Beautifully bronzed babe! (Whipped Bronze Mousse) (St.Tropez)

Member Name: carly_pussycat

Product:	St.Tropez
Date:	05/02/04 (2416 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Beautiful realistic tan

Disadvantages: *seems* expensive

I’ve never found it hard to get a tan - I only have to so much as step out the door on a sunny day and I turn brown. However, one year when I had no holiday abroad planned I was in work during the sunny daytime and realised I wouldn’t get a chance to catch any rays that year (and I’m rather hesitant to overdo it in the sun what with skin cancer and looking like a prune in my older age).

So I wanted a perfect sun-kissed tan without the skin cancer and premature ageing. I mentioned this to the girls at work and they told me about a ‘St Tropez’ tan. They said it was the fake tan that all the celebs used and the one that they applied in all the best salons. Hmm, I thought, fake tan though, doesn’t that mean orange stripes and brown palms? :/

Despite this, I did some research on ‘St Tropez’ and it sounded like a really decent product. I thought, if this is the best fake tan and it doesn’t work then I’ll resign myself to staying my natural colour, but in the mean time I’d give it a try.


ST TROPEZ WHIPPED BRONZE INSTANT SELF-TANNING MOUSSE

What a mouthful!

The bottle is not particularly striking or attractive when you see it in the shop but when you get it home you realise it is certainly well designed. It is made of thick plastic with the name ‘Whipped Bronze’ and small St Tropez logo on the front. It is green and white with black writing and has a fat nozzle dispenser on the top for ease of application. The dispenser is easy to use and not at all stiff to press down so you can use as much or as little as you want at a time. It also has a lid on top of that in order that the bottle doesn’t leak, or press itself when it's in storage.


THE INSTRUCTIONS

They're not that comprehensive! You have to use your common sense with applying this product. The mousse is called ‘Step 3’ because they recommend Step 1 and 2. However Step 1 and 2 are simply exfoliator and moisturiser, which I already own, so I don’t wish to pay for 'special' St Tropez ones (and neither should you!)

The directions for Step 3 are:

Smooth St Tropez Whipped Bronze evenly into skin. Reapply to deepen or maintain color as often as you like. To ensure even fading moisturize every day and polish every 3 days.


MY PREPARATION

The day before I am planning to apply the tan I remove all necessary body hair (you shouldn't do it on the day because the tan can go darker where your pores are open). When I decide to apply the tan I have a warm bath/shower and exfoliate* the whole of my body. I make sure my skin is silky soft and then dry myself off as usual and apply a very thin layer of a quickly absorbed moisturiser* to the whole of my body.


THE APPLICATION

I wait for a good 30-60 minutes until the moisturiser has completely absorbed into my skin and I have cooled down.

It’s not impossible to apply it alone, but it’s just a little harder to do your back - so a willing volunteer could be helpful for doing your back. I always wear tight fitting vinyl gloves because this prevents your hands from turning a nasty dark brown patchy colour. (They sell packs of these in Tesco for about £1 for 10 pairs which you can easily reuse if you choose to).

I don’t *always* do my body in the same order but I find it’s normally easier to start at the top and work down.

Although a liquid in the container and a mousse when you squirt it out, there’s no need to shake this before you apply it as it seems to have a special nozzle dispenser that converts it into foam. When you squirt it out the mousse is fairly thick and foamy but still very liquidy which makes it easy to spread quickly.

Don’t be alarmed at the colour! It is dark grey, and although this looks horrible (makes you look slightly like a corpse when you apply it) it’s a real advantage because you can see areas you have covered and where you’ve got left to do.

NECK - Squirt a very small amount into the palm of one hand and then spread it very quickly around the neck and up to the hairline.

BACK - At this stage I normally get my boyfriend to spread a large amount (about 2 full squirts) over my back. It is easy for someone else to do this as they can spread very quickly with ease - it's not *so* easy on your own but it can be achieved if you can reach your back. I have found that the best way of doing it is to squirt a small amount into one hand and reach over your head and down to do the top half of your back (aiding yourself with the other hand) and then to repeat the process but this time reaching up your back to do your lower back.

ARMS – Do these next as you don’t want any funny marks left from not blending the adjoining areas together quick enough. I usually do one full squirt into the palm of my right hand and spread it quickly and evenly over my left arm. I try and apply a rough but fairly even layer and then spread it round my arms by wrapping my fingers round my arm and moving swiftly rotating my hand round my arm…..going from the bottom to the top and then blending the shoulder with the area I covered on my back. Repeat for the other arm.

CHEST AND STOMACH – Squirt two full pumps into one hand and then rub palms together. Spread from the middle of your chest up towards your neck and then down towards your stomach. I do it this way because I find it gives a more even tan – not collected at the bottom nor the top or my torso.

SIDES - Squirt one half squirt and rub palms together and then spread it on my sides (to blend the stomach and the back). This area is easy to overlook, but don’t forget it or you’ll have a white side profile!

BUM – Squirt two full squirts and rub palms together and reach behind me and cover my bum to blend into my back. (Unsurprisingly my boyfriend does this if he’s helping me).

LEGS – Lightly moisturise each foot and then take one leg at a time. Squirt two full squirts and rub palms together. Then in a swift action cup your thigh between both hands and rub all the way down to your ankles. Once the tan is applied I quickly blend my legs using the same method as for the arms (cup your hands and rotate your hands quickly round, going up and down until it looks even), not forgetting to blend your thighs into your bum. Repeat for the other leg. Once this is complete, check that you have subtly blended the ankle into the foot without the foot looking too dark.

If all has gone to plan then you should look evenly grey all over. If there are any light bits you can touch them up and this point and blend them in, or wait to see the result and do touch-ups later. I find the tint really helpful because it shows up any parts you’ve missed, unlike some fake tans which have clear formulations.


AFTER APPLICATION

They state on the container that this mousse dries in 60 seconds. I would say it does dry fairly quickly, but I’d leave it around 5-10 minutes until you put on clothes (if you have to). It says on the container ‘avoid contact with fabric until dry. May stain light hair, wool or nylon.’ So I presume it means you can touch fabric after 60 seconds? I usually sit on an old towel if I’m sitting on the sofa, just to be safe.

One thing to definitely note is that once you’ve applied it you need to stay well away from any water for at least 4 hours and avoid perspiration. I have come into contact with water before it has had a chance to develop and unfortunately I got funny little tide marks on my wrists! So just be careful when you’re washing your hands, run the tap very slowly and don’t splash yourself!

I can’t normally notice a change within a couple of hours, but after 6-8 it’s fully developed. After I’ve applied this my boyfriend usually comments on the smell of the product. I’m not sure whether he likes it or not, but I quite like it! It doesn’t smell like anything I’ve smelt before but it’s kind of sweet, and not too overpowering. The only setback is that the smell really gives away the fact that your tan is not real.

If the mousse has been applied well then after the 6-8 hours you will have a lovely natural looking all over golden tan: no streaks, no ‘you’ve been tangoed’ effect and the softest skin you’ve ever felt (due to Aloe Vera being the most abundant of the ingredients). This formulation (unlike the St Tropez lotion) does not really require rinsing off, because if you get in the shower and watch the water going down the plughole it’s not brown. The colour you have after the developing time is the final result.

If you slept in it and there are any marks on your bedsheets, don't stress! It's only vegetable dye and will come out in a normal machine wash.


STAYING POWER

I have never consciously counted the exact amount of days that my tan lasts, and it would actually be hard to. This is due to the fact that it fades naturally, but obviously quicker than a real tan. I would say if you want to stay fairly brown the whole time you would need to top it up about once every 3-5 days. I try to keep my tan for longer by moisturising twice a day, to keep my skin soft and hydrated.


PRICE AND AVAILABLITY

Mine was £26 for a 240ml bottle from Superdrug and I have rarely seen this for much cheaper than that, which is a shame because I much prefer it to the lotion version.


PROOF OF THE PUDDING....

When I have worn this I have actually have people ask me if I’ve been abroad. When I told them it was a fake tan they were quite surprised – so it really does look like a genuine tan, not a cheap nasty orange glow!


*The products I use for preparation:
Exfoliator) Clinique’s 'sparkle skin' Body Exfoliator (Boots) £16.50 a tub - 250ml
or Origins Cocoa Therapy Scrub @ £20 for 250ml
or Origins Paradise Found scrub @ £20 for 250ml
Moisturiser) Palmer’s Cocoa Butter £3.99 for 400ml ASDA
Palmer’s Moisturizing Body Oil (Boots) £4.50 for 250ml bottle


CONCLUSION

I think the method takes a little bit of perfecting as I messed it up a little the first time. I was so eager to get it on that I didn't even exfoliate and had darker elbows and knees (and any area where my skin was drier). I also had brown palms because although I had washed my hands straight after application it had already dried.

Since then, I have fine-tuned my application method and I can get a pretty much perfect tan every time (even without the help of my boyfriend!)

Although £26 may sound a lot for one product, I cannot stress how long this lasts. My bottle is nearly finished and I would estimate that I’ve used it about 15 times. So that’s about £1.70 an application. Probably expensive to some people, but to those who will pay £20 for one salon application it’s an amazing bargain!

Using only the one bottle I maintained a nice brown tan throughout the summer and still have some left. It is also cheaper and not as dangerous as using sunbeds.

See www.sttropeztan.com for more info on this and all their other products.

PLEASE NOTE: This product does NOT provide any SPF so you must still wear sun tan lotion when in the sun.


carly_pussycat - Ciao UK ©

Summary: This is a really natural looking non-orange tan which is easy to apply and lasts well