little white truths

I bought this product last year when Clarins was on gift at one of the online retailers (you may have seen that I've recently started using and reviewing the generous gift set too).

I needed to pick one skincare item and, since my item of choice was sold out, this seemed like my next best option because it's not too expensive, I'd heard great things about it and I didn't have a facial tanner at the time.

So glad I bought it! It's one of the easiest self-tanners I've ever used and it slots beautifully into my existing skincare routine, so it's a win-win situation in my books and I'd definitely consider buying this again. 

Clarins claims/product details:

As you can see, it comes in a small 15ml bottle with a dropper-nozzle arrangement (see below). 

At first I thought I wasn't getting much product, but after having used it, I'm starting to wonder how I'll ever get through this amount so I do think it's good value overall.

Verdict

I love this stuff. All it takes is two or three drops added to my serum at night and I wake up with a natural glow. I wouldn't have thought such a small amount of product could pack so much punch, but it does: I can live with one application of this every few days to bring up my face colour a shade or two so it matches the colour of my body - winning!

It's a concentrated product housed in a small bottle with a dropper attached to the nozzle, and you need to give it a good shake to get the product to dispense. 

Once it does, I would certainly start easy with application: on the first use I applied say five drops because I assumed that's how much I would need, and while I didn't look orange the next morning, I did look a shade darker than I'd meant to so it's definitely worth starting small with this and then building colour if needed.

I do exfoliate regularly so I need to use this every few days if I want to maintain my colour, but I need to do that will all tanners so the product doesn't lose points on that front. Importantly, the glow this gives doesn't fade straight after cleansing my face the next day: I've had this happen before so I'm pleased it doesn't happen with this product.

For me, the best thing about this is that it fits seamlessly into my existing skincare routine. I don't need to use a dedicated tanning cream every few days in place of my usual skincare - I just add this to whatever serum I'm using and my glow appears as if by magic. Woot woot!

I also love that this doesn't have any offensive scent, nor have I had any issues with streaky application or an unnatural-looking colour. It just adds a believable glow and I'm sure you could make yourself much darker than I do with this and not risk turning orange. Another plus.

All in all, this is a fantastic little product that generally meets its claims and I recommend it. While $40 may seem like quite a lot to outlay for a facial tanner, I personally think this is good value on a price-per-use basis: I've had my little bottle for ages and it's still going strong. I can't imagine needing to buy this more than once a year, so the value is there (for me at least) and I would absolutely buy it again.

Awesome.