Now bear with me everyone – As you will know, beauty blogs are not something I normally do, but, with a product as inspiring as this I thought why not!

By my own admission, in the past I haven’t been the best when it comes to tanning. In my early 20’s (only a couple of years ago haha) I was obsessed with the tan – on holiday I would use a low SPF and I was guilty of using sunbeds regularly. Like many, I would convince myself that prior to holiday it was better to use a sunbed to get a ‘base tan’ rather than burning on holiday. However, last year after watching a documentary of sun damage, the effects of unsafe tanning really did hit home for me. From then on I’ve ditched the sunbeds and opted for SPF 50 for my holidays (talking of which, if you haven’t read about my holidays you can find them here….)

Although I have long given up the sunbeds, my love of a tan still remains. I always think you look a little healthier with a glow (ironic I know) so after years of turning my nose up at “fake” tan quoting “it will just be ruin my clothes and make me look orange” I set about exploring the world of self tanning. The self tan market for a novice tanner like me is a minefield and there have been a couple of occasions where I could easily have been mistaken for one of the cast of the original Charlie and the Chocolate factory as an oompa lumpa! So when I was contacted by Tan Cream I was excited to give it a go!

Tan Cream

I had read about and seen Tan Cream on the news so I already knew a little about the product but for those of you that don’t know the brand, the concept was created by co-founders Gillian Robson & Katy Foxcroft after Gillian underwent treatment for skin cancer. Having been told that she would need to wear SPF 50 5 star UVA all year round, she found a gap in the market to cut down on her daily beauty routine – a SPF 50 with a tanner included. The idea was quickly developed and rolled out with immediate success. (You can read their full inspiring story, told better than me, on their website here).

I received my gift last week from Tan Cream and have being itching to try it – I’ve just been waiting for my photographer to come home from working away to help me document its effects haha. Tan Cream kindly sent me a 100ml bottle of their formula to try out which has numerous qualities associated to it:

• SPF 50
• 5 star UV
• Self Tan (for gradually topping up)
• Bronzer (for Instant tan)
• Anti Ageing ingredients
• Odour Free
• Streak Free
• Contains hydrating lotion

After double reading the application instructions on the bottle (as not to make another orange faced mistake!) I was ready to tan! Now I am not the best example to follow when it comes to tanning techniques – I typically just tend to wing it – however I do have one tip which I always do and that is VASELINE! I always use a bit of Vaseline to block out my eyebrow to stop any orange edging to them. I prepped by lightly exfoliating my skin the night before and shaved when I got home from work on Thursday before leaving my face rest for an hour prior to applying the Tan Cream!

Following the instructions carefully, I applied small amounts in circular motions to all exposed skin whilst avoiding my hair line. Once I had a complete coverage I used a cotton wool pad and cleanser to wipe over my eyebrows, the corners of my eyes and the creases either side of my nostrils (glamorous eh!).

When i woke up the next morning it’s fair to say I was visible browner – even after my morning shower. In the morning light the tan felt very even and natural and after a quick check for any patches, I just applied a light cleanser on the bridge of my nose where I always get a bit tan happy! The one application created a nice natural autumn glow which I was really please with and so I held off from applying again until the Saturday morning (using exactly the same method). As you can see below, by the Sunday morning I was almost back to a full summer tan.

The combination of the instant and gradual tanner in this product is a great bonus for a tan lover like me – I like to have an instant visible effect! However the beauty with this product is that it also ensures the gradual tan is building up for when the instant washes away – giving a lasting glow.

As I said before, I have experimented with many self tanning products in the past and I will be honest, I am always a bit sceptical when it says “streak free” (probably due to my application) or “odour free”. With this Tan Cream however I can say that I did achieve a balanced and streak free tan, and even with my sensitive nose, I got only a light odour. For me this product is not just a review, it’s a motivation – a motivation that people can create an innovative product from such a negative experience such as cancer. This is a multi purpose product that I will definitely continue to use to achieve a safe healthy glow and even my friends who have seen the results in the flesh are excited to try it out too!

Thank you again Tan Cream for the opportunity to test out and share my experiences of this product!

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*My self tanner was complimentary thanks to the wonderful people at Tan Cream in return for coverage on my blog. I again thank them this great product and it goes without saying that opinions in this review are 100% my own (and seconded by Dave)!