Gradual Tanning Body Moisturisers - A Tale of 3 Lotions...

Fake tan... it's just one of those things that I can't live without. When I was a little girl I was constantly out in the sun and I'm lucky to have that skin type that just goes bronze, so I was always tanned. My mum, who is blonde and fair and does a great impression of a lobster if she even looks at the sun, is constantly jealous. However, getting older and a job and various other commitments means I rarely get to lounge about in the sunshine and rarely go on holidays abroad any more so I look more and more like Casper's anaemic sister. This is most noticeable when I teach gym classes in my white MMA shorts - ghastly!

Not any more. I adore spray tans, I am a huge fan of them, but don't very often get the chance to go and get one done, unless it's for a special occasion. I tried the standard 'instant' at-home fake tan (I have Fake Bake Airbrush) but I don't apply it very evenly myself and I'll use too much or I miss spots and look like I'm trying to camouflage myself. So then I discovered these moisturisers with self tan.

The first to become available to the masses, I believe, was Johnson's Holiday Skin. I was in my late teens when this came out and if I remember rightly, it was like gold dust to find on shelves. It simply sold out everywhere. Luckily for me, my grandmother actually managed to get hold of a bottle and, like everything, decided she wouldn't use it, so gave it to me.



I'd never used any kind of fake tan back then and I can remember looking awful after applying this! It streaked and left marks where I'd not rubbed it in properly - I had a perfectly straight line separating my wrist from my hand, my ankles and feet were orange, my palms and fingers were stained and I generally did not get on with it at all. However, over the years I persevered and got it out every now and then to use and got a little better with the application - but I despised the smell. Somehow, almost 10 years later, I still have a bottle knocking around although I don't ever remember buying any!

Johnson's Holiday Skin, around £5.10 for 250ml or £7.15 for 400ml - not my favourite gradual tan moisturiser! The colour is too orange and the smell is dire and overpowering. I could never use it during the day!

Moisturiser number 2 - Palmer's Cocoa Butter Natural Bronze Body Lotion. This is one of my favourites so far. I bought this on a recommendation from a friend (who always looks tanned and gorgeous!). It comes in a 250ml pump bottle and is about £5.35 from Boots. This is great. You get a good colour, no streaks (but I think this has a lot to do with application) and the smell, although not great, is better than Johnson's! The colour also develops fairly quickly. I only generally need 2-3 applications for the colour I want. The downside of this moisturiser is it doesn't seem to last long. If you are full-body tanning you might get 5-6 applications out of this. I think this is due to the pump, as there always feels like there's more left in the bottle. However, I have used this very happily for a while now and would recommend it. I often use this after epilating my legs and the cocoa butter formula and vitamin E helps to soothe the post-epilating rash fairly nicely - it's always gone the next morning.

Palmer's does stain clothes and bedding though and I regularly end up washing my sheets and duvet cover because they've gone a little off colour. It also makes them smell of self tan which I don't like. Still one up on Johnson's though.

And to number 3, and my newest find - Garnier Body Summerbody Moisturising Lotion, £5.10 for 250ml or £7.15 for 400ml The first thing I have to note about this, I have read a LOT of reviews and comments on this. This seems to have famously given a lot of people quite a nasty looking, long-lasting rash after using it. I don't mean one or two people, I mean A LOT of people. So take some serious consideration before using this. On the flip side, even more people have fallen in love with this one and believe the other issues were just a bad batch. The most recent post from someone who had a reaction was posted about 6 months ago, and Garnier were still using the 'old style' packaging. This new one is a curvy bottle with an indented 'waist'. For the record, I have not had a reaction to this but I have only used it once (I bought it yesterday).

Now, to my experience. The best thing about this lotion? The smell. It's heavenly. It's fresh and fruity apricotty loveliness! It smells more like a body butter you would buy from The Body Shop. Can't fault the smell! Like I mentioned, I have only used this once. I'd not used a self tan for a few weeks and was looking milk bottle white, and seeing as my legs needed doing I thought it was a good time to get another bottle. I went into Boots intending to buy the Palmer's as usual but ended up buying this instead as it was half price and thought it couldn't hurt to try a new one. I bought the 400ml bottle for £3.57.

So I went about my usual routine - bath, exfoliation, epilation, self tan and once that was dry (ish) - bed! This morning? Well I'm not 100% sure yet. My feet and knees look darker than the rest of my legs, which still look quite pale. I'm not sure if this is because I've only used it once, but I feel like running another bath and giving my knees a good scrub! There was also still a bit of redness left over from the epilating. The beautiful apricot smell has faded to that familiar 'biscuit' self tan smell too, although it's not as noticeable as the Johnson's and Palmer's. As for an actual moisturiser it's pretty good, my skin is really soft and smooth. Sometimes I forget these are actually supposed to be moisturisers!

My leg this morning after first use of Garnier Summerbody

So the tl;dr version? Don't bother with the Johnson's - bad colour and worse smell. Best for colour? Palmer's, but don't expect the bottle to last long. Best for smell and moisturising? Garnier Summerbody although I need to use this again tonight to get a fairer review.

Keep smiling, my bronzed beauties!

Em x