Fake Tanning On A Budget - Tanatomicals The Holy Grail For The Deathly Pale*

I meant to pop this post up yesterday but I had relatives over all afternoon so I never got round to it - sorry! Still nothings changed really has it, it's still dull and it's still raining, there have been some tiny sunny intervals both yesterday and today but the latest rumour is this horrid weather is going to last for at least two weeks - sob :( What does bad weather mean ? well no suntan for me  :( I know I talked about the importance of SPF the other day and I still stand by everything I said, but it is possible to get some colour safely and with protection, just not in this weather so I think I'm going to have to dig out the faux glow.

I'm not a fake tan junkie by any means but I do like a bit of extra colour especially during the summer months. I will freely admit that St Tropez Mousse is my fake tan of choice but it's pricey so I've decided to try out a few cheaper alternatives for my benefit and for yours :)

The first budget fake tan product I'm going to try out for you is by quirky brand Anatomicals' , fake tan line Tanatomicals.

Whatever your self tan preference creams, sprays and mousses Tantatomicals probably have a fake tan for you. As I said before I am a mousse girl so I was delighted to be sent the quirky named The Holy Grail For The Deathly Pale Instant + Self Tan Mousse.

Enriched with moisturisers such as Aloe Vera, this mousse is pH balanced to minimise dryness, and irritation. It's designed to give the skin an instant glow which will then develop into a natural tan.

Ahead of using the product I made sure that my skin was well exfoliated and that I'd been using a body moisturiser for a few days prior to using the product particularly on my drier areas such as my knees and my ankles. As you can see from these before pictures my legs are pretty pale :(

The mousse itself comes packaged in the traditional pump action dispenser. It is a sort of mustard / brown in colour which is quite unlike the green tinged products that I normally use.

I applied the product to clean, dry skin using my favourites method of application the tanning mitt (I have a review of my preferred mitts coming soon). The first thing you notice about the product apart from the colour is the smell - none of your hideous self tan smells here this product smells of a summery cocktail, think   coconut and pineapples yum! The next thing you notice is the colour to be honest it looked very scary after the initial application, it looked very orange on my skin, personally there is no way I would have gone out with my skin that colour - it's looking OK in this picture but it looked a lot more orange toned like irl

So the instant tan aspect was a bit of a fail for me so I left it to develop overnight. This mousse I have to say dried really quickly, and left the skin feeling matte and without any stickiness. I was able to go and sit on the sofa and dress with about 5 minutes of applying it. It left no marks or the furniture, my sheets or my clothing. I also noticed that the Pina Colada smell lingered and it never developed that horrid digestive biscuit aroma.

By the next day the colour on my legs had changed dramatically, instead of the unflattering orangey shade, my legs had developed a very subtle and natural looking tan. It's not that easy to see it in these pics but as I say the colour was very natural.

I decided to pop on another coat just to see if you could go a bit darker with this product, again I left it over night and this was the result

Again the lighting isn't the best but I did go a little bit darker so you can definitely build up the colour if you want (ignore the sock marks lol)

I have to say I really liked this fake tan, the initial colour didn't work on me at all but it developed into a super natural looking tan. It smelt great, it wasn't drying or sticky and the colour faded pretty well, without any major patching or dryness. If you like a super dark, obvious fake tan this isn't the one for you, if your a fake tan newbie and you want something natural, just ignore the instant colour and this colour be the one for you .In fact I've already bought my godmother a bottle of this tan purely based on the smell - she hates the usual fake tan smell and this one seems to be suiting her down to the ground - Look even Jasper wanted to try it out - I'm sure he's got enough of a tan already though hasn't he ;)

Tanatomicals The Holy Grail For The Deathly Pale Instant + Self Tan Mousse 150ml retails at around £6.99  from Superdrug and various other retailers. Have you tried any of the Tanatomicals products? and what's your favourite fake tan product? let me know in the comments x

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