Skinny Tan 7 Day Tanner Review*

If you saw Dragon's Den last week you will have seen the founders of Skinny Tan, Kate Cotton and Louise Ferguson, pitching their new (in the UK) self-tanner to the Dragons.  What's special about their fake tan compared to everyone else's on the market at the moment though? They have added a naturally derived cellulite active - for the dual effect of reducing the appearance of cellulite as well as giving a natural bronzed glow.  Their pitch was successful (in fact they had nine separate offers from the Dragons), but in the end they went with a joint investment from Kelly Hoppen MBE and Piers Linney.

Skinny Tan 7 Day Tanner and Tanning Mitt

I went to the breakfast launch last week at the exclusive Soho House and met the girls - who are absolutely delightful and are so excited to be bringing their product to the UK market (it's already been a huge success in Australia, where they've spent the last 10 years).  I think Kate said that she had tested about 160 versions of the tanner to make sure she was completely happy with it before bringing it to the market!  She wanted to make absolutely sure that it was fine for all skin types - and the tanning active in the tan is eco-certified and therefore unlikely to cause the dryness or irritation associated with the chemical DHA (the tanning agent).

So, the tanner.  As you may have seen in my post last week on the new Cocoa Brown fake tan, I am not a tan aficionado - far from it - so this was really only my second foray into the world of fake tan application.  Skinny Tan also have a tanning mitt available, which we thought was ingeniously brown in colour - so doesn't look mucky once you've used it.  It's a really well-made mitt and it really was water resistant so no seeping through to stain my hands.  I applied the deliciously honey-scented (apparently it's actually coconut) bronze-coloured cream tanner (no biscuits here!) with the mitt, but like I said, I'm no expert in tan application and I actually found it really tricky to get it on evenly (I always mess up my ankles and knees!) so I was a bit worried that I'd wake up this morning with terrible streaks. Actually, not so - it looks surprisingly streak-free!  (I did wake up to the aroma of biscuits though, which wasn't so great...)  I put it on at about 10.30pm and washed it off at 8.30am the next morning.

Skinny Tanning Mitt with 7 Day Tanning Cream

[I should digress here to say that fake tan recently hit the news because an Irish blogger, Suzy from Glamour and Go, decided to tan just half her body to show the difference in colour!  Taking inspiration from her, I decided that I don't have a lot on this week and so could risk looking a bit of a wally with just half a tanned body....]

The before photos -

The night before, with cream on

The night before, with cream on - see how streaky it looks?

 The results -

Do you think it improves the cellulite?

No streaks!

The verdict?
Not a bad colour: not too orange and not too dark for my skin.  The difficulty I had in application meant that I found it a bit of a hassle - and I don't think I'm committed enough to do the sleeping in it and letting it develop overnight thing either. I like quick and instant results!  I'm not entirely convinced by the cellulite claims - like most women, I have a fair amount on my thighs - I think it's more about the colour covering it up than the ingredients to be honest, but maybe it'll have more effect after a few uses.  It's a nice product, but with so many products on the market and this being priced at £26.99 I'm not sure I would spend the extra money just to cover my cellulite.

Skinny Tan have a variety of products available on their website www.skinnytan.co.uk with prices starting at £19.99.

*PR sample