Me and fake tan do not get on. On the few occasions I've tried it over the years, it's ended up patchy, orange, or both. I once sported feet that David Dickinson would be proud of after a particularly over-zealous encounter with a bottle of St Tropez and they remained orange for weeks after the rest of my tan(go) had faded. Not a good look!
Perhaps it's because my skin is dry and very pale, but I've not fared much better with gradual tanners either, which, despite promising to be simpler and more natural-looking, still go patchy. And don't even get me started on the lingering smell of biscuits that seems to be a necessary tanning evil.
Given all that, I decided a few years ago to embrace the pale and interesting look. I would much rather be deathly white than orange any day of the week. But summer is fast approaching, I have a holiday coming up and, frankly, I just feel more confident getting my legs out when they're not so milk bottle.
So when I heard about the new Radiance-Plus Golden Glow Booster from Clarins I was intrigued. It's basically a concentrated vial of gradual self-tan that you add to your usual moisturiser. Clarins recommend adding 4-6 drops per 'zone' and the fact that it's totally customisable really appealed to me. You're in control, so you can simply add more or less depending on how dark (or not, as the case may be) you want the end result to look.
I broke my body down into arms and chest; thighs and bum; knees, calves and feet, missing out my tummy because it's never on show. With my regular body cream - a Body Shop Body Butter - at the ready, I added 4 drops of tan to the amount of cream I'd usually use to cover each of those areas. I then mixed the two together in my hands and applied as normal i.e slapping it on in a haphazard fashion until it's vaguely rubbed in. It was super easy and faff-free.
Interestingly, Clarins also offer a version of this product for the face, but you get half the quantity (15ml as opposed to 30ml) for only a few pounds less. I questioned what was the difference between the two and was advised that the body version is slightly darker. So I simply added 2 drops instead of the recommended 4-6 to my usual amount of moisturiser to cover my face and neck.
Over the course of a few hours, a subtle colour developed. On my very pale skin, it was noticeable enough to minimise the milk bottle effect on my legs and give my face a healthy glow, but it was not so noticeable as to look fake.
When I've used fake tan in the past, I've always had dodgy results around my wrist, elbows and ankles where the skin is dryer. Not so here. I was left with an even coating of natural-looking colour. If you're darker skinned, I'd say you could easily apply 6 drops per area without it looking too dark. Alas, there was a still faint whiff of Eau de Biscuit once the colour started to emerge, but it was not as bad as other tanning products I've tried.
I used it again a couple of days later and was even more impressed second time around. The colour on both my face and body was really natural looking. No-one else would be able to tell I was wearing fake tan, I'm sure of it, but I just looked that little bit healthier. That's exactly the effect I wanted.
Overall, I think this is an excellent buy. It's certainly the best self-tan I've ever tried and is brilliant for dipping your pasty toe in the tanning water if you're an orange-phobe like me. The 30ml body version worked perfectly well on the face, so I'd suggest opting for that rather than getting the smaller version. At around the £23 mark, it's not the cheapest gradual tanner on the market, but the bottle should last a while and the quality of the results make it good value for money.
Buy the Clarins Radiance-Plus Golden Glow Booster HERE
Happy tanning!
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