If, like me, you’re prone to buying a self-tan, spend ages using it once, then throw it in the cupboard to slowly turn green until evicted to a bin liner, then a gradual tanner should prove a wiser buy. These are effectively body creams with a lower dose of DHA (the smelly tanning ingredient) than fake tan. The benefit of this weaker, moisturising formula is that it imparts a subtler, more natural and consequently less disaster-prone colour, and can be slapped on with some abandon and little regard. Your tan may be ephemeral (two or three days, less if shaving your legs), but the idea here is to top up daily after showering for an incremental tan that could survive an entire season of bare legs.
My favourite for years has been Dove’s excellent Summer Glow (£5.25), which gives a reassuringly golden tint – no Bisto, no Tango. Almost as bargainous and with an almost foolproof glow is L’Oréal Sublime Bronze Gradual Tan (£6.99). It has a thicker consistency that softens dry skin a treat. The colour (in two shades) is spot on. Wholly brilliant is Vita Liberata’s Untinted Self Tan Lotion (£15). It’s the only self-tan I’ve used that really has no whiff of dampened Rich Tea, and the subtle colour fades more evenly than others – I had no patchy bits to attack with a loofah. I must also mention the ingenious new Clarins Radiance-Plus Golden Glow Booster (£26). By adding just a couple of pumps of this concentrated serum to your favourite body lotion, you convert it into a gradual tanner, increasing the dose to make it as dark as you fancy.
