A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

I’m not a great self-tanner. I mean that in both senses of the word — I don’t do it very often and when I do, I’m pretty shit at it. The historical exception to this rule is with Sally Hansen’s old Airbrush Legs… you can still buy it, but the formula is a little different now and they’ve ditched my shade. I used to love it and would go through cans of the stuff when the weather called for a bit of leg-display.

So, when St. Tropez’s new Perfect Legs Spray landed on my desk, I had barely opened the envelope before I was prising off the lid and putting it to work, ever-hopeful that I might find my pasty-leg saviour.

Look how stained my hand is!! I’ll tell you more about that in a minute…

The new St. Tropez Perfect Legs Spray promises an instant, natural bronzing effect combined with a longer-lasting self tan. The aerosol can contains 75ml of product, which isn’t a lot — about enough to do your legs twice/three times at most. The product is fairly reasonably priced at £10, making it a cost-effective choice for special events or big nights out. Don’t forget that as-well as the instant bronzer, you’re also benefiting from a normal self-tan at the same time. Although, I’d obviously like to see more for my money, I think the price is reasonable for special occasions when compared to alternative options.

Unlike my old Sally Hansen cans, this isn’t like makeup for your legs. It won’t conceal veins, freckles or give you a massively airbrushed effect but it excels at what it does deliver: healthy-looking, bronzed pins.

It’s ridiculously easy to use and dispenses a very fine mist. Any slightly larger droplets that appear from holding it a little too close blend easily into the skin for a completely streak-free finish. I blended one leg with my hands and the other with a mit. Use the mit, this stuff sets faster than an 80s perm and despite rushing to the basin mere minutes after my first blend – my hand is perma-tanned. Looking on the bright side, this is obviously great news for my legs as it didn’t transfer once touch-dry.

Product doesn’t leak/drip from the nozzle during operation and the spray works regardless of the contorted angles you put the can through. It may just be, that as a novice, I’m having a hallelujah moment with tans in a can but I simply didn’t run into any problems with this one.

And as for my legs? Oh god, hold on to your breakfasts…

It works well right?  My left leg (right as you look at it) was tanned with the St. Tropez and it doesn’t look remotely orange or streaky!  Honestly, if I can use it… a total fool can use it and make it look good in under 5 minutes. I’m so pleased to be able to recommend this to ultra-pale girls who suck at applying fake tan like me. I’m so jealous of wimmen to whom this stuff comes naturally. It’s a bleedin’ art-form to get it right I tell ya!

St. Tropez Perfect Legs Spray simply takes the hard work out of bronzing. Definite repurchase for those times when tights just won’t do.

St. TropezPerfect Legs Spray is priced at £10.00 and available from the usual stockists.

* press sample

I received an interesting press release yesterday that shows the results of a nationwide survey on fake tanning.  It was conducted by YouTravel.com and I thought it was rather fun!

The regions most keen on their fake bake are the north-east and south-east of England, where renowned tanning capitals, Newcastle and Essex, can be found.  A staggering 81% of respondents from the South East claimed to have applied their tans from a bottle this year!

image courtesy of youtravel.com – click here to see full results

Perhaps indicative of just how rubbish I am at fake tanning, my region (the South West) came out with lowest score on the glow-o-meter with just 46% of us bothering to get our glows on.

How did your part of the UK stack up?  And what about you personally, are you a fake tan go-getter?

If I listen carefully enough, I can hear whoops of joy from 1000s of women south of Watford.  You see, we haven’t had easy access to the inexpensive, uber-tan St. Moriz.  Alas, we’re not deserving enough of B&M Stores, Home Bargains or TJ Hughes.  Infact, when the fake tanner took the beauty blogging world by storm a couple of years ago I remember scouring the aisles of my local TK Maxx for months trying to source a bottle!

Well, we can stop feeling excluded because Mr. T is bringing St. Moriz to the masses.

From the 3rd August, you’ll be able to nab a bottle along with your weekly shop and until the end of the month, it’s on introductory offer:

St. Moriz Self Tanning Mousse Medium (Introductory price of £3.99 – RRP £4.99) until 30th August 2011

St. Moriz Self Tanning Mousse Dark (Introductory price of £3.99 – RRP £4.99) until 30th August 2011

St. Moriz Self Tanning Lotion (Introductory price of £3.99 – RRP £4.99) until 30th August 2011

Not only that but when you buy any St. Moriz product you will receive a 75ml Tan Maximising Body Exfoliating Polish, absolutely free*.

It’s turning out to be a resolutely dodgy Summer but at least we can get our glow on for less than a fiver!

Do you use St. Moriz?  Got any application tips?

* while stocks last

With the pitiful summer we’ve been experiencing so far, we could do with some extra help in the body-beautiful department and I may have just the thing!

Dove Spa are offering a tan-tastic deal on a St. Tropez spray tan.  You have until the 9th July to try the treatment for just £10 (normal RRP £25).

Check here for Dove Spa locations (they’re not just in London!) and you can give them a ring on 0844 875 1575 to book an appointment.

Fake Bake have introduced a new range instore at New Look designed to appeal to High Street bargainistas!

Four paraben-free products to fulfill your self-tan needs, the new high street range incorporates:

Pasty to Tasty wash off instant-tan £6
Rough to Buff perfectly smooth body polish £5
Dull to Delicious oil free moisturiser £5
Bland to Tanned sun-kissed self-tan £10

The packaging is not a hit with me it has to be said.  I might be partial to the odd high street bargain, but I’m not 7 – which incidentally is probably the last time I dotted my I’s with hearts.

Will you be giving this a try?

UK ladies (sorry my lovely international readers), get thee-selves over to the Lipglossiping Facebook Page, Once on there, make sure you “Like It” and leave a comment letting me know that you’d like to throw your name into the virtual hat for a chance to win.

Celebrity Secrets Professional Airbrush Tan in a Can! (£19.74)

As innovative as spray cheese but less messy and probably more tasty!

Here’s what they say about it:

Loaded with our unique vitamin-enriched Celebrity Secrets Natural Tan solution in an easy-to-use can using the 360 degree spray technology, this product contains no alcohol or CFCs, no gasses, just tanning solution in a safe fine mist.

With its long shelf life, this popular product is ideal to top up your tan or can be used to apply 3-4 complete body tans in the comfort of your own home, without the need for professional equipment.

If I’m gonna tan… I need it to be fuss free, which is exactly what this spray tan promises.  Not only that, but it’s also suitable for use on the face and as I’m reading the can now… I see that it also proudly announces itself to be Paraben Free.

Tanning is a chore, but for many ladies an absolute necessity (especially this time of the year!).  Me?  I just thank the heavens daily for the invention that is the Maxi Dress.  No more dazzling people with my pasty fishbelly leges.

Are you a Summer tanner?  Do you have to fake it or are you blessed with a natural glow within days of the sun first peeking out through the clouds?

Good luck if you enter!

I shall draw a winner from all Facebook commenters on the 23rd July!

P.S. – I know that some of you would rather stick hot pins in your eyes than sign up on facebook, so if you wanna join in the fun but are allergic to the “book of faces”, drop me an email with the subject “JULY GIVEAWAY” (and a few lines of text to get past my spam filter) and I’ll make sure you’re entered too!

My dislike for “innovation” in beauty products is fairly well documented, so it’s nice to come across a product that is innovative in a proper science-y way (rather than a “stick a battery in it and make it buzz” kinda way).

Fake Bake have come up with what they’re calling a “Self Tan Revolution” and it involves something rather interesting…

Now, I did a “Home Economics” GCSE at school many, many years ago…  It taught me lots of valuable life lessons.  How to bake Cheese Scones & a great Spinach Gratin… how to avoid Scurvy and perhaps most importantly, I learnt about the importance of vitamins and what ‘orrible things might happen to my eyeballs if I were to become deficient.

One of those vitamins was a little fella called Vitamin D, also known as the “sunshine vitamin” because our bodies are able to produce significant quantities of it with the help of sun exposure.

Vitamin D helps our bodies absorb other minerals and nutrients such as calcium, obviously essential for healthy teeth and bones.  There have also been studies in recent years that suggest links between disorders such as depression and a lack of Vitamin D.

But what’s this got to do with self-tanning solutions?

Well, the bods at Fake Bake have incorporated Vitamin D into their tanning range of products and treatments, mimicking the body’s natural ability to create the vitamin through the skin.

I know that in theory, it’s no different to incorporating anti-aging or anti-cellulite ingredients into products, but it’s good to see something so obviously beneficial in a non-superficial way being introduced into a product that’s used by so many.

And I bet my Cheese Scones are better than yours.

I don’t claim to be a fake tan expert.  Infact, I’m the opposite.  I’m your bonafide fake tan dunce.  I’m so pale that in certain light my skin takes on that blue/grey fishbelly tinge… blue/grey… fishbelly.  Sexy.

Bronzed is something I’ll never achieve naturally.  I went to Australia for 9 months and friends still dine out on the fact that I returned paler.  I have been endlessly fascinated by fake tan solutions, but infinitely frightened of waking up the next morning looking like a bad parody of a Ganguro girl.

Fears aside, my interest was piqued when I saw a press release for Fake Bake’s new Platinum Facial Self Tanner.  It describes itself as the next generation of self-tan.  “Why?” I hear you cry… (yes, I do!) …because my dear readers, it contains pioneering Apple Stem Cell Technology.

“What’s Apple Stem Cell Technology?” I hear you ask, mouth’s wide open in anticipation… (shut up, you’re practically on the edge of your seats innit).  Dunno… hands up if you know what Apple Stem Cell Technology is?  I take it we’re talking Granny Smith’s finest and not Steve Jobs right?

Oh no wait… *reads press release*… ok… check this:

Not just ANY Swiss apple. RARE Swiss apple.  They only fall from trees on a Tuesday in a month beginning with the letter J and only if it’s a full moon.  Of course, I jest… I’m really none the wiser though.  But it sounds good, and I think I might want some regardless.

Just think though, how mega young would we look if  we actually ATE this RARE Swiss apple instead of fake tanning with it?  Maybe that’s Demi’s secret? The apples are only rare ‘cos that greedy bitch is having them shipped by the container load direct to her breakfast table.

Wanna know how to get your hands on this RARE Swiss apple goodness, and get bronzed and gorgeous while you’re at it?

Fake Bake Platinum Face Self-Tan is launching into Salons and retailers nationwide this month priced at £29.95.