James Read Gradual Tan Medium and Liquid Tan Light

 

I love my fake tan + I’m very pale = I need to be really careful I don’t look orange or strange when using the sunless stuff! Faking a tan has been a hobby of mine since being 14 years old and working a Saturday job in the local pharmacy. I took home many goodies each week, spending almost all of my earnings of course, and one of my favourites to spend on was the Garnier self tan. Things have come a long way since then, but one thing that hasn’t changed it seems, is me being willing to spend a lot of money on the brown stuff.

I would say that I have most likely tried at least 50% of fake tans on the market, if not more, and if a new one comes out tomorrow, I’m there :0) James Read have been on my list to try for some time, but they are definitely at the higher end what I’m prepared to spend on any one product, but the reviews were just so good, I finally went for it.

James Read Gradual Tan in Medium

This comes in at £18 which wouldn’t be too bad for a large bottle, but for 50ml is pretty darn steep so I expected wonderful things from it. Did I get them? Easy to apply, tick. Colour you can see, tick. Non greasy but still moisturising, tick. That’s pretty much where it ends for me in the plus column.

The colour on me is orangey, and I’m really surprised as I’ve read so many reviews saying the opposite. It may just be my mutant ginger gene he he, cause I know when I put a hair dye on, regardless of the colour I choose, it just goes a different shade of red! That said, I’ve certainly used many tans that don’t go orange, so I guess it’s just not a good fit for me and James Read gradual tan.

Orangeness aside, this broke me out spots, was too dark in my opinion for a gradual tan, and faded streaky. Next.

James Read Liquid Tan in Light

This is £24.50 for a 250ml bottle, much better value than the gradual tan for face. This is almost identical to St Tropez liquid, with the differences being that this is slightly lighter in consistency and doesn’t seem to cling to blemishes as much as the St Tropez one does.

I actually found this harder to apply on my face and neck than I do St Tropez, but granted it’s not actually for the face. It was streaky, particular on my neck, but thankfully it wasn’t at all streaky the following day. It also seemed to pour too quickly out of the tube and there was tan everywhere.

The colour is nice once developed, but very light. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised since I bought the “light” one! I’m guessing the medium is closer to the St Tropez colour. Anyway, I didn’t love this for my face, mostly because of how hard it was to blend, but also because some of the other tans I have produce a colour that I feel is more “me”. That said, I used it on my legs and was pleasantly surprised at how natural it looked, and how unstreaky it was on feet which are usually a problem area in that respect.

Next review on Vita Liberata Warm Silken Sun 200ml (gradual tan) and Vita Liberata Deep Silken Touch: Body (untinted self tan) which I’ll be trying out this weekend. Bronzed Goddess, that’ll be me :0)