 |
Xen Tan Dark Self Tanning Lotion
by carly-s
I have to admit I'm a tanorexic, there's no way on this earth I'd use a sunbed...never have never will. So fake is the only answer to turn my horrible looking pale skin into a nice golden olive tan is fake.
I first read up about Xen Tan in magazines being "the celebrity tan" and that it offers you beautiful, olive ... results. As soon as I read that I was sold.
First of all I order my Xen Tan dark lotion from Feel Unique as it's much cheaper than anywhere else I've seen, £17.99 + free delivery that's a saving of £11! May be a little expensive to some but you do get 236ml of the product which will give you an average of 10 full face and body tans.
Xen-Tan dark lotion comes in a white pump dispenser bottle with the logo on the front in gold/bronze writing. With it being a pump dispenser it makes the application more easier as you can control how much product comes out of the pump.
I always use a tanning mitt to avoid getting the tan on the palms of my hands and also for a more streak free application. I use 2 pumps of the product onto the mitt, you will notice how dark brown the lotion is but don't worry, you will also probably notice the smell...it smells like cherry bakewells which I absolutely hate but it's not too overpowering and definitely doesn't put me off. I then start off my tanning my upper body first, starting with the arms and rub the tan into my skin in circular movements, it glides effortlessly onto the skin so no need for any vigorous rubbing. Altogether for a full body application it takes me approximately 10 mins max, and that's with 2 layers.
After you've finished you will look extremely dark but don't worry about that, I then give it at least a minute before getting dressed again, just so I don't feel greasy. I always put this on before I'm about to goto bed so I'm not waiting around for the tan to develop, luckily it doesn't stain my white bed sheets like other tans tend to do.
Next morning you'll be greeted with a very dark body but that's only the guide colour. Jump in the shower and rinse the tan off, I just rinse it off with water. Now you might see the water running brown and thinking what a waste of time but don't worry once you've got out the shower you should now be greeted with a streak free, even golden olive tan.
Xen-Tan can last upto 10days according to the website depending how much you look after your tan i.e.exfoliate and moisturise. Personally I find it lasts around a week or so before I'm reaching out for another top up.
Thumbs up from me.
Read the complete review |
 |
Xen Tan Face Tanner Luxe
by kissandmakeup
I bought this face tanner at the same time as buying the one for the body (which I have reviewed seperately) as I wasn't sure whether you could put the body one on the face or not, either way I am glad I bought this as I wasn't overly impressed with the body one but this is quite good...
There are first of all a couple of ... criticisms;
1) The underlying colour is orange - Whilst the main claim of Xen Tan is that their products do not leave you orange like others do due to their olive base, in actual fact they do. It's not an awful bright orange like many tanning products make you, it's actually quite a nice colour but nevertheless it is not completely natural looking like it says, you will look like you've fake tanned, not like you've been to the Caribbean!
2) It smells like biscuits - Pretty much all fake tanning products have this same odd smell, but this one claims not to, therefore it is annoying that it does! When you are applying it the smell is lovely, like chocolate, but after an hour or so the unmistakable same old fake tan smell is noticeable.
3) It doesn't last long - It is supposed to be longer lasting than other fake tans, but I have found this only last for a maximum of 2 days which is fairly standard.
Having said all of this, the face tanner is much better than the body tanner and has some plus points;
1) The application is very easy, it feels moisturising and sinks in easily.
2) It gives a slight instant colour as well as building up colour over a few hours (the minimum recommendation to leave it on for is 3 hours but from experience I would suggest a bit longer, or even overnight, is better).
3) Once applied although it gives a bit of colour straight away it doesn't look streaky like some can when you first apply them; you can easily wear it during the day under a bit of make up.
4) It gives a streak free result, really nice and even and it blends in well at the edges of your face, under the chin etc.
All in all I am pretty happy with this product and will most likely buy it again; the negative points are common with all fake tanning products really and the only reason I mention them is because this is quite a costly product, I paid £14.99, so it is irritating that it doesn't do exactly as it says it is supposed to.
Read the complete review |
|
|
Xen Tan Dark Self Tanning Lotion
by kissandmakeup
I recently made a purchase of this product, along with the face tanner (which I will review seperately), after much deliberation and unfortunately it has not lived up to my expectations.
I have tried quite a few fake tans in my bid to steer clear of the evils of the sunbed and whilst I've had mixed results and found some ... decent-ish ones I was looking for one which didn't only give me a vague colour but actually made me look brown (and not orange!). I came across an article on Xen-Tan in a magazine and started googling to find out more.....it promised me a lovely natural looking tan, with no streaks and no orange colouring, the website included various reviews and plenty of information and I was impressed by what I saw but ultimately put off by the price.
After Christmas whilst feeling particularly pale and in need of a re-vamp (as is usual after the festive season!) I decided to go for it and buy some Xen-Tan. I opted for the dark self-tanning lotion, as my skin is not naturally very pale and I wanted a deep tan. I bought this directly from their website at a cost of £28.99, I may well have been able to find it slightly cheaper from elsewhere if I had spent much time shopping round but I wanted to make sure I was getting the real deal.
When the product arrived I didn't waste much time in trying it out! The packaging is very nice & makes the product look expensive and it was well padded for delivery, the instructions were simple and on first impressions I was happy.
I opted to just apply the product with my bare hands instead of using a glove or other applicator, it does state that you should wash your hands very thoroughly afterwards if you are doing this (I scrubbed mine with a nail brush & lots of soap), as with all fake tans really, so if you can't be bothered with this then I suggest using a glove of some sort.
I will now review the product in accordance with a number of different features, based on the manufacturer's claims vs my actual experience. I have used it three times, once leaving it on for just 4 hours (the minimum recommended is 3) and twice overnight;
1) The scent - This product claims not to have that usual biscuity smell that all other fake tans have, it mentions on the website & on the packaging that this particular fake tan is completely different in terms of it's scent so that you can apply it and wear it all day, to go to work for instance, without smelling of biscuits. I found this not to be true. Whilst at first it does have a lovely cherry-almond scent, which is very nice whilst applying etc, it has to be said that within a couple of hours the biscuit scent surfaced and it smelled just like every other tanning product I have ever used.
2) The application - It has a guide colour which is supposed to help you see where you have applied the product and ensure even coverage. Though it was an alarming dark chocolate colour at first it blended in well and I could see more or less where I had applied it. I think if you have quite pale skin it will show up more & be more useful. Apart from that it is supposed to rub in easily, which it mostly did but in some areas I found it flaked off the more I rubbed it, so I suppose the lesson here is not to rub it in too much! It also claims, as mentioned before, that unlike other fake tans you don't have to make sure you apply it over night as it gives an instant bronzed colour and you can wear it all day. Well, there is no way that I could, I looked like I was covered in mud (much like when I have been for a spray tan before)! It also looked streaky and I would never apply this product before setting off to work in the morning!
3) The coverage - The claim is that this fake tan will not leave you streaky. I have to say that this part is true, I'm not the most profficient self-tan applier but even I found no streaks. It did look very streaky when applied but once I had washed the colour off later it looked very even. Still be careful round feet and ankles though!
4) The colour - The claim is that as this has an olive base you will not be even slightly orange. Well I was! The first time I used this and left it on for 4 hours the colour was not very deep at all, just a slight tan (with a hint of orange), so whilst it says you only need to have it on for 3 hours I would say that overnight is still your best option for a deeper colour if possible. When I have left it on overnight I got a deeper colour but it was most definitely orange based! I wasn't maybe as umpa-lumpa looking as I have been with some other products, but it was more orange looking than natural looking nonetheless - nobody would have made the mistake of thinking that I'd been on holiday somewhere tropical anyway!!
5) How long it lasts - This product claims that your tan will last a week. I found however that it lasts about 2 days as a decent colour with maybe another 2 or 3 days of faded colour. This was the case both when I left it on for 4 hours and left it on overnight. It doesn't last as long as claimed and in this sense is not much better than other products. Also after a couple of days it went patchy looking on my legs, which I think might be somewhat avoided by moisturising daily, which I will try next time I use it.
So, in a nutshell, whilst this an ok product, giving you a decent (if slightly orange) colour and being easy to apply, it is not massively different to many other fake tans and has nothing that makes it stand out from the crowd for me. There are other products which give you a streak free finish and other products that are easy to apply and give you pretty much the same colour. Therefore the price is not really justified. If it wasn't this expensive I probably wouldn't have been driven to write this review but for this cost - and with all of its claims - I expected perfection.
I will use what I have but I wouldn't buy this again as I am confident that by spending half this amount on a different make I can get the same affect.
Sorry Xen-Tan, you just didn't live up to the hype!
Read the complete review |
