Weather you are trying to maintain your summer tan or you are yet to leave for the holiday and don't want to be the palest person walking the beach, self tanning is your friend. And like all great things in life it is a good servant but a horrible, horrible master. So here are some tips on how to get an amazing self tan at home with two reviews of self tanning products I like. My main tip is to take your time when it comes to self tanning. There's no such a ting as a ten minute self tan. You need to be patient and focuse on the task.

First of all you need to scrub if you want an even tan. Rough skin or dry skin patches will only look worse with self tanner on top. My advice is to take a shower and scrub before bed, apply self tanner, go to sleep and voila, you'll wake up with impeccable summer skin (if all goes as planned).

Always pick products that are coloured so you can see where you are applying them. Once I used a clear St. Tropez tanning gel and the results were, well, shocking to say the least.

Use gloves. I used to be one of those ''I don't need gloves, I'll apply the product in no time'' people, but the truth is you don't want your palms to be darker than the rest of your body.

Moisturize. This is a bit controversial, some people claim you should never moisturize before self tanning, others highly recommend it. In my experience it is the best to moisturize with a light body lotion, let your skin soak it all up and proceed to tanning.

Pay special attention to feet and hands. Like every self tanning novice I optimistically swept the tanner over my feet and hands in one move. Not a good idea. Gently go over every finger and toe making sure it is covered evenly. Obviously you'll do the hands last after you remove the gloves.

Don't ignore the mitten. If the product consistency requires use the mitten to spread the tanner. This applies to mousses or liquids.

Sleep in dark clothes and sheets. Once the self tanner is applied it's time to go to sleep. Make sure you are wearing dark clothes other wise you'll end up with brown stains all over it. Sleeping in crispy white sheets is also not a good idea.

And, most importantly, if you mess up, don't get too upset. Let the time and everyday scrubbing do it's magic and the awful tan will soon be gone. Next time you'll do better, it takes practice to master the self tanning skill.

If you are looking for some self tanning products to try out, these are the ones I like, both save and splurge.

Save: L'Oreal Sublime Bronze Self-Tanning tinted&shimmering gel 

Although it says light tan on the packaging and that you should apply it everyday until you get the tan you want, don't let that full you. This is a heavy duty self tanner. After you use it, it makes your skin really sparkly (golden particles are pretty big). Obviously they wash off, but it can be a bit too much if you plan to use the tanner during the day. The scent of the gel is not too bad, you can still smell it like with every other self tanner, but it's not overwhelming. Colour it will give you is brown to orangy, depending on the frequency of applying. On the packaging it says you should use it until you get the colour you want, I recommend applying it two or three times. Everything after that will give you a tan that's too orange. It washes off unevenly, so you need to scrub or your skin will look patchy. It takes about five to six days for the tan to completely wears of, if you don't use a harsh scrub.

Splurge: St. Tropez Bronzing Mousse 

In the self tanning department it doesn't get better that St. Tropez. I love this mousse, it's easy to apply and it's brown so you can see where you are using it. With a mousse striking application is an issue so it's the best to use a mitten to even everything out. Smell is strong, although they add a lot of fragrance to mask it, but it doesn't help a lot. You will definitely feel the smell a day or two after tanning. Main thing I like about this mousse is the tan you get, so nice and brown, without the hint of orange. One application is enough to get the tan I want. If you like a really dark tan you'll need to use it twice. The tan will wash off evenly and will never look patchy or uneven. On my skin it washes off after a week.

And the last important thing, practice make perfection. Don't give up after one failed attempt. Be persistent and you'll get the hang of it.




Bilo da želite da održite letnju boju, ili tek idete na more i ne želite da budete beli kao duh na plaži, samopotamnjivanje vam je saveznik. I kao sve sjajne stvari u životu, ono je dobar sluga ali užasan, užasan gospodar. Ovde su moji saveti o tome kako da dobijete sjajan ten kod kuće uz dve recenzije proizvoda za samopotamnjivanje koji se meni dopadaju. Moj glavni savet je da odvojite vreme za samopotamnjivanje. Ne postoji ten koji koji može lepo da ispadne za deset minuta. Morate da budete pažljivi i da se skoncentrišete na ''zadatak''.

Prvo što želite da uradite je temeljan piling. Gruba koža ili suvi delovi će samo izgledati gore sa gelom za samopotamnjivanje. Najbolje je da se istuširate i uradite piling pre spavanja, nanesete poizvod za samopotamnivanje, legnete da spavate i probudićete se sa pocrnelom kožom (ako sve pođe po planu).

Uvek birajte proizvode koji su obojeni pa možete da vidite gde ih nanosite. Jednom sam koristila St. Tropez bezbojni gel i rezultati su bili, pa, malo je reći šokantni.

Koristite rukavice. Ja sam bila od onih ''nisu mi potrebne rukavice, za čas ću da nanesem proizvod'' ljudi, ali istina je da ne želite da vam dlanovi budu tamniji od ostatka kože.

Hidrirajte kožu. Ovo je pomalo ''kontraverzno'', neki tvrde da nikada ne treba koristiti mleko za telo pre samopotamnjivanja, dok drugi to preporučuju. Po mom iskustvu najbolje je hidrirati kožu blagim losionom za telo, ostaviti je da dobro upije i preći na potamnjivanje.

Obratite posebnu pažnju na stopala i šake. Kao svaki početnik u samopotamnjivanju optimistično sam prešla proizvodom preko stopala i ruku u jednom pokretu. Jako loša ideja. Nežno pređite preko svakog prsta i pobrinite se da je prekriven jednako. Naravno, preko ruku pređite na kraju, kad skinete rukavice.

Ne ignorišite postojanje rukavice. Ako tekstura proizvoda zahteva koristite posebnu platnenu rukavicu da ga nanesete. Ovo važi za penu i tečne proizvode.

Spavajte u tamnoj odeći i posteljini. Kada nanesete proizvod, lezite da spavate. Obavezno obucite odeću tamnijih boja inače će na njoj da ostanu braon fleke. Spavanje u beloj posteljini takođe nije dobra ideja.

I najbitnije, ako nešto pođe neplanirano, nemojte da se iznervirate. Pustite da vreme i svakodnevni piling učini svoje i grozan ten će ubrzo da postane prošlost. Sledećeg puta će ispasti bolje, potrebna je vežba da bi se ovladalo veštinom samopotamnjivanja.

Ako želite da isprobate neke proizvode za samopotamnjivanje, ovo su oni koji se meni dopadaju, jeftinija i skuplja verzija.

Jeftinija: L'Oreal Sublime Bronze Self-Tanning tinted&shimmering gel 

Iako na pakovanju piše svetao ten i da treba da ga nanosite svakodnevno dok ne dobijete boju kojom ste zadovoljni, neka vas to ne zavarava. Ovo je intenzivan proizvod za potamnjivanje. Pošto ga nanesete koža je svetlucava (šljokice u njemu su dosta velike). Naravno, one će se oprati, ali mogu da budu previše jake ako planirate da ga koristite u toku dana. Miris gela nije toliko loš, i dalje je primetan kao kod bilo kog gela za samopotamnjivanje, ali nije previše jak. Boja koja se dobije je braon ka narandžastoj, zavisi od toga koliko puta nanesete gel. Na pakovanju piše da ga treba koristiti dok ne dobijete željenu boju, moja preporuka je da to uradite najviše dva ili tri puta. Svako nanošenje posle toga će vam dati narandžastu boju. Ispira se nejednako pa je potrebno da radite piling da vam na koži ne bi ostale fleke. Porebno je oko pet do šest dana da bi se boja skroz isprala, kad se ne radi previše intenzivan piling.

Skuplja: St. Tropez Bronzing Mousse 

Kad se radi o proizvodima za samopotamnjivanje, nema boljih od St. Tropez gelova i pena. Obožavam ovu penu, lako se nanosi i braon je boje pa možete jasno da je vidite dok je koristite. Kod potamnjivanja sa penom mogu da se pojave linije, pa je najbolje da se uz pomoć platnene rukavice sve izjednači. Miris je jak, dodaju dosta parfema da bi ga maskirali, ali to ne pomaže previše. Sigurno ćete da osećate miris dan ili dva posle potamnjivanja. Ono što mi se najviše dopada kod ove pene je to što daje lepu braon boju, bez imalo narandžaste. Jedno nanošenje je dovoljno da bi se dobila željena boja. Ako volite jako taman ten, onda je koristite dva puta zaredom. Ten će se isprati jednako i nikada se neće stvoriti fleke ili nejednaka boja. Na mojoj koži se boja ispira za oko nedelju dana.

I poslednje što je bitno je da vežba čini čuda. Nemojte da odustajete posle jednog propalog pokušaja. Budite uporni i naučićete kako za čas da se lepo samopotamnite.