I Heart - Clinique Self Sun

Clinique Self-Tan Review - Body Tinted Lotion in Light Medium

And look at the new version of the Superdrug tanning mitt, it's bright pink!

Yes Superdrug I lurve pink you know it!

I was sent the first bottle by Clinique and I have now purchased one two since there was a GWP on 2 purchases myself after that ran out.  This stuff is gold to me! I love it. Really really love it.  So if you want to try it they have a special offer in House of Fraser right now a GWP and 10% off of beauty at Debenhams, so get in there!

What they say "Clinique introduces its Self Sun Collection - the perfect solution for the smart woman looking for a gorgeous, believable glow without overexposing herself to the sun's damaging rays'.

This body tinted lotion comes in Light - Medium or Medium - Deep and I was sent the Light - Medium to review and have repurchased this colour as I am happy with the colour, I will review the darker one if we ever have summer in England!

Cost - £15.50 for 125ml

You can see the mica at extreme closeup level

Packaging - Packaged in a golden brown squeezy tube this was functional rather than glamorous however it looks a lot prettier on the shelf than St Tropez, Xen Tan, St Moriz and similar products, it's not quite as pretty as the funky fuchsia of Sienna - X and don't get me started on companies who use orange packaging for their fake tan...if even the bottle is orange, it doesn't bode well!

This is what it looks like before you rub it in, as you can see its more of a cream/gel

Scent - This does have a scent, but it's not that weird biscuity scent that fake tans of yore used to have. But I can't quite work out what it is, it smells slightly like fruit, it certainly isn't offensive and it's powerful at all. It does not in any way have the smell that Clinique fake tan used to when I was around 15 and managed to completely tango myself when 'borrowing' my mums one.

Ease of application - extremely easy to use, you don't need a sponge mitt just a latex glove (I am personally not a fan of stained palms so I always wear a latex glove rather than using bare hands). It blends in easily and quickly and while the guide colour is quite light it is dark enough for you to see where you have put the tan on. This blends in so you don't have any streaks at all, it would probably blend even better if you didn't use the gloves but I have to. I know it doesn't really matter if the guide colour has streaks since it's just the guide that is washed off, but it's less embarassing if you tan during the daytime.

Guide Colour - the tan is formulated with caramel, and it does have a golden caramel tone to it. Not in any way orange or dirty brown, a gorgeous caramel bronze. It does have some slight mica in there but it just looks glowy not glittery and makes the tan more golden and not as flat. This product would be great if you were going on a night out and needed to tan before you go and go out wearing the guide colour.

This is the inside of my elbow, if the product makes these lines just

 take a cotton wool pad and dab the excess product away DO NOT rub

How long did the guide colour take to dry - this takes longer than a mousse or a spray as it is a lotion - it's the thickness of a gel facewash I would say and took around 15 minutes although it does warn you of this on the side of the bottle. I also sped the process up by using my hairdryer on myself. I do this all the time anyway actually as I love the feeling of warm air on my skin! No wonder Mariah Carey always has a wind machine in her videos, it's very addictive.

It applied really well on the hands, shocking for a fake tan!

The nailvarnish is by Nailgirls

How long to develop - this only takes around 3 hours to develop fully however I wouldn't shower or wash it off until 8 hours have passed just in case, as with all other fake tans.

This is my before and after shot, sadly I looked dodgy from the eyebrows down

so no full face this time! But I am wearing it in my youtube video avatar pic which is full face

Colour rub off - this didn't have any rub off on clothes or bedsheets as the guide colour is very subtle and not super dark. Handy if your other half complains about the bedsheets changing colour.

Colour afterwards - the final colour is pretty much a slightly deeper shade of the guide colour, a lovely toffee caramel. Exactly the same colour as pictures you see of Jennifer Aniston's tan, so golden but not super dark (well this is light to medium after all).

Overall

A fantastic colour, I would say subtle although it certainly makes me a lot darker than I am naturally, its more of an L.A. tan than a deep dark carribean tan, you could obviously get the darker version for a deeper more intense colour. This is perfect for Spring. I would say out of all of the tans I have used this has been the most idiot-proof. It didn't cause a problem on hands or feet, and the DHA darkened to a natural brown rather than orange.

Would I purchase this - I was sent a tube for free to try out, as you may have seen in my recent April favourites video I used up the entire tube and I have now purchased more. I have no idea who would purchase the face tanner mind you, they are essentially the same product so why would you buy a separate face and body tanner? Bizarre, I just use the body one on my face and have had no ill effects.

To buy online, visit http://www.clinique.co.uk/