Summer, What Summer? Making The Best Of It With St Moriz

Well Friday saw the official end of summer, What summer I hear you cry? Well it's been a bit of a wash out hasn't it - it's supposedly been one of the wettest summers on record in the UK. I can seriously count the number of sunny summer days we've had on one hand (and one of those days was actually today!). If like me you haven't been lucky enough to head away to warmer places this year, all in all it's been a bit depressing. I am debating whether to build an ark with all the rain and I'm pale enough to play Casper the friendly ghost. It doesn't have to be that way though, so I've been dabbling with the fake tan and the bronzer, in attempt to make myself look a tiny bit healthier than I actually feel, with varying result I may add.

One of the fake tans that I've being playing with this summer is St Moriz, a year or so ago there was a massive buzz surrounding this budget fake tan. The hype has died down a bit now but I'm still a huge fan of the brand. I currently own the lotion, the mousse, and the spray, but I didn't realise how varied the St Moriz range now is, you can buy glimmer lotion, bronzing powder, and they even do a range of body care products to enhance your fake tan experience. A little while ago now the lovely people on behalf of St Moriz sent me one of their Mini Bronzing Collection's to try out.

Designed to help you prepare, create and maintain the perfect fake tan, this airline safe kit contains 100ml tube of St Moriz Exfoliating Body Scrub, 100ml pump action bottle of the famous St Moriz Instant Self-Tanning Mousse in either Medium or Dark, and 100ml tube of St Moriz Ultra Moisturising Body Lotion, all packaged in a clear, zip fastening toiletry bag.

St Moriz Exfoliating Body Scrub  

I have to say I love body scrub - I exfoliate at least three times a week in the bath or the shower. Exfoliating leaves your skin looking soft and smooth, and it prevents ingrown hairs essential if your a waxer like me. If your a fake tan user though you'll know just how important it is to use a body scrub, fake tan clings to dry and flaky skin leaving a streaky and uneven tan. The brains behind St Moriz believe that preparation is key for a perfect self tan so they've developed a body scrub to help us along our way.

They recommend that you use this scrub on wet skin, concentrating on traditionally drier areas such as the knees, elbows and feet. The base of the scrub is a lightly foaming gel, which contains lots of exfoliating walnut shell particles.

It has a fresh smell that I can't quite describe it's a little bit fresh, a bit aquatic, and maybe even a bit like bubblegum. It produced a very gentle foaming action, and a surprisingly gentle scrub. Given the ingredients I expected this scrub to have a bit more of bite to it but it was actually quite gentle. If like me you like a slightly  more abrasive scrub, you can apply it onto dry skin, and then add water later. This wasn't actually a bad body scrub (although it did fail Mummy Lou's clean bath test ;), it left the skin feeling soft and clean but having said that I probably wouldn't repurchase as I've said before I much prefer salt or sugar based body scrub.

St Moriz Instant Self Tanning Mousse - Dark

If you've ever used St Moriz in the past I can pretty much guarantee that it's the mousse that you've tried. It was the first St Moriz product that I ever bought and I've repurchased a couple of times since then. However    the colour that I normally purchase is the original  or Medium mousse, the one I received in this kit was the Dark! I have to say I was actually quite scared at this point - as I said before I am ghostly pale and I would never have dreamed of buying a dark fake tan, but I was brave and gave it a go.

First of all the packaging I love pump action dispensers, they make application so much easier - I applied this like I normally do with a velour tanning mitt - I think these are brilliant for beginners and more experienced tanners. The mousse looked a tiny bit darker than my usual St Moriz but it certainly wasn't scary, it had an almost golden, honeycomb type colour. It has quite a fresh fragrance but nothing too heavy.

It was quite easy to apply it has a light mousse like texture that isn't too wet or too sticky, and it dried really quickly.

This mousse is described as instant and it did give a nice light golden colour when it was first applied - you can hopefully see that in these befores and afters (ignore the hideous bruise if you can please ;)

Before

Straight After Application

I also did my familiar one leg challenge for you, so you can see pale and pasty versus tanned and golden  - in case you can't tell I've only fake tanned my left leg ;)

Straight After Application

Roughly 24 Hours Later 

As you can see I really didn't have anything to be scared of, yes it is a shade or two darker than the original mousse, but it's not too much or scary. I have to say I was really impressed with the colour - it actually looked pretty natural, there were barely any streaks, and my skin felt pretty smooth and not too dry. I can even say that the traditional self tan, digestive pong wasn't too bad with this one - this is a definite winner for me and I would be scared to try the Dark shade again.

St Moriz Ultra Moisturising Body Lotion

If you want beautiful skin the key is to keep moisturised. Nothing looks worse than dry, grey, flaky skin. As well as keeping your body hydrated from the inside , the majority of us should also apply a body moisturiser to keep our skin soft and supple on the outside. If your a fake tanner or if your lucky enough to have got a real tan you'll know how important moisturising is to keep your tan looking it best and for making it last longer, so it's no surprise that the St Moriz Mini Bronzing Collection also contains a body lotion.

I'm probably telling you something that you already know here but you shouldn't moisturise your face or you body just before you use fake tan. The lotion or cream can dilute the fake tan and make it go patchy - not what you want, but it's important to keep you skin hydrated before you fake tan to avoid the dry, streaky bits, and it's important to moisturise after you've tanned in order to make your tan look fresh, and to keep it even and lasting longer. St Moriz advise that you apply this lotion after your tan has dried morning and evening. I have to be honest and say I left it till the next day before I moisturised just to be sure that my colour developed evenly.

It has the same aquatic, bubblegum type fragrance as the body scrub. St Moriz describe this as a lotion but it's not a runny lotion or a milk, it actually more like a lightweight cream. It feels almost cooling and soothing on the skin. It's very easy to massage in and it absorbs quite quickly, leaving the skin feeling quite soft.

This is actually a really nice product - I'm not really in love with the smell but this is a decent body lotion that did the job.

This is a great kit if your going on holiday or if your new to self tanning. The kit gives everything you need bar an applicator to prepare, create and maintain the perfect fake tan. I don't know whether it was the combination of these products specifically but my St Moriz tan this time lasted longer, and faded more evenly than what is has in the past. I'm not a 100% sure I would buy the scrub and lotion again but I have to say the Instant Self Tan Mousse is pretty good if you want a golden glow on a budget. The St Moriz Mini Bronzing Collection retails at around £6.99. For stockist details and more information on St Moriz please check out their official website x Have you ever tried St Moriz ? let me know in the comments, and let me know if you've attacked the faux glow or if you've embraced the pale this summer xx

(St Moriz Mini Bronzing Collection Was Provided For Review Purposes)