Talk to me about tan accelerators?

[caitlinohara]

Have only just heard of these. Some seem to be mega expensive and then there are cheapy Boots ones. Do any of them actually work or shouldn't I bother?

[specialsubject]

nothing you put on your skin will work. it is possible that pills containing l-tyrosine may produce more melanin, but there's no evidence and the product claims are full of 'helps' and 'can'.

so I think you can safely assume it is all bollocks.

if you want a darker tan, use the skin dye stuff. You may look like an oompa loompa but that's the only risk.

[iwantgin]

The sun cream I bought from The Green People says it has tan accelerator in. Obviously I wouldn't use that pre- sun exposure - but perhaps it helps to get a longer lasting tan.

I certainly came back from my hols in May looking pretty brown .

I haven't ever tried a specific tan accelerator. Have seen them on the QVC/Ideal World shopping channels.

[XiCi]

The only time I used a tan accelerator I got a lovely deep tan quite quickly , much quicker than normal and it lasted alot longer as well. I think it was an elemis one.
I definitely think that they work, there was such a marked difference.
Also I don't think that they would be able to advertise that the accelerators stimulate melanin production if they didn't.

[frankietwospots]

I used the Elemis one too and don't recall a huge difference, maybe just a small difference. I'd recommend using an aftersun containing self-tan which is a low risk way of getting a bit of colour before holiday.

[specialsubject]

beauty ads are full of careful wording: 'can help to...' 'challenges the signs of...' and similar crap.

read carefully and you see it means nothing. That's how they get away with what are basically lies.

unless the ad says 'this will make you tan faster and darker and does not contain fake tan' I wouldn't believe a word of it.

and if they had a product that did this, they'd make a fortune.

[poppym12]

i had a big bottle of gatineau a few years ago. it was an excellent moisturiser and my tan seemed to last for ages (IIRC i did have several sunny weekends in france and italy that year though which is probably why).

[caitlinohara]

Hmm, I want to believe it works... Not feeling the new St Tropez shower stuff, it's way too expensive for what it does so I was hoping for a safer real tan instead. Might check out the elemis one thanks guys