It's Summer: go forth & tan!

First we need to get something straight: I’m not talking a weeklong fry in the sun, but rather a fake bake at the spraygun of a trained professional. Or perhaps an expert application by your own hands if you’re that way inclined, especially given the high quality products hitting the beauty market on a more than regular basis that make that sort of thing easy for even the novices amongst us. And as for the shade du jour? It’s known as Royal Mocha – the name the beauty press gave royal sister-in-law Pippa Middleton’s particular hue - as opposed to the Fierce Fanta more associated with the likes of Katie Price.
Applied well, a fake tan makes even the greyest of days – I’m talking to you, Auckland city – feel festive and summery, and does wonders when it’s time to peel the layers off. Not only do you look like you’ve just had a week in Fiji, you also have a beautiful even skintone and don’t even need a smidgen of make up – although a matte coral lip looks pretty damn perfect if you’re like me and just can’t leave the house with a slash of my favourite M.A.C shade.
For at home bronzing, you can’t go past St Tropez’s Gradual Tan for Body ultra rich moisturiser. An enriched, nourishing body moisturiser, it cleverly combines serious skincare benefits with a healthy touch of bronze – and the sun need not apply. Infused with soothing aloe vera, this lotion helps give you smoother, yummier skin while building a gradual golden tan, every day. Like all St Tropez products, it uses their innovative Aromaguard fragrance technology to eliminate that musty smelling telltale self tan aroma by a minimum of 70 per cent, and instead has a beautifully subtle fragrance that won’t cancel out your perfume. Exfoliate well in the shower before massaging this luxurious lotion in from top to toe, and it doesn’t matter if you go over the same area twice as it’s only the missed areas that’ll look uneven. Wait for the lotion to be absorbed before getting dressed. And as with any instant tanner, wash hands after use.
One of the best professionally applied spray tans I’ve tried recently was at Ponsonby Road’s Love My Look, where I experienced a Norvell tan for the first time before a trip to Fiji and was hugely impressed. While I was there I heard all about their newest offering, which takes the sometimes eight-hour long wait for your tan to develop and slashes it to an incredible one hour before showering. This means you can pop in after work and hit the town that night, rather than having to spend a night waiting for it to dry and avoiding water like the plague! After application, warm water rinse after just one hour to achieve a natural bronze, two hours to achieve medium bronze and three hours for darkest bronze. Just like that!
Another product with near instant tanner’s gratification that I’m in love with is from Mecca Cosmetica. Part of the ByTerry range, it’s called Soleil Terribly and is a sunny tinted serum with a “self-radiant” effect for a natural tan without overexposure to the sun or DHA. An alternative to bronzing powders; it’s a great choice if you have a talc allergy (which more and more people have due to the stuff being in so many of our damn products) and gives your face a healthy glow.
And last but not least, I’ve just seen a true multitasker from Green People, a new range of award-winning organic sun lotions that use effective natural and skin friendly ingredients to efficiently protect against UVA and UVB rays. As well as some great unscented sunblocks and a kid’s range called Oy! (As in Organic Young), Green People offer a very clever product known simply as the Sun Lotion SPF15 with Tan Accelerator. This contains an extract from the carob tree that naturally stimulates melanin; speeding up the tanning process by 25 per cent and reduces the tan-fading rate by almost 50 per cent. Spend less time in the sun, tan, and protect your skin all in one!