St Tropez Self Tan Express and Velvotan

Crop tops have been big this summer, and while I'm ok with how my belly looks, one thing which instantly improves it is a tan. I'm guilty of just tanning my legs if I'm wearing a skirt and leaving out my top half as my arms have caught the sun naturally. One place I often forget is my belly and when there's a last minute decision to get it out, I need a quick fix to get rid of the 2 tone effect my body has taken on. A glowing belly isn't a good look on anyone except a tellytubbie! I love that there are now tans on the market that work that bit quicker, it really has made my life getting ready that little bit easier.

Velvotan sent me their range of tanning accessories to try out and as I’m a bit of a tanning addict I was eager to give them a go. You don't have to ask me to tan twice! They have 4 great products to help with the tanning process. This was timed perfectly with me sampling the St Tropez Express tan.

St. Tropez Self Tan Express Bronze Mousse is perfect for those who haven't got the time to tan. It only takes an hour to develop so you can whack it on and let it go to work while you get on with your life. This is prefect for me. I'm rubbish at planning ahead so anything that means I can just leave it to do its thing is great.

Usually I shave and exfoliate in the morning and tan before bed. I used the Body Polishing sponge to rub away dead skin cells and any old fake tan that might be clinging on for dear life. In this case I tanned in the evening and washed it off before I went o sleep as this one didn’t need as long to develop. There was no way this one was going to stain my sheets!

As usual I moisturised my knees, elbows and any other dry patches as well as my face, the backs of my hands and my feet.

I applied the mousse one pump at a time using Velvotan's pretty pink applicator mitt. I personally add it to the mitt and rub it in but I’m sure putting it straight on the skin works well too –I guess it’s ending up there anyway!  I used the little tanning mitt on my face which really helped apply to tan to the sides of my nose and around my chin, with a bigger mitt this can be difficult. I found the mitt more cute than I should have! It’s so dinky! They are both really soft and apply the tan brilliantly. I've used mitts that are a similar price and are really scratchy but these have quite a pleasant feel to them.

The mousse is really lightweight and I even found that the bottle was impressive, it’s really sturdy and you don’t worry that it’s going to leak or break open if it gets knocked about –maybe I need to start treating my products better…?

It smoothed on nicely and was easy to blend, and unlike any other tan I’ve tried I instantly found it really moisturising.

 A tricky place to tan is the back, but the folding back applicator folds out so you are able to do it yourself without becoming some sort of contortionist. I found this a little fiddly at first and actually found it was best to use this for the harder to reach areas in the middle, down the spine etc and I used the mitt on my hand for the rest, I just didn’t have to stretch and strain as much as I usually do. TOP TOP -take this in your suitcase for applying suncream and after sun on holiday!

The tan dries very quickly and I was able to put my clothes back on almost straight away –there is no bad smell with this either!

The intensity of the tan depends on how long you want to wait, it gets darker as time goes on but stops after 3 hours. I left it 3 hours, I like a deep tan and I wanted to push this baby to the limit! I rinsed off the tan with WATER ONLY –this is something I’ve learnt, don’t use shower gel, it makes the whole process pointless and you’re pretty much back at square one!

Even after washing off the tan continues to develop and deepen for up to 8 hours, You are left with a really natural brown colour –no orange tones in sight! The results are (bold claim alert!) better than any spray tan I’ve had and you don’t have to sit in it for hours while it develops.

The next day I was so impressed with my tan, it had done as it claimed, I was a really deep brown and it lasted a good week with me taking care of it by moisturising.

This has easily become my new favourite tan –and I’ve tried a fair few! St Tropez has a great reputation, and there is a good reason!

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£33 for 200ml might seem a bit pricey, but for something that works and give you results so quickly it’s really worth a go! 

You can buy the whole set of the Velvotan goodies for £8.75 at Feel Unique and St Tropez Express from Boots.

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