Beauty How-To: Fake Tanning Tips

Let’s be honest here…how many of us have done a hasty home tan job at 11pm and woken up the next day to a DISASTER.

Streaks, patches, orange sheets…you name it and I have done it. So I went on a research rampage and dug up the best self tanner tips and tricks to getting a good tan, and also fixing a disaster!

Some of our tips:

Lemon Squeezy

A DIY remedy at home is to use lemon and baking soda. Mixed together the acidity in the lemon juice reacts with baking soda. Spread on your skin for a few minutes and it should lift the tan out of your pores. 

Your Mitts

If there is one thing I have learn’t from self tanning it is…ALWAYS USE A MITT. I first stumbled across this delightful device from ModelCo years ago. It makes blending super easy and also means that you don’t get those weird darker patches in between your fingers which seem to happen no matter how much you wash your hands. 

Shop the ModelCo Mitt here.

Always Exfoliate

I cannot stress this one enough. Use a good sunless tan exfoliator before you apply your fake tan. It might be ok short term, but the days after will see you loosing your fake tan in flaky patches if you haven’t removed all the dead skin cells first.

You are actually supposed to buff your skin anyway, every night, so the tan comes off evenly and looks natural.

Off the back of Exfoliation comes…Dry Brushing!

If you want to kick it up a notch try…dry-brushing. This is either when you want to remove a particularly bad tan job or if you want to prep your skin to be glowy and radiant (who doesn’t want that!). Remember this is NOT for your face.

The process is essentially, using a body brush in the shower with no water, followed by baby oil, followed by another scrub that you then wash off in the shower.

Commercial Products

There are a whole host of products that you can buy- tan extender, buffer, tan remover…the list goes on. You can try THIS St Tropez tan remover, or THIS ModelCo Tan remover.