It's almost December which means...

... It's time to unleash your pale, unloved winter skin for the masses to see.

It BURNS!

However if you are like me and would rather not blind and terrify your community, there are ways to make it look like you are naturally bronzed and awesome all the time.



Yes I mean cheating and using a little help from Priceline.

Fake tanning can be scary and that's largely due to a giant fear of looking like this;

Instead of like this;

If you feel that your desired aesthetic is closer to Gisele, there are ways to make this happen.

As I have learnt since my first days dabbling in fake tan in Year 7 (orange legs, oh the horror!), not all tan is created equal. And sadly, you get what you pay for.

Secondly, you can't just slap it on and hope for the best. The very best tan is guaranteed to look shit if you don't do the ground work. Patchy smears all over your body are not hot.

So let's get into how to become Gisele without even leaving your bathroom.

Remove all traces of previous fake tan and/or dead skin. 
The number one reason a tan will look patchy and crap is that it will adhere to the extra dead skin and go darker. An even surface is where it's at.

To do this, you need to exfoliate thoroughly, especially on knees and elbows. I highly recommend you investing in a peeling glove. Despite it's scary name, it doesn't hurt a bit, I found my old loofah glove hurt more. They are a little exxy (around the $40 mark), but they remove fake tan better than most and are useful in winter to keep dry skin at bay.

If you are not keen on this, another way is to wash yourself down with some kind of oil, such as baby or even olive and then rub your body down with bicarb soda, sugar and olive oil mixed together. This will make your skin lovely and smooth and will give the tan something nice to stick to. However it is recommended you remove us much oil as you can off your skin.

The application

Body 
For the love of normal coloured hands, just wear gloves already! I have used disposable rubber gloves for years and it really does work well and it cheap and easy. Removing tan from fingers is not fun at all and is noticeable and tacky.
Once again I'm going to recommend you fork out more money with the promise of a better result. I recently bought a tanning mitt which set me back approximately $15. However, since I have started using it, my hands have remained lovely and clean and everything is perfectly blended and smooth. It also spreads the product evenly and thinly which means you can build the colour properly. I use a mousse formulation which works the best with a mitt, however some formulations need to be applied with hands.

Face
The one thing I cannot stand with tanning is forgetting the face. There is nothing hot about looking like an eagle.

From what I've read, using regular tan on your face is apparently a huge no-no, for reasons I am still unsure of. Maybe as it's drying? But because I'm incredibly bad ass, I do this all the time.

YOLO Bitches!

I do realise though that as the skin is generally nicer and better loved on my face than it is on my body, tan absorbs far quicker. I overcome the eagle look by using left over tan residue from my hands/mitt and just leave it as that.
If you care to join me in the face tanning thug life shenanigans, I highly recommend you keep it to one coat and make sure your face is still lighter than your body. It will ensure your face stays bright and pretty.

Always apply 20% more
As tempting as it is to get your tan just right, I cannot stress the benefit of allowing yourself to look like Snooki for a few hours.
The reason for this is that the leftover residue will always come off in the shower leaving you with the actual tan. If you finish with the perfect blend of colour, its guaranteed to fade super fast as soon as you hit the water. By going a bit darker, you'll ensure you don't lose all your hard work.

To shave or not to shave...
I'm in two minds over this. I sometimes find that if I do it right after shaving it gets a bit patchy and stuck in my pores which looks crap, however when I use the Mitt it doesn't.
As a general rule of thumb, I'd suggest shaving the day before you tan to prevent all of that and to make sure your skin isn't all sensitive and reactive.

Moisturise!
If there is one tip that will ensure your tan lasts the distance and stays looking nice, it is daily moisturising. Tan tends to dry out the top layer of skin as it attaches, so to make the tan last daily moisturising will not only make your tan last longer, your skin will be in a nicer condition for re-application.

Hopefully these tips will make a more pleasant tanning experience for everyone.

Do you tan frequently?What's your favourite way to do it?

B x