It is time. My children are refusing to wear long trousers, the shops are full of daffodil yellow and slightly weird, half-mast culottes, and the clock is ticking on my beloved black opaques. I don’t wish to crow, but I’ve been banging on for at least eight years about the superiority of wash-off leg tans over their more popular, slow-developing, longer-lasting shelf mates. And now, seemingly overnight, everyone in beauty agrees. Wash-offs are fast, easy, look more realistic and require no tedious prep (body lotions make them streak, so do nothing but slap directly on to dry skin). They’re perfect for our inclement weather, too: tan one sunny day, then don’t bother for the next six rainy ones.
Vita Liberata’s Body Blur Instant HD Finish (£27) is an expensive but brilliant example. Available in three believable shades, it glides on smoothly to tan legs, disguise thread veins, even out knocks and grazes, and generally make legs appear sheathed in 15 denier. More comfortable and luxurious-feeling is Nars’s limited-edition Laguna Body Tint (£30), which features broad spectrum SPF30 (very often, fake tanners wrongly imagine themselves to be better protected from the sun) and a delicious, summery fragrance. That said, the shade, a Nars icon, is pretty dark and will look unconvincing on the very pale.
Dark brown and black skins may not be classic candidates for fake tan, but a little golden gleam can remedy ashiness, dullness and uneven tone. St Tropez Instant Tan Body Gloss (£11.49) imparts only the sheerest tint (so sheer that pale girls can use it, too). Similarly, the wonderful Ameliorate, a niche brand dedicated to the treatment and relief of bumpy, grey and flaky skin, has launched a brown-tinted edition of its excellent Transforming Body Lotion (£19.95). This uses lactic acid to exfoliate and smooth, and keeps skin moist for several hours.
If wash-offs still don’t appeal long term, consider Rimmel’s canny Sunshimmer Instant Tan Plus Gradual Glow (£6.99). Behind the instantly visible wash-off tint, a traditional tanner develops a longer-lasting colour that deepens throughout the week. I use a tanning mitt (reusable, and a fiver in any large chemist). But if you prefer skin-on-skin contact, you’ll most effectively lift staining by slathering your hands in cheap body lotion before wiping them on tissues or a towel you don’t much care about.
