Michael Kors Liquitan Self Tanner - Hall of Fame

Every so often I try a product that stops me in my tracks and makes me take to the keyboard tout de suite.

I suppose if anyone was going to do a good fake tan Kors would be your man - but I genuinely didn't expect it to be that good. Shame on you Hirons.

I am currently testing as many self tans and SPF's as I possibly can for an upcoming YouTube video - and this one (with one other - coming later) is the one I've reapplied the most. The colour is immediate - it has a beautiful golden bronze guide colour and doesn't smell of biscuits. It washes clean off the hands and doesn't go patchy after use.

Ree has done some colour swatches if you want to see the product - I'm saving that for YouTube.

Safe to say I'm sorry I doubted you Mike. Welcome to my beauty cupboard. Forever.

Michael Kors Liquitan Self Tanner is available from www.HouseofFraser.co.uk and is £18.00 for 150ml.

Decleor Sunrise Treatment - Spa Illuminata

If you're reading this from outside of the UK you may be unaware that we are in the middle of the wettest period EVER. And I for one, have had enough. I need some sun. Desperately.

After seeing the forecast for well, more rain forever, I recently took myself off to Spa Illuminata to have a Decleor Sunrise Treatment. I had to do something.

A word about Decleor. I pretty much love everything they do. Yes, I need and use a lot of hi-tech chemicals in my routine - but everyone needs a mixture of both hi-tech and natural plant-derived hi-tech, which is what Decleor do brilliantly. For example - it's pretty hard to go wrong with anything on this page of Aromessences. 

The treatment takes an hour and comprises:

1. Starting with the back, the body is exfoliated using Aroma Cleanse Exfoliating Body Cream, then you turn over for the front
2. Facial using Aroma Cleanse Cleansing Milk, Aroma Cleanse Tonifying Lotion and finally Aroma Cleanse Phytopeel – Natural Exfoliating Cream
3. Shower to remove lotions - blissful
4. Dry areas of the body are moisturised with Aroma Confort - System Corps Nourishing Body Milk
5. Lastly, Self Tanning Milk Natural Glow is used all over the body and face.  On the face the tan is mixed with Hydra Floral – Flower Nectar Moisturising Cream to ensure a natural glow.

The results of this time were pretty perfect. And it lasted for a couple of weeks before it started to fade. I supplemented with the Systeme Corps Gradual Glow Body Milk which gives you the best gradual colour and lasts for ages.

The Sunrise Treatment is £60 nationwide and £95 in Spa Illuminata (which is like a marble palace - beautiful).

More Decleor loveliness can be found here and - there is a sale on at the moment. Just so you know.


*I was a guest of Decleor for the treatment. I bought the Gradual Glow myself. No affiliated links. Just being helpful. I have no business links with Decleor.

Perricone No Sun Tanner

Keeping with the tanning theme - I am LOVING this self tanner.

What's to love? Well:

• It smells of coconut - Not an inkling of fake tan smell (score!).
• It doesn't go orange. 
• It gradually builds colour rather than giving a one-colour-suits-all look.
• It layers on top of my usual skincare routine in the morning without giving me breakouts or feeling greasy.
• It doesn't come with *sparkly bits* - I want colour on my face - I'm not 14 thanks
• Judging by my usage one bottle will last me well into Autumn.

The setback? Actually - there isn't one.

I was going to talk about the price at this point - this is £50 for 118ml - not cheap I know but I don't scrimp when it comes to my face. (Although this can be used all over the body - on this body from the boobage down its el cheapo)

So anyway, I did some comparitive shopping and it works out cheaper than similar products from Estee Lauder, Dior, Chanel and Lancome - all of which I have bought in the past.
Yes really. I was surprised too. They sell for around the £26 mark (give or take) for 50ml. You do the math.

See? I LOVES ME A BIT OF PERRICONE!

Now he just needs to get his BUTT over here to the UK in person. I'm not joking. There's only so much salmon one woman can eat. Someone get RIGHT on that please? Alrighty then.

The Fine Print (aren't you on holiday yet? Yeah you. You know who you are): my first bottle of this was a PR sample. My next one will be purchased by my bank card. And I made my Mum buy one too. So there.

Parabens and Animal Testing - a quick word...

After a few comments this week on Twitter about parabens and a post from the lovely Sarah on London Beauty Review about animal testing - (more of that here)  I just wanted to highlight a couple of things very briefly from my own experience...

Parabens
Regardless of where you lie in the paraben debate - do you/don't you - if you are in the 'don't want them in my products at all' group - you need to look further back than the original inci list on your product.

A product listed as paraben-free means that there are no parabens in that particular product.  It does not mean that the source ingredients in that product were not preserved in parabens. In other words, companies can say that their product is paraben-free - but the source ingredients that make up that product may have been swimming in them for months, even years.  If you are unsure, ask questions - and don't ask the counter staff/shop staff - ask Head Office.
If you want something that is absolutely paraben-free you may need to do more than look on the box - and if you want to be absolutely sure - you need to go certified organic . Not 'natural' - ORGANIC.  There are a lot of brands out there calling themselves natural - (a product only has to have 6% of something (anything) natural in it to call itself natural) - very few walk the walk and talk the talk.
One of the few that do is The Organic Pharmacy.  Margo and Francesco Marrone are two of the most passionate people I have met in the industry.  They also get rid of any cliched ideas you may have about organic = dowdy, dull, frumpy and boring. There are no grey areas in The Organic Pharmacy.  It's either in - or it's out.  If you are concerned about what is in the products that we routinely put on our skin - check out TOP -  for more info on their philosophy and background  - visit their website - here.  And if you haven't yet tried any of their products - start with the Carrot Butter Cleanser - phenomenal.


Animal Testing
At the other end of the paraben scale is Liz Earle.  Liz Earle Cosmetics actively and openly use parabens - and defend them in their literature (although they are noticeably missing from all of their newest products released - make of that what you will).

Where there are no grey areas with Liz Earle is in animal testing.  So much so that a few years ago the EU revised the law on all self tanning products because they were concerned about the effects of inhalation in tanning booths.  The new EU testing regime for self tans involved testing on animals. Liz Earle refused to let their (very good) Self Tan be tested on animals and so discontinued it rather than go against one of their fundamental principles.
The customers were not happy - but LEC were unrelenting. They still do not carry a self tan in their range.  More on LEC and their philosophies here.

If you use any form of self tan - odds are it has been tested on animals - maybe not by the company - but by their source manufacturer.

Forewarned is forearmed.