St Tropez self tan lotion - help! What am I doing wrong?

jaymee

Hello there!

Hoping someone can help. I began using St. Tropez a few days ago and have VERY pale skin. Now I have encountered a problem in that my hands appear quite steaky. My fingers and thumbs for instance are much darker than the rest of my hands. It looks really weird this way. My arms and rest of the body are fine.

Also, am I really suppose to avoid putting the lotion over my palm? It's just that it looks weird with the top of my hands looking tanned and my palms looking much lighter.

Feeling disappointed with the results because despite applying three times it only gives my body a healthy glow rather than a bronze look I was hoping for. It made me wonder if I am doing something wrong. I have exfoliated several times and used a moisturiser before putting on the St. Tropez lotion but my skin colour is still very light. I didn't mix St. Tropez with moisturiser either.

Boot's No.7 Quick Tinted Self Tan was even worse - not only did I get the streaks on my hands but they were orange.

Any recommendations or advice would be greatly appreciated.

judyjetson

Which one are you using? If it's the Everyday one, there's a light and a dark one, so you could try using the dark, but it's not going to be a dark as the orignal mousse. I'm very fair skinned and I find the original St Tropez way too dark for me, although I haven't tried their gradual tan. I'd avoid putting it on your palms as that doesn't look natural at all.

When it comes to hands, I wear latex gloves or Boots tan mitt to apply fake tan, then after I've applied it, I just press the backs of my hands lightly against somewhere else I've applied it, just to give a slight colour, that way it doesn't sink into my cuticles and knuckles.

Being fair skinned, I find the ones that give a golden glow more realistic and natural. Ones I use are Body Shop (comes in light and dark), Ambre Solaire No Streaks self tan, Garnier Summer Body, but my favourite is Elemis.

I'm doing an trial for one at the moment which I think is Tesco's Finest and it's very good.

stamford

jaymee wrote: »

Hello there!

Hoping someone can help. I began using St. Tropez a few days ago and have VERY pale skin. Now I have encountered a problem in that my hands appear quite steaky. My fingers and thumbs for instance are much darker than the rest of my hands. It looks really weird this way. My arms and rest of the body are fine.

Also, am I really suppose to avoid putting the lotion over my palm? It's just that it looks weird with the top of my hands looking tanned and my palms looking much lighter.

Feeling disappointed with the results because despite applying three times it only gives my body a healthy glow rather than a bronze look I was hoping for. It made me wonder if I am doing something wrong. I have exfoliated several times and used a moisturiser before putting on the St. Tropez lotion but my skin colour is still very light. I didn't mix St. Tropez with moisturiser either.

Boot's No.7 Quick Tinted Self Tan was even worse - not only did I get the streaks on my hands but they were orange.

Any recommendations or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Neighbour bought some tasty green aloe vera self tan gloves on eBay they keep my hands lovely & soft while working on the car etc

Penny_Watcher

The backs of my hands are naturally tanned (I spend a lot of time outdoors ) Palms and the soles of your feet don't tan because there's no melanin [sp?] there to be activated by the sunlight.

So if you're going for the natural look then your palms shouldn't be dark.

jaymee

judgejaq wrote: »

Which one are you using? If it's the Everyday one, there's a light and a dark one, so you could try using the dark, but it's not going to be a dark as the orignal mousse. I'm very fair skinned and I find the original St Tropez way too dark for me, although I haven't tried their gradual tan. I'd avoid putting it on your palms as that doesn't look natural at all.

When it comes to hands, I wear latex gloves or Boots tan mitt to apply fake tan, then after I've applied it, I just press the backs of my hands lightly against somewhere else I've applied it, just to give a slight colour, that way it doesn't sink into my cuticles and knuckles.

Being fair skinned, I find the ones that give a golden glow more realistic and natural. Ones I use are Body Shop (comes in light and dark), Ambre Solaire No Streaks self tan, Garnier Summer Body, but my favourite is Elemis.

I'm doing an trial for one at the moment which I think is Tesco's Finest and it's very good.

Thanks everyone! I am using the original St. Tropez. It's strange reading a number of people say how St Tropez makes their skin dark. It only gives my skin a healthy glow for some reason. My skin is only a shade darker (instead of pale it is very slightly brown) when I want darker. I was hoping for a proper bronze and have tried re-applying 3 times but it just won't get darker.

It's also a wrong type of brown shade I was looking for. What I am hoping for is a pinkish-brown shade or dark pinkish. Any idea what lotion could do that?

For some reason on my hands, my fingers are a lot darker than the top of my hand. So you say I should avoid the knuckles?

sallyrsm

I find Xen-tan quite pinky brownish.. bout the same price as San Trop. Smells like cherry/almond - no evil self tan smell. I get mine from Island Cosmetics.

jaymee

Thanks Sallyrsm! Can I ask what colour your original skin colour is? As I believe your base colour makes a big difference to the results. My is pale white.

MissMotivation

A few tips I have picked up from using St Tropez.

1) ALWAYS wear latex gloves......there is nothing worse than brown palms

2) Use St Tropez exfoliator and moisturiser.....both available from Boots. There is some chemical in most exfoliators/moisturisers that reacts with St Tropez and doesn't give you as good a result. St Tropez's products don't have this chemical in.

3) You need to apply 3/4 times to build up the tan and then 1/2 times a week to maintain it, the more you apply the better colour you get. I use the Everyday self tanner as a moisturiser......this seems to give me a better colour.

HTH

jaymee

MissMotivation, thanks for your advice! I just use a buffer which is like a loofah (bought only a few days ago from Boots) to exfoliate. This is the exact product:

http://www.boots.com/shop/product_details.jsp?productid=1081232&classificationid=1040124

I used my own moisturising lotion as I didn't think it would make a different from using St. Tropez's own moisturiser but I will give your advice a try by using their own brand. Hope to God it works!

perfectlypoor

I am pale and want to find a perfect tan.I use johnson holiday skin and avons version but find even the fair tone ones leave me patchy. Any ideas?

Doozergirl

Perfectlypoor, I use the dark skin Johnsons and find it works much better for even pastey old me!

jaymee, I found that St Tropez wouldn't take properly for me if I moisturised first So I didn't use the moisturiser at all except to mix it with the colour cream on the backs of my hands and my face, so they were a little lighter and my body actually took a bit of colour! A key is also not to be afraid of going dark(!) - use too little and it simply won't work. I've never gone really dark, ever, just a healthy glow.