This Just In: Fake Tan Season Firmly on The Way

It's a bit of a deficit in a beauty editor to be just so disinterested in fake tan. But I am. I really don't like it, and I find it very hard to drum up a lot of enthusiasm for it - but I bravely do my duty and investigate and test products Just For You Guys. I know. It's a dirty job, etc.

I've been trying to keep my flagging spirits up recently as about 5 billion tanners (read: 4) have arrived on my desk ahead of fake tanning season. One that immediately stood out to me was Piz Buin's clever dial-a-tan product,  Self Tanning Lotion + Colour Dial, €22.99. Much like Revlon's Custom Creations foundation, two shades of product are contained in separate chambers and you just twist the bottle to choose the intensity of colour. Hint: Irish ladies, please go for the palest.

The second one I'm liking is Vita Liberata's Rich Silken Chocolate sheer matte body tint with self tan. Phew, worra mouthful. At €28 it's spendy but has one big advantage - it doesn't stink to high heaven. Packaged in an easy-to-use pump, it dispenses a horrifyingly-brown gel-liquid that thankfully rubs down to a sheer tint with no shimmer. It's non-sticky and a light tan appears under it in three to four hours too, by which time, I have to report, it does get a little whiffy - but it's nothing like the stale biscuit stench of other products. And thank God for that.