Fake Tan Royalty

So of course you have all heard of St Moriz fake tan.
Praise for this badboy has been circulating the blogosphere for months, infact, it was Lollipop26's youtube review of this product that first enticed me into the world of beauty blogs/vlogs.
I'm not blogging about it today to talk about how amazing it is (although it really is very good!), but more to pick up on a negative that people have mentioned in regards to this product.
Some people have said that initially they absolutely love it, however after a few days it starts to go patchy.
I for one do not have this problem with St Moriz, which I pin down to the way in which I apply it, which might be slightly differently to the way it is applied by those who find it goes patchy on the skin (or it might not, but its worth trying to get to the bottom of the problem, right?:) )

Obviously the first step is to exfoliate the skin. All good tanning advice urges that you do this before applying fake tan, to prep the skin and remove all dead skin cells.
The next step is to moisturise. I do not moisturise all over after iv showered an exfoliated. Instead, I moisturise each body part directly before applying the fake tan to it. If im tanning my legs, I'll moisturise my left leg and tan that, before moisturising my right leg and tanning that. I find this way that the moisturiser helps the fake tan to spread more evenly.

To apply the tan, I use a SolTan tanning mitt from Boots. I used to use my hands, but its a messy process and the tanning glove really helps to distribute the product evenly all over my skin.

How much of the product you use is entirely a personal preference dependant upon how tanned you wish to look, so I will say no more on that :)

I tend to apply my fake tan a day or two before the event for which I wish to look tanned (for example, I do my promotional work on a Friday night so its nice to look tanned and healthy for it, therefore I'll either apply my fake tan on the wednesday night, or the Thursday), and this is due to a number of factors.

The Smell: I am yet to come across a fake tan that doesnt smell horrible...think a strong biscuity smell, not very attractive. If I apply the fake tan on the day I wish to look tanned, I am going to be walking around smelling like a biscuit. To eliminate the smell completely, I like to get two showers in before I am due to go out. It is recommended that you wait at least 8 hours after applying the tan before you shower. If I apply the tan on the Wednesday night, I will go to bed with it on (am yet to encounter sheet staining!) and then shower on Thursday and go about my day. Then shower as normal on Friday, and by friday evening I will be tanned and smelling completely non-offensive:) On the Thursday there is the chance I'll be walking around smelling biscuity, but not much that can be done about it!

The benefit of several showers before the event for which you wish to look tanned is also that you can wash off all the excess product, and leave yourself with an incredible natural looking tan. I find that after application, I'll wake up looking pretty orangey. This is only due to the excess product, and after a shower this tones right down to a lovely golden brown.

To prolong the tan, moisturise daily. This advice applies for natural tans and is the same for fake tans. If your skin becomes dry then there is a higher chance of the fake or natural tan peeling or becoming patchy. I find that moisturisation every day will prevent this :)

Hopefully this wasnt a complete parroting of tanning advice thats been given before, I just find that this is the process that works best for me as I have never had any problem with my fake tanning application :)

Holly xx