Applying Fake Tan

Hello again Femailers, Kate here from Adore Beauty

Gone are the days of coating ourselves with baby oil and roasting ourselves in the sun - these days, we know that the only safe tan is one from a bottle! But unless you know the right way to do it, getting a fake tan to look natural can be pretty tricky. Never fear, this week on Femail.com.au, we bring you the easy step-by-step guide to Faking It!
Step One: Remove Unwanted Hair

Self-tanners can stain hair, making it appear darker, so if you prefer the smooth hairless look, it's best to shave, wax or epilate before self-tanning. If you wax or epilate, it's best to do this the day before applying self-tan, to allow time for the skin to calm down.

Step Two: Exfoliate

NOTE: If you wax, you probably won't need to do this step as dead skin cells are naturally removed when the wax is ripped off.

To exfoliate your skin, you can use a body scrub (or a facial scrub if you're tanning your face), or a loofah with shower gel. However my favourite way to exfoliate is to make a mixture of salt (just ordinary table salt) and body oil - fill a jar with salt and add just enough body oil so that the salt granules stick together. Then just scoop out some of the mixture and rub it all over your body in the shower. When you rinse off the salt, the body oil will remain, leaving your skin perfectly moisturised (and allowing you to skip the next step!).

Why exfoliate? Self-tan works by staining the surface layer of skin cells. Exfoliating first makes your fake tan last longer, by getting rid of the dead skin cells that otherwise would fall off within a day or two, leaving your tan patchy.

Step Three: Moisturise

This is particularly important if your skin is dry, or if you are applying the tanner to dry areas such as ankles, knees or elbows. Rub some body oil (I find this works better than body lotion) all over damp skin, concentrating on dry areas, then pat your skin dry with a towel.

Why moisturise? Dry skin is "thirsty" - it will naturally try and soak up whatever is applied to it. However if self-tan is applied directly to dry skin, the dry patches will soak up more of the tanning liquid than less dry areas, meaning that you'll have darker patches of tan once it develops! Dark elbows and knees - not a good look!

Step Four: Apply Self-Tan

If you're using our Sun2000 Self-Tanning Liquid, here's the best way to apply it:

1. Put on some thin plastic gloves, to avoid staining your hands or nails.
2. Soak a cotton pad or cotton ball with the tanning lotion.
3. Wipe the cotton pad over your skin. Use a circular motion to avoid streaking. The organic pigments in the Express Tanning Liquid make things a bit easier for you, as you can immediately see if you've missed any bits!
4. Do your knees, elbows and ankles last, with whatever is left on the cotton pad - this way they won't get darker than everywhere else.
When you've finished, remove your gloves. To tan the back of your hands, try this trick of the trade: apply a drop of the tanning liquid to the back of one hand, then rub the backs of your hands together, making sure you cover the backs of both hands evenly.

Step Five: Let it dry!

Allow a good twenty minutes for your tan to dry before getting dressed. While the organic pigments in the Express Tanning Liquid won't stain clothes permanently, I still wouldn't recommend wearing any expensive light-coloured clothing on the day that you tan - just in case.

The organic pigments will give you an immediately tanned appearance, with the active ingredient of the self-tanner developing over two to three hours. So next time you shower, the organic pigments will wash off, leaving behind your beautiful new fake tan!

If you want to be super-tanned, you can reapply later in the day. Otherwise, you'll only need to reapply once or twice a week - exfoliate before every reapplication.

Don't Forget: Your new tan doesn't give you any sun protection, so make sure you wear sunscreen every day!

Also read this article on spray tanning.