If you want something done, do it yourself!

I apply my fake tan once or twice a week, and I generally do this from Spring to Autumn so most of the year.  The problems I find with fake tanning are:

• My fake tan rubs off my face and hands quicker than the rest of my body;
• My foundations never seem to match my fake tan; and
• My foundations match straight after I fake tan, but not when it starts wearing off

For months I have been looking for a product to help with this, either a fake tan that lasts on your face or a foundation that is sheer it blends with all different stages of fake tan.  Due to an amazing turn of luck I recently realised I just needed to layer two products that I already had and it easily sorts out any fake tan patches and gives enough coverage to replace foundation when I am fake tanning.

In the red corner

First up is Fake Bake Beyond Bronze instant fake tan - importantly it has to be Matte Medium.  This is a wash off fake tan that can be used on the face as well as the body.  It looks insanely dark on the swatch but as you can see in the picture of my arm it blends in easily to give a light tanned shade, that is not obviously fake.  As it's matte it doesn't look bizarre.  You only need the teeniest bit of this to cover your entire face i.e. a pea size;  so it will last the whole year. You can also use this on your hands and to fill in any streaks that you might have missed on your limbs while fake tanning.  I find this especially handy for the backs of my arms which always seem to have the tan rubbed off a bit while I am sleeping. I would recommend using a mitt, sponge or makeup brush to apply like the Mac 187 otherwise your palms end up a rather ridiculous shade of orange.

This is also an amazing product if it gets to around lunchtime and you realise you are going out that evening and don't have time for a fake tan to develop.  Once this stuff is dry it will not budge or rub off on your clothes until you shower and wash it off with a shower gel.  Fantastic stuff and highly recommend.  This was actually sent to me to test out but I have tried a lot of the Fake Bake products before and I can honestly say they have all be exceptional from the bronzers to the in-salon spray tans.  Definitely a good brand if you want a fail safe tanning product.

In the blue corner

The second product I have been using is the Body Shop tinted glow enhancer in shade number 3.  The swatches don't even show how gorgeous this shade is and it looks amazing layered over the Fake Bake tanner on the face or just mixed with a regular foundation for day to day wear.  Some of the other tinted glow enhancers I would only wear as highlighters but this is very subtle and really does give you that 'glow from within' type of look.  Layered over either wash-off fake tan or regular fake tan (or if you are just a lucky duck and have darker skin) this gives your face a radiance that I haven't found in any other product along with a tiny hint of colour.I did think it a bit pricey for the body shop when I first purchased but it has turned out to be more than worth it.

The Fake Bake Beyond Bronze Instant Wash Off Tan in - Matte Medium is sold at Boots or Superdrug but they seem to be out of stock online at the moment.

The Body Shop tinted glow enhancer #3 costs £11 and is available here - body shop UK

If that wasn't all I have also been having nail varnish gyp this week. I got so fed up with my Essie Miss Matched and Demure Vixen as neither was quite the colour I was wanting.  I had heard about people mixing polishes and calling them frankenpolish so I thought I would give it a go!

The demure vixen was way too sheer and miss matched is far too light but mixed 50/50 in my glamorous sudocream lid they make the pefect colour, with a tiny bit of shimmer from demure vixen highlighting the nails but the coverage of the miss matched meaning the polish actually shows up without having to do 900 coats.

Do you like to mix products together to make them work for you better? Have you ever made a Frankenpolish?