product as well as you can and take your time to actually insist on any difficult area such as the forehead and chin for the face, or knees and elbows for the body as those are the spot where it's usually easier to get marks. I find this is pretty important and when I do take my time to blend everything in my skin until the product has actually all sinked in, I always get the best results and never see any marks. Also if your product sinks in very quickly I'd suggest to manage little areas of your body a time so you can really focus on the blending action.
▸ Prefer coloured formulas: I just always have a better experience when I'm applying a coloured product than a clear one as I can actually see where the product is going or where I need to reapply it, whereas with clear products you always need to be more careful.
▸ Use a mitt or wash your hands: with body self tanners I need a mitt and this is for sure, otherwise I always get orange hands no matter what product I'm using. With face I always make sure to wash my hands pretty well after applying the product otherwise you'll wake up with super orange hands and this is so unflattering! Mitts comes to super affordable prices as well, so you don't have any excuses.
▸ Don't wear your clothes right after: most of the self tanners aims to sink in super quickly nowadays but I always like to wait a few more minutes after the application before wearing any clothes so that I'm perfectly sure I won't get any streaks on the skin or marks on my clothes. And don't wear whites right after!
I find following these tips I always get the best results and I know sometimes you just want to throw on your product and go out right after procrastinating everything that should come first, but that way you won't get a perfect looking tan most of the times, and on the other hand you only need to take a few more minutes to avoid a mess.
Do you have any other tips?
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