I needed a tan quickly as I had a wedding to go to this weekend and had to bear my legs for the first time this year, so I decided to try this product.
I bought the product from my local Boots store and read the instructions on the tin.
The blurb reads that there is no need to rub in the spay, you get a 100% natural looking tan, it leaves you with no streaks, no patches or orange marks or palms.
Great I thought, foolproof then, I am going to look like all those bronzed beauties you see in the magazine.
Reading the instructions further, it tells you that you do not have to moisturise your skin beforehand but you must exfoliate your skin before you apply the spray. You also must put down a towel on the floor and stand on it, I presume to catch any mist that falls to the floor, it suggests that you wash the towel after you have finished putting on the spray.
The instructions state that you should start on your arms and spray from your hands up to your shoulders, holding the tin approx 30 cm away from the body. If you can feel your body becoming wet, it means that you are holding the spray too close. Once you have done the arms, do your legs from bottom to top. It does not mention the rest of your body and I presumed that the instructions assumed that you will do your torso afterwards.
I started to spray my arms carefully holding the tin further away if they felt a bit wet. I did my inner arms going down to my wrists, avoiding the palms and then lightly sprayed the backs of my hands. I then did my legs as instructed and then went on the rest of my body. It was not easy to do my back evenly but the tin does allow you to hold it in any position to allow you to get at hard to reach areas.
Once I had finished the immediate problem I noticed was that as the mist was not coloured, I had no idea if I had missed any bits. The fact that you are not supposed to let your skin get wet does not help as there is no sheen on your skin to guide you to what you have missed. Also although it dried reasonably quickly it left my skin feeling a bit sticky and damp. I had no confidence that it would not rub off on clothes or bedsheets. I had used the spray about an hour before going to bed and certainly would not recommend anyone using it and then putting clothes straight back on. There is also quite a strong smell with this product and it does leave a residue smell on the clothes you put on or bedclothes following an application
I went to bed that night hoping that I would wake up with a lovely golden tan. The next day I examined my skin. To my disappointment I found that although I had a nice even tan in some places, it had gone very patchy down my legs, streaky on my thighs and left me with visible orange marks on my feet and on the palms of my hands. I had obviously missed quite a few areas and it showed noticeably!
As for the orange palms I can only assume that some overspray from doing my inner arms and wrists had gone onto my palms.
I was a bit annoyed with this product as it so clearly states on the tin that it leaves you with no streaks or patches but unfortunately it does. The information on the tin tells you that there is no need to rub in the tan, but I feel that perhaps it would be better if you did as it would ensure that you would cover the bits that you missed when spraying your skin.
On the plus side, the tan is nice and dark and looks good on the even bits, but this is completely ruined by the streaks and patches on the rest of my body!
I contacted Loreal on the careline number given on the tin to get some advice and give feedback. The lady who answered just told me lamely to exfoliate my skin every night and the patches would then even out over the next couple of days. For a product that is supposed to not need this, the Loreal careline did not express any surprise in the fact that it had left my skin patchy and streaky.
If you decide to use this product, my recommendation would be to be very careful not to miss bits and get someone else to spray hard to reach areas.