Faux Tan - The Real Deal

Normally tanned in in even early summer as a true sun-loving, outdoorsy Scandiavian, 9 yrs in Britain seems to have made me as pale as the natives! So looking to dress up in yellow for an office party, I turned to the bottle (of fake tan, not vodka!). Fancying myself a bit of an Amazonian (it was a weak moment), I decided to go for the original "medium to dark" formula. I opted for Ambre Solaire's No Streaks Bronzer multi-angle spray for the body and Ambre Solaire Dry Face Mist for the face. I used a scrubbing sponge (you know, the ones with the hard white sponge on one side of the sponge) and shower gel to exfoliate. I moisturised lightly (too much and the self tan never dries properly). Then the application started. I always use latex gloves on my hands, as orange palms will give away the origin of even the most convincing fake tan :)
The dry face mist was easy to apply. Just tie hair back and shake the can. Close your eyes and spray fairly slowly across the face and neck (don't forget to put some behind your ears and slide your palms over the ear to finish off). Let air dry, doesn't need any rubbing, it dries in a couple of minutes. The body was a bit more tricky. Shake the can and spray over the body. Then rub the stuff in with circular movements. Even though it sprays onto your back and back of legs, rubbing it into there is tricky. Adopt a "gunslinger-stance" for 15 minutes, while the stuff dries in a bit. Put on black, loose clothes as it will stain light fabrics as it is quite oily (but thats good, as it helps the formula spread over the skin with the body heat)! The formula develops within about 6-8hrs. I found that it was almost streak-free apart from one spot on my leg and my right elbow and the colour is nice and dark golden tan. I will definitely be buying this again, as it may take half an hour to apply including drying time, but the results will get you great comments. There are some downsides though. The fumes from the spray are very strong and may not be suitable for asthmatics. The famous fake tan smell is also terrible with this one. You can even smell it the next day after a shower! All and all, 5 of 5 stars for the dry face mist and 4 of 5 stars for the body spray, mainly losing points for the chemical stench.