Battle of the Bronze: Part 2

I just thought I'd give you a quick update on how I've been faring with the St Tropez Gradual Tan in Medium-Dark. I've used the product two days in a row now and I have to say, I'm no longer as impressed as I was initially.

First off, the smell that I previously said was great and not self-tanner like at all? WRONG! I was up until 2 in the morning fighting nausea because the smell became very overpowering. And the day after I applied the product, I had the tell-tale smell of self tanner (which, by the way, is the same smell as a pack of crackers. Lovely. Who doesn't want to smell like crackers?)

Second of all, my knees are completely orange. Not a little orange. Very orange. And my hands are orange too, despite the fact that I wash them thoroughly as instructed after applying the lotion. And worse than that, my knees are orange but nowhere else is even a little tanned! One of my arms is at least two shades darker than the other arm and I'm starting to feel like a zebra!

Maybe a gradual tan isn't the way to go for me - I'm considering trying the St Tropez Bronzing Mousse to see if that's a bit better than the Gradual Tan. The bronzing mousse is applied all at once about once a week and gives you instant colour after you allow it to develop for 4-8 hours. You then shower and end up with a supposedly nice tan. I'll let you know if I do use the Bronzing Mousse!

At this point, I definitely won't be purchasing the Gradual Tan!

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Battle of the Bronze: St Tropez vs Lorac

I am naturally a very pale girl (NW20), and as such I've always avoided self tanners and bronzers. I'm terrified that they would make me look orange or as though I'd rolled around in a pack of Doritos.

But alas, summer is quickly approaching and I'm finding myself craving just a bit of a tan. I avoid the sun like mad since I only ever burn and never tan. Also, it's obviously not a good idea to lay out in the sun for hours on end trying to build up a natural tan!

So, like most of the posts on this blog, I suppose it all starts with a trip to Sephora. I'd searched on their website and researched all of my options - I knew I wanted something from St Tropez because I'd heard wonderful things about their products and they claimed to smell better than other self tanners. However, when I typed in my postal code on their "find in store" feature, the product didn't show up in any stores by my house! Very frustrating!

I continued searching and settled on trying the Lorac TanTalizer. I went in store today to pick up a sample and a sales associate let me know that they actually did carry St Tropez products and I ended up leaving with three (wow!) generous samples of both St Tropez Gradual Tan and Lorac TanTalizer.

I excitedly went home and immediately hopped in the shower to shave and exfoliate as recommended. I exfoliated very thoroughly with a body brush to avoid any patchiness when I applied the product.

I applied St Tropez Gradual Tan to my right leg and the rest of my body, and I applied the Lorac TanTalizer to my left leg only. I used my left palm for the Lorac TanTalizer and I used only my right palm for the St Tropez Gradual Tan.

The St Tropez Gradual Tan smells absolutely awesome, at least in my opinion. Very fresh and slightly coconutty. It applied smoothly and there were absolutely no patches anywhere. My palm also didn't get stained orange. And it dried very quickly! I was able to put my clothes on as soon as I finished applying the product.

The Lorac TanTalizer didn't fare so well. It's extremely dark in colour and very liquid in texture. Even though I thoroughly exfoliated only two minutes before applying the self tanner, it left a lovely brown coloured patch on my knee and another just by my knee. It also smells and not in a pleasant way. It smells sickly sweet when applied on my skin and smells like sugary coffee in the sample package. Gross. The colour was also quite horrific. It left my skin orange and looking just as I feared - like I rolled around in a pack of Doritos! Even worse than that, my left palm is an orange mess. That's why I only did my left leg with the Lorac. I just couldn't bare to put it on the rest of my body when it looked that horrible! However, the product did dry very quickly as well, so I suppose that's a bonus.

THE VERDICT: There really isn't even a choice to be made here. The St Tropez Gradual Tan won hands down! I will definitely be heading in stores to purchase some within the next few days!

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