As a fair skinned person with a cool undertone, and having had a cancerous mole cut from my back at age 26 I don't try and get a tan, and even though I was brought up in the era of tanned skin being beautiful (and we're talking really dark tans), and white skin was 'pasty and unhealthy' looking, I've managed to overcome this early conditioning and embrace my fair skin (I mean, nobody says that Nicole Kidman or Cate Blanchett should get a tan, so why should I?).
Over the years I've tried a number of fake (or as they often call them now - sunless tans) - as these are the ONLY way to tan if you feel you need one, and I know some like them because they are good at hiding a spider vein and skin blemishes that appear over time. Interestingly, I've had clients who fake tan all the time as they say they look healthier, what I've discovered time and again, is that they were wearing the wrong coloured clothing, which was washing them out, and when they started wearing their ideal colours, suddenly they looked so much healthier and more vibrant and don't feel that same need to fake tan any longer.
Oompa Loompa orange not being in my colour palette, I've found that most of the tans I've tried are just too orangy and warm, and well just really fake looking on my skin.
Roadtesting the Wotnot Natural Self-Tan
I recently met with the lovely people from Wotnot who make a range of 100% natural skin products such as sunscreen, face wipes and fake tan and I thought, that I'd give their sunless tan a go - they are made from organic ingredients and some extra aloe vera that promises to leave a naturally fading tan. There are no parabens, dyes, alchol or petrochemicals in this formulation so it's kind to your skin (and an option for those with a more sensitive skin).
I was told I wouldn't turn Oompa Loompa orange - so I showered, exfoliating while in there (as you should for the best result) and then donned a pair of gloves (no desire for an orangy glow left on my hands) and rubbed in the tan, which goes on like a moisturiser and left my skin feeling smooth and soft. I put on some darker coloured clothing as it can leave marks on white and light clothing and went about my day.
The tan develops over an 8 hour period and looks about as natural (except where I didn't do a great job of blending it into my feet - there it was obvious that I'd take tanned). I wouldn't apply it more than once on my skin as it still goes too golden to look good on me with a heavier application. But one coat did give me a golden glow and a friend remarked that I looked tanned (not fake tanned) so that was a good sign that it didn't look unnatural.
Over the next few days I can see it fading evenly, and so far it hasn't gone patchy as I've experienced with others before, this is a great feature (as I've never experienced this before with a self-tan product).
If you have a warm undertone - this would be a fabulous sunless tanning product for you to try and I'm sure if you wanted a deeper tan you could do two or three coats over a few days and it would look good.
With a cool undertone like mine - one application every 5-7 days would have you looking gently tanned and not like you're about the join the cast of The Wizard of Oz.
It's great to find a tanning product that does look good - and I'm loving the Facial Wipes for taking off my makeup at the end of the day too.
