Summer's here in full force and its time to start baring legs to the world, however if your legs are as pale as mine you'd understand that skirts, shorts and anything else leg-baring is a big no-no for me until I get a bit of fake tan going. In previous years I have tried countless tanners- St Moriz, Dove, Garnier, to name but a few, however none of them really wow-ed me like I believe a fake tan really should. The thing that really irks me about sunless tanners is the smell- I really do not understand why they must always make me smell like biscuits for days after, however much I try to scrub away the smell.
When I heard about Xen Tan - the supposed 'gorgeous smelling fake tan' - I had to try it; it could have been the saviour to my fake tan nightmare. My sister, another fake tan addict was also interested in the product, so as it was mega expensive (£17.99 from http://www.feelunique.com/, RRP £26) she purchased a bottle of Xen Tan Dark Lotion for her and for me to try, hoping it would turn out to be her new HG fake tan.
On first impressions out of the box, our first thoughts were, £18- for that!?. The bottle is in fact very small, and definitely did not look worth the small fortune my sister, Sophie, had payed for it.
We both tried out the tan once, and since then my sister has been using it regularly for the last month.
My thoughts: My first thoughts on this product when applied was that it smelled AMAZING- just like marzipan and cakes and everything yummy rolled into one. I applied it all over my body with a tanning mitt (Primark £1 - woohoo!) and the base colour looked lovely. It applied evenly without patches and felt quite moisturising on my skin. I left it on for about 4 hours and by that time the smell was really getting to me, it had morphed from gorgeous marzipan to that disgusting old biscuity smell - hate hate hate! I washed it off quickly and it seemed that all the lovely base colour washed off in the shower, leaving me with only the tiniest golden glow, and nothing 'dark' like I had expected. Overall I was really disappointed and will definitely not be buying the tan myself.
Sophie's thoughts: When I first tried Xen Tan I HATED it. I bought it under the impression that it would give me an amazing tan, but not smell disgusting like ever single other fake tan seemed to. When I tried it it just did not deliver the colour I wanted and I had to build it up about 3 times before I got the colour I wanted, and at £18 a bottle I can't afford to be using it like that! However after using it for about a month I have come to quite like it; it doesn't dry out my skin, and its pretty even to apply, however the colour needs to be built up at least twice to look dark enough. Overall I probably wont be repurchasing just because it just isn't worth the massive price tag.
So overall, we are still in the market for an amazing fake tan, any suggestions!? We were thinking of trying out Fake Bake tan next up :)
great review, i'm trying out different fake tans too and now i think i'll be skipping this one out. fake tans that smell bad really get on my nerves too!
ReplyDeletethanks for posting! xo
Thanks for this post! Think I shall skip this one! I like to use L'Oreal Paris Nutri Shimmer. It's one of those moisturisers with the tan in it. But it works! I have pale skin, and being silly bought the one for medium skin, applied it twice a day for a week and I lovely and tanned! Love it! Easy to use, the smell is bare-able. It is usually on special offer in superdrug too :-)
ReplyDeleteAlthough my Auntie swears by St Tropez
http://nikscorneroffashionandbeauty.blogspot.com/
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Thanks for this - really helpful! At the moment, I really like Avon's gradual fake tan moisturiser - it doesn't give colour instantly, but I do find that once its built up its gorgeous, plus it goes on streak free, even if you're awful at applying fake tan like I am haha! I wrote a little review of it on my blog - thetokyonotebook.blogspot.com
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I know you're going to think I'm kidding, but Lauren from the only way if essex has brought out a fake tan range, (I can't remember the name of it), and all I've seen is good reviews of it. It's less expensive than Fake Bake, around £12 for a medium sized bottle, why don't you give that a try?
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I’m thinking about trying fake tan properly for the first time this summer (yes first time, unbelievable!) I’ve been put off by ‘Johnson’s holiday skin’ which gave me orange striped legs for no less a week (shameful!) a few summers back. So thanks for the review, I’ll be sure to steer clear of this when I’m on my quest to find the perfect bottle! x
ReplyDeletei would never be able to justify spending that much on a fake tan, I suppose it just goes to show that expensive items aren't always the best! xo
ReplyDeleteokay. the fake tan i use is so good :) its quite even (as long as you moisturise ALOT before), has no smell at all (at least for me), and is really cheap. idek if it has a brand, but i bought it from tx maxx (it was about £3.99) and it comes in various forms but all in a dark brown bottle. i got the foam one, which is a really large bottle. but theres also one which is a spray, and one which is a lotion. the only downside is that it washes off in the shower, but i guess thats good if you don't want to use a mitt.
ReplyDeleteso yep, i really recommend it.. especially for the facts that it doesn't smell at all, and is really cheap.
Great review! really interesting to hear two opinions on it too, shame it didn't work out I'm on the look out for a fake tan too but I Hate the dread feeling you get when your waiting for the development! maybe thats just me! xx
ReplyDeleteVita Liberata! cant say enough good things about that fake tan, its abit pricey, but NO smell! so it doesnt smell good, it doesnt smell bad its PERFECT! i got mine in House of Fraser!xx
ReplyDeleteGreat review, I'm glad someone else found Xen Tan really disappointing. I just don't get all the hype with it at all - no, it doesn't dry you out, but other than that I don't think it's worth it. St Moritz all the way I say! xx
ReplyDeleteHeya Hunni. Just to let you know I have given you an award!
ReplyDeletehttp://nikscorneroffashionandbeauty.blogspot.com/2011/05/stylish-blogger-award.html
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Sorry its taken me so long to reply to these comments- stupid exams taking up all my time :/
ReplyDelete@LauraCouture- I hate the fake tan smells! They are disgusting, if you find a good one let me know :)
@Nicola- Sounds good! I have tried moisturisor ones in the past however they never come out well on my pale skin, but maybe that one would thankyou! :)
@Sakura Rose- Ohh it sounds great, i will deffo check it out, thanks for the recommendation! :)
@x . . .E m z i i . . .x- Ive been wanting to try that, iv seen great reviews also! Its on my to try list, thankyou! :)
@Tess- Hehe, know what you mean with johnsons, i ended up like an orange- not a good look! :)
@Fern- Neither can i haha, thats why i got my sister to buy it hehe! :)
@anon- Is it St Moriz? I have tried that in the past and its ok, although doesnt come out dark enough on me :( If not then i will have a look, thankyou!:)
@Nicola- Haha, i get what you mean, incase under the base tan you are going streaky lol! :)
@Imogen- Ohhh sounds amazing, will have to try it out! :)
@Hannah- I read your review on it and completely agree! In fact i read it while i was waiting for my bottle in the post so i was a bit dubious haha! But glad you agree! :)
@Nicola- Thankyou ever so much!! :)
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