REVIEW: SOLTAN BEAUTIFUL BRONZE

So by now, you should all know that I have an unhealthy obsession with fake tan.

I'm whiter than white, but I'm olive skinned at heart. It's just not fair. And so I spend copious amounts of time on a daily basis slapping my fake tan on, hoping that this new tan will take over my top position. 

I can't even tell you how much time, effort and not to mention money(!) I've spent on searching for that great fake tan and thankfully just recently, I've discovered this fantastic range. 

Please tell me why I've only just got my tanned paws on it?!

As you know, I've worked at Boots for almost 2 years now and I've been so focused on trying out new tans that I've completely overlooked our own brand- naughty Jess. 

Needless to say, I saw this in one of our shops and figured "what the heck" and picked one of each up; a lotion, a mousse and a spray and eagerly went home and gave it a go. 

After speaking to a friend (who always has a flawless tan, btw), so enlightened me in her tanning process where she places the mousse all over her body, leaves it to dry and then sprays the spray tan over the top, leaving you pretty sticky but definitely covering every inch of your skin.

The next morning, I woke up with a glow that I've not seen in a long, long time. I was tanned. Like really, really tanned but not in a fake-tan kinda way. Wow.

Bonus: this even works on my face (which never usually happens!). 

As for the lotion that I picked up, I tend to use that after few days when it's looking a little pale and it picks the tan straight back up.

The longevity of this product on the body is unreal, too. I've left it for a week, un-topped up and it's still visible and not even all that patchy if I'm honest! Jeez, I sure have been missing out!

If you're looking for a new tan and have never tried this before, please please go and pick it up. I promise that you won't be disappointed!

xxxx

GARNIER AMBRE SOLAIRE ONE WEEK GLOW FACIAL TAN

For some reason, my face doesn't ever pick up a tan. It doesn't pick up colour from the sun and nor does it pick up colour when any face tanner is applied. It's a nightmare. Such a pasty face and a terribly mis-matched neck. So I picked this up at work in the hope that this would actually do the job.

Anyway, the Loreal Sublime elixir is the first tanner to work on my face since, like, forever except I'm blaming my new-found spotty skin on that bugger. I guess something so fantastic has to have it's negative qualities too, right? Anyway, I picked this up in my local Boots store for £6.66 (here) and started using it right away.

The first thing that I noticed is the smell; just like all other Garnier Ambre Solaire tanning products, it smelt divine. There's no other tan that smells so delicious. It's just so fruity and pretty and mmmm. I just love it! So far, so good.

I also love the fact that it's kind of a gel consistency- it sits lovely on the skin, goes on smoothly and feels so, so moisturising upon application. There is also a slight colour-guide which is great, then you tend not to miss any patches. (see below)

I put this on before going to bed and the next morning, my skin did have a nice glow to it, but nothing to suggest that I've been on holiday or anything. More of a 'just had 8 hours sleep and a good exfoliating session' glow. Not all that impressed. I was impressed that it had lived up to the 'no streaks' claim, which is good. I then put another layer on top before I put my makeup on but once I had taken my makeup back on, I literally saw no change. I then put yet another layer on (after cleansing) and the next morning, there was definitely a slightly deeper glow that could pass as a few days in the garden kinda glow, which I suppose is better than nothing. I do think that these results would be fair enough had I have bought the 'light' shade, but I bought 'medium' for a reason.. 

I then wanted to see this whole '1-week' claim. Okay, after my usual makeup removal routine, there was definitely product still there, but this lasted probably around 3 days before I was back to my pasty old self.. Yeah, it doesn't last a week. Maybe it would for people that don't wear as heavy makeup, hence they have to cleanse less, but for me it was definitely around the 2-3 day mark when I started noticing that it had gone.

Overall, I probably won't be using this again- I'll definitely use up the rest of the tube, but I'm not too fussed about repurchasing.

Do you know any good facial tanners? 

xxx

COCOA BROWN 1 HOUR TAN REVIEW



img taken from here

Okay, can we all just take a moment to look at this tan and just pray that they never change the formula or discontinue it because I THINK I'VE JUST FOUND MY HOLY GRAIL FAKE TAN.

Now, I have tried 95% of tans on the market, some budget, some not-so budget (yes, I mean you Vita Liberta) and I bought this on a whim after hearing so many rave reviews about it. Heck, why haven't I purchased this before?! Being tanorexic, *note the T at the beginning of the word- I'm quite the opposite of an anorexic*, I'm constantly looking for new tanning products that tick all the boxes, and after almost 8 years of searching, I feel like my search is complete.

I don't like reading reviews that are as long as my Year 11 Romeo and Juliet essay, so here are 10 reasons why you should stop what you're doing, click this link and get yourself some of this wonder-product. NOW!

1. It smells divine. There are 100's of tans that claim to have got rid of that tell-tale biscuity smell, and this is the only one that actually does as it says! I've used this for the past week on a constant basis and NOT ONCE have I smelt like anything other that this beutiful, floral scent.

2. The colour is so deep, yet so natural. I struggle finding the balance between looking golden and looking orange, but I've had so many compliments whilst wearing this tan this week that I feel confident in saying that it's the perfect colour! Even my boyfriend, who literally detests fake tan, approves of this bad boy!

3. It doesn't cling to dry skin; for some reason, I have a dry patch on my hand that no moisturiser can budge, making my tan quite patchy. Hallelujah! This tan doesn't cling to it, but instead just glides over, leaving skin feeling silky smooth and leaving me very happy! :)

4. You have control over what shade you'd like the tan to develop at. You leave the tan for one hour if you'd like a subtle glow, for two hours if you'd like a medium shade and for three hours if you want a deeper shade. Personally, I always put my tan on before bed and leave overnight, as I get better results this way.

5. It's much better than higher-end tans that I've tried. For me, the colour is quite similar to St Tropez Dark, the consistency just like Fake Bake and the scent better than any other I've ever tried.

6. One random thing that I'm happy with is the fact that when you squirt the mousse out, it doesn't keep expanding. I find that the other mousse tans that I've tried tend to carry on squirting out of the nozzle after you've stopped pressing on it and I always end up with the spare bit going all over my bedding or something. So I was very happy when I saw that this stops when you want it too! 

7. It's affordable! Ranging from £6-10 depending on where you get this from, you can't go wrong. Even if you hate it, just remember that two frappuccinos will cost you just as much and it makes you feel slightly better!

8. It actually works on my face! I was yet to find a fake tan that actually works on my face.. I find that I apply them before I go to bed and wake up looking somewhat paler than I did before.. How is that even possible! And bonus, it doesn't seem to clog pores and cause breakouts. #winning#

9. It's fairly long-lasting; it lasts longer than most of my usual tans and it fades nice and evenly. Don't you hate it when your tan is on it's last legs and you look like you've got some crazy form of a skin disease?!

10. The packaging is nice and girly. It's a perfect size- not too big or small that you struggle to grasp it properly, and it's colour scheme is just lovely. I know that you can't judge a book by it's cover, but if it looks cheap and tacky, then it probably is!

BARGAIN OF THE WEEK: EP 1

One benefit of working at the Boots head office has to be the reduced items that you can bag from the shop. I know, it sounds really shallow, but it's true. Being beauty-savvy has worked in my favour no end of times in the last 3 months.. People will walk past the best of bargains, not realising what they could've had. 
Muwahahaha.

I find myself looking in people's baskets too, hoping that they've spotted something that I didn't & hoping that they'll put it back on the shelf so that I can get my greedy mitts onto it.. (never happens, but wishful thinking, right?).

I thought that as an idea to post more on here, I could do a 'Bargain of the week', showing you all what you're missing.. How evil of me.


My bargain of the week this week was easy:

Xen Tan.

My one and only HG fake tan.

And it was £3.

Yes, £3.

Can we all just take a moment to register this, please?

For those of you that haven't heard of this stuff, have you been living under a rock?

I joke. But really, every beauty blogger has tried this, and I've heard nothing but praise for the stuff. I started using this around 2 years ago after hearing so much about it, and back then I bought it for about £33, which is pretty darn pricey. I think I've re-purchased this around 5 times since, paying anywhere from £25-£30, so you can imagine my excitement when I saw that it was £3 in the shop! I literally stood there and just stared at it for about a minute, and then I grabbed all 3 and ran before anyone could take it from me. 

Oh how smug I felt for the rest of the day. 

I even took a moment out of my 'busy schedule' to pop a status up about it. 

Jess

xx

REVIEW: HE-SHI DARK FOAMING MOUSSE

I've been after this tan for so long that I actually forgot that I wanted it.. It was one of those where I'd have the money to get it, and then forget, yet as soon as I was a little tight on money, I would lust over it and have to tell myself that it wasn't a necessity. :( 

He-Shi is a unisex brand of fake tan created in Ireland, promising a non-streaking, beautiful bronze colour that moisturises as it tans you. 

Sounds perfect, right?

He-Shi retails at different prices dependent on where you buy it, but it never strays far from being around the £25 mark. For me, being more of a budget beauty buyer rather than splurging out on upper-end products, this seems a little steep for a home tanner.. My all-time favourite tanner is Xen Tan dark lotion, which is also around the same price as this- but I only tend to use it on special occasions or when my budget tan aren't doing anything for me and I need a deeper, more natural tan. 

As you can see, the packaging is very plain. I like plain packaging-- I think a product that has over the top packaging has an ulterior motive: To make people believe that their product IS as good as their packaging, when actually it's a standard product in a very well packaged container. I like the colours used here, with the dark brown base imitating the base colour that you should achieve after you've applied this. 

This is one pump of He-shi tan- you get a fair amount out of one pump.. I only use four for each arm. The consistency is quite runny, so you do have to work quite quickly.. Sometimes it's easier to put it straight on to your mitt and apply it that way.. I suppose it's up to you! It rubs in well, leaving a little colour behind so that you can see where you've applied it. This makes it very easy, and the process goes through very quickly. I find that with every other fake tan, I have to spend a lot of time with moisturiser working in the tan, especially on my inner arm and wrists but with this, I used to moisturiser and came out with no streaks! Result! 

Okay, so the bit we all want to know.. What is the colour like? 

WELL, in all honesty, from the reviews, I expected to wake up and look like I've just spent a month in the Bahamas.. I can assure you that I didn't exactly look like that.. If I'm quite honest, I felt a little orange! Yes, it's a nice colour in the respect of it being even and flawless.. But colour-wise, I am not impressed. Thinking that I'd done it wrong, I put another coat over the top and left it for a few hours. I unchanged from my long-sleeved 'fake tan outfit' to find a deeper colour *still with an orange tinge* but it was more of the colour that I had expected.

I wore a watch that day, and after taking it off that night, discovered that it had taken all of my tan off of my wrists.. nightmare! So I then had patchy wrists that looked awful, but after a quick scrub in the shower and another application of the tan, it was fine. Another thing that I wasn't happy about was how sticky the product is.. It take hours of it to stop being tacky which my boyfriend hates, especially as I generally apply before bedtime. Also, I lay on my boyfriend's chest as I sleep, and he has woken up with fake tan patches on his chest three times now.. I've never known another tan to do this.

How do I rate this product? 

I do like the ease of this, and the lack of streaks and patches that it supplies, but for the price and how hyped up it is, I would expect more. 

6/10

Would I buy this again? 

MAYBE.. It might be one of those products where the more that you use it, the more you learn to like it and the best ways to use it.. Right at this second, I'm in no rush to buy another one. 

I don't think this has beat my trusty Xen Tan just yet, so the search continues for the perfect fake tan..

What fake tans can you recommend?

xxxx