I ALWAYS end up with streaky, orange fake tan so I tried 3 viral hacks – an 18p trick had surprising results

WHEN it comes to fake tan, I’m famous in my family – for how bad I am at applying it.

And I’ve tried pretty much everything over the years to avoid streaks and get a nice, even bronze.

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As someone who has had their fair share of fake tan disasters, I decided to test three viral hacks to see if it would help me get a nice, even bronze[/caption]

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The hacks I decided to try were using a make-up brush, and using a pair of gloves – as well as going for the traditional mitt[/caption]

I even once attempted to fake tan my back without one of those long-handled applicators. You can imagine how badly that went!

But as someone who’s VERY pale for the majority of the year, I love the look of a gentle tan when the sun comes out.

A bronzed glow also makes me more confident getting my legs out when I dig the summer dresses out of the wardrobe.

So when I saw a few viral hacks from TikTokers claiming they were game changers for their fake tan finish, I thought it was worth giving them a try.

I decided to experiment with three different methods of applying St. Moriz’s Advanced Colour Correcting Self Tanning Mousse to see which was the best – a traditional mitt, a pair of latex gloves and a make-up brush.

So, could any of them help me get the finish I was after?

Get your mitts off

Using a mitt is arguably the most ‘traditional’ way of applying fake tan.

For my test, I used the St. Moriz Luxury Double Sided Self Tanning Mitt Duo, which comes with a larger mitt for areas like the legs and a smaller one for the face.

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My legs – as well as the rest of me – are VERY pale, especially at this time of the year[/caption]

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I used the mitt first of all – on both legs – and was impressed with the even tan I got[/caption]

I panicked slightly when I put the mousse on, as it dries very fast, and very dark.

But the mitt meant that when I partly went over an area I’d already done, it blended it in perfectly.

I always struggle with areas such as my ankles, feet and knees – especially given that my skin is the driest there too.

However, using the mitt meant I was able to control how much product I put on those areas.

So instead applying a new squirt of mousse for the feet, ankles and knees, I used the excess on the mitt – and it was the perfect amount.

The mitt also has a water-resistant barrier inside it, which means the product doesn’t seep through onto your hands (another fail I’ve had a few times before!).

Another thing that turns a lot of people off using fake tan is the smell that comes with it – that cloying biscuit-y scent that doesn’t seem to disappear.

And although there was a slight whiff when I used the St. Moriz mousse, it didn’t hang around for long – much to my delight.

Once I’d applied the tan, I used the Professional Self-tan Setting Spray – giving my legs a liberal coating of the product.

Then, once everything was dry, I went to bed, and there were no signs of any transfer onto my pyjamas either.

The next morning I washed off the product, and couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw what I’ve been yearning for all these years – a nice, even, non-streaky tan.

Rating: Five out of five

Gloves at the ready

As my husband’s a mechanic, I regularly find boxes of gloves scattered around the house.

So when I saw someone on TikTok applying their tan while wearing a pair of said gloves, I thought it was worth giving the hack a try.

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It felt bizarre applying a tanning mousse wearing latex gloves[/caption]

I popped them on, and got started – squirting the mousse directly into my gloved hand.

One thing I did discover, and pretty quickly, is that the gloves – which you can get for around 18p a pair – are a lot shorter than the mitt.

So when I was applying it, I ended up getting patches of tan on my forearm too, where the glove didn’t cover.

But it wasn’t a deal breaker, and something I could probably avoid if I changed my application position in the future.

In terms of the mousse itself going on, it actually did so smoothly, and pretty evenly .

I had been worried that the gloves would make the application a bit stop start, but it wasn’t like that at all.

I ended up with what looked like an even covering of tan on my legs, and was excited to see what it looked like when I washed it off the next morning.

When the next day came, I raced into the shower to wash off the tan and… was a bit disappointed by what I saw.

While the mousse is a light one, considering how pale I am I thought that a pale shade would be a good idea, it felt as though it had barely given me a whisper of colour.

I don’t know if it’s because the mitt holds more of the product that it can then disperse as it’s moved around in circles.

Whereas the gloves, due to the material they’re made from, don’t hold any of the product.

Perhaps if I had used a darker mousse, the gloves would have worked as they applied a lighter layer of product.

But for me, it wasn’t a hack I’d be racing to try again.

Rating: Three out of five

Make it up

The last hack I decided to try was using a make-up brush to apply the tan.

While I’d seen someone using a firm blusher style brush for their tan, I didn’t have one of those.

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Perhaps I didn’t pick the right make-up brush for this hack, but it ended up being very heavy on the application[/caption]

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I used the gloves on the left leg, and the make-up brush on the right – and you can see that the right leg is darker, and streakier, than the right[/caption]

So I went for a similar shaped brush with softer bristles – and that was perhaps a mistake.

This time, I applied the mousse directly to my leg, before using the make-up brush to smooth it in.

As I was moving the brush around in circles, I could feel how much product it was absorbing, and it didn’t seem like a huge amount was going onto my skin.

Consequently, I kept adding more and more to try and cover the expanse of my leg.

So when it came to the next day, when I washed it off the tan was the darkest of all three attempts.

It was also quite streaky, which I think is probably down to the fact that the brush wasn’t big enough.

I reckon if you had a bigger, flatter brush – one you could apply the mousse too rather than directly onto the skin – it would be more successful.

Rating: Two out of five

So would I use either the gloves or the make-up brush to apply my fake tan in the future?

No, I wouldn’t.

The mitt worked the best of the three – and you know what they say… if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!