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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think that fake tan always looks awful.

70 replies

EmeraldThief · 04/04/2015 10:14

I'm naturally very fair skinned. For years I've been told I'm too pale, that I look ill, that I resemble a milk bottle etc. All because I've resisted the urge to smother myself in fake tan! I can't tan naturally because I just burn, so fake tanning has always been the other option but I think it looks bloody awful. It's not the same a natural tan no matter what anyone says, fake tan always looks orange, streaky and unnatural. It always looks dirty and leaves a mess on towels and bed clothes etc, Plus it stinks! Oh and it's a complete faff to put on, I just couldn't be arsed with all of that exfoliating bollocks beforehand.

Why do so many women still smother themselves in that shit?

OP posts:

WestEast · 04/04/2015 10:17

Because they want to? And it's their choice to do so.

thenextday · 04/04/2015 10:18

I have never found one which isn't orange. I am ridiculously pale and would just like my legs to be a little sunkissed. Have given up.

I suffer from polymorphic light eruption which stuffs me going out in the sun so am destined to be pale and interesting, with Bit D deficiency

Koalafications · 04/04/2015 10:18

Maybe because they can do it properly and don't end up streaky and orange.

studiozero · 04/04/2015 10:19

er if you do it properly you don't look anything like you've described

tattychicken · 04/04/2015 10:20

I think it depends on your skin. I'm naturally quote olive skinned, but as I'm getting older in getting paler. I quite like a layer of something medium, normally use Piz Buin, and it doesn't look fake at all, honest! Just looks like I've been lying in the garden for a few hours, and gives me a bit more confidence wearing shorts etc.

Original poster

EmeraldThief · 04/04/2015 10:20

I don't know a single person who knows how to apply it properly.

It always looks especially awful on hands. Like they dipped them in a vat of Creostote.

OP posts:

MmeMorrible · 04/04/2015 10:21

I agree with you OP. So many orange Oompa Loompas around here in Essex!

I think the fake tan is one of those fashions we will look back and laugh at in future decades.

Koalafications · 04/04/2015 10:23

I don't know a single person who knows how to apply it properly.

That doesn't mean they don't exist.

Runningupthathill82 · 04/04/2015 10:23

I am similarly pale.

None of the stuff you can buy in a bottle has ever looked anything other than orange and streaky on me - but then I could have bought crap stuff and/or been doing it wrong.

Professional spray tans, however - great. I've only had it done a few times, but it looked fantastic. Not streaky or orange at all.

YABU.

FirstWeTakeManhattan · 04/04/2015 10:23

Oh and it's a complete faff to put on, I just couldn't be arsed with all of that exfoliating bollocks beforehand

Maybe that's why it looks a bit grim? Some people use it and look fab.

I'm fair skinned (but have somehow not spent my life not being insulted over it. Not sure anyone's even mentioned it, but there we go) and don't use it. I think pale skin can look lovely.

Your post is a bit - you're pale, don't want to use fake tan, and so no one else should?

If you can tell someone's plastered in fake tan, it's probably not applied well. I imagine the best application goes well under the radar.

MrsKoala · 04/04/2015 10:24

i've never had it leave marks on the towels/bedding. I'm very pale and my legs do look better with a bit of fake tan on. But if you can't be bothered to do it properly then it will look crap. i think you need a decent brand too. YSL do a very good one which is almost greeny on application, it isn't orangey at all and smells lovely. i use the clarins one on my face.

The bodyshop one smells so bad it makes me heave if i stand near someone wearing it.

MythicalChicken · 04/04/2015 10:24

What on earth are you using EmeraldThief? Something from the 1980s? Fake tan just isn't like that anymore (apart from St Tropez and Sienna X which are a bit vile). The newer brands such as Vita Liberata and Aviva give a beautiful, natural tan, with none of the streaking and orange of which you speak.

AnnieMoor · 04/04/2015 10:24

Have you tried a spray tan? I have, once, and it looked very natural.

Original poster

EmeraldThief · 04/04/2015 10:25

I hope so MmeMorrible. I blame TOWIE and Geordie Shore for the rise of the Orange women, they all look radioactive.

OP posts:

Salmotrutta · 04/04/2015 10:25

I've used the Dove moisturiser with tanning in it (for fair skin) and it just gives a subtle hint.

Better than lying around on a sun bed screwing up your DNA anyway.

FirstWeTakeManhattan · 04/04/2015 10:26

not spent my life not being insulted over it

Tea has not yet been taken.

MrsKoala · 04/04/2015 10:26

I don't know a single person who knows how to apply it properly

Perhaps it's like wigs and plastic surgery - you only notice the bad jobs.

PtolemysNeedle · 04/04/2015 10:27

Fake tan does nearly always look awful on people who are very pale skinned, but as not everyone is naturally very pale, sometimes fake tan looks fine. You just don't notice the people that it looks ok on because there's no fake tan look to notice.

I don't think the fake tans that require extensive exfoliating, standing like a soldier until it dries so it doesn't go everywhere are the best types of fake tan to use at home anyway. They get a much better result in a salon where they are applied properly. If people are going to use fake tan at home then it's much better to use the moisturisers that gradually build up to avoid streakyness and orange hands.

WhiteConverseSkinnyJeans · 04/04/2015 10:27

Oh god I bought a new fake tan yesterday it's the rimmel one

Applied last night as I'm going out tonight and I'm so dark it's ridiculous even though I've now showered off the colour guide

Worried I'm one of the people op means

Sunny67 · 04/04/2015 10:27

It's the badly applied and too dark fake tan that you notice. i don't use it myself, I'm pale but do tan and I can't be bothered with the mess. I'm not keen on the really dark/orange looking fake tan but each to their own, but like the marker pen eyebrows

StillStayingClassySanDiego · 04/04/2015 10:27

I always wear fake in the summer, I never look shit.

Sunkissed and glowing is how I look, I recommend St Tropez mousse, fab stuff.

GlitterTwinkleToes · 04/04/2015 10:30

Professional spray tans are gorgeous without looking orange and streaky. I'm very pale skinned Hubby calls me a vampire and had one spray tan for a wedding. Looked like id been on an exotic holiday
The cheap bottles of fake tan are horrid, one of my friends use it and she smells of biscuits haha!

Fcukfifa · 04/04/2015 10:31

Agree with others, if you notice someone has fake tanned they havent done a good job or it doesnt suit their skintone.

When used correctly you wouldnt know they (not just women btw) are wearing it.

19lottie82 · 04/04/2015 10:33

As someone has said, you only notice it when it's put on badly. If someone has done a good job you won't notice.

whattheseithakasmean · 04/04/2015 10:33

Fake tan is one of those things like botox/hair extensions/plastic surgery as another poster said. You only notice it when it is done badly, so naively assume it always looks shit. Because done well, you don't see botox/hair extensions/plastic surgery/whatever - you just see a confident person feelin good about themselves.

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