With all this snow and bad weather, let's look at what's in store in the next few months! Now, unless you are fortunate enough to live ‘The Life’ – by which I mean spending winter in the Caribbean and enjoying subsequent cheeky weekends in sunny climes whenever the mood suits – the harsh weather and lack of sunshine can leave some us looking somewhat ghost-like.
Even though we live in officially the warmest and driest part of the UK, it would still be unreasonable to go about the place sporting a natural Mediterranean glow during the early days of spring. But a little help – from a tube, bottle or spray gun - can you give a fabulous confidence boost as you prepare to break out your t-shirts and shorts for summer.
If you leave the office on Friday evening looking pale and interesting, only to return on Monday morning looking orange and frightening, you’ve done it wrong. Very.
IMHO, what you’re looking for – and I speak from personal experience - is a discreet self-tan that is almost undetectable, in that it takes the edge off that white-with-a-touch-of-blue tone that reveal we northern Europeans haven’t seen proper sun for the best part of six months.
If that’s the case for you, then look for easy application methods and quick development times, or alternatively try gradual-tan products which you can incorporate into your daily moisturising regime without any extra fuss.
St Tropez’s Gradual Tan Plus Sculpt And Glow Body Lotion not only hydrates and tones your skin, whilst helping you to develop an understated tan that can be built up or moderated over time.
Modesty forbids me from naming and perhaps shaming a cycling friend of mine – but let’s call him Adam – who swears by Dove’s Derma Spa Summer Revived’ body lotion. It builds to create ‘a natural bronze glow’ which is ideal for fair to medium skin. He says it takes away the distracting white glare of his legs when the weather finally dictates it is warm enough to “get the guns out.”
I should also add that Adam only moisturises up to the hemline of his shorts and jersey sleeves, to perfect the tan-lines that mark you out as a ‘proper’ cyclist to other skinny people. Which reminds me of that all-too-common spring tanning pitfall – orange legs on an otherwise tan-free body. Yes, we all know that that a sunny morning can lead you to slap the fake-bake only on your legs and ignore your arms and face.
Unless you’re in a rush to go for a bike ride and your name’s Adam…