What do all you fake-tanning people do about topping up? Aren't you patchy? How does it all WORK??

[HepburnKNotA]

I have to exfoliate for about three-four days straight before I apply fake tan otherwise it is patchy and shit.

So how, then, am I supposed to re-apply the stuff to get an even colour after a few days? Do I exfoliate the whole lot off??! That would take me a good 2-3 days and I would be sore!! But if I exfoliate every day while I have fake tan on, it all starts to rub off pretty unevenly. Do I just leave the exfoliating for a few days, have a nice tan, and then start madly exfoliating for a couple of days (while hiding my body in drapey clothes) before re-starting from scratch?!

Sorry, I can't seem to get my head around this!

It may not be helping that I'm using gradual tanner as if it's normal fake tan. I'm so pale that even gradual tanners are quite dark on me so I use them rather than even light versions of the 'real' stuff. Do they go patchier after a few days? Would a 'proper' tan fade/exfoliate more evenly so I could just re-apply after a few days without looking like a weird brown and white panda?

Bloody loathe all this tanning stuff. My friend blithely told me today that I shouldn't worry, that after a couple of weeks of getting my legs out a bit with fake tan on, I won't need to fake-tan for the rest of the summer. No flipping chance. My legs burn, they don't tan. :(

@nothingtowearever Ah good stuff, i defo recommend as it looks natural. I was told to try it by somebody else and iv stuck with it. Yes i always put on my face and just use the excess of my mitt to do my hands.

Thanks @ShirleyPhallus love the hibiscus scent!

Sublime Bronze have a sunshimmer style instant tan that seems ok it's not sparkly or anything so "glam". I usually go pasty legged eventually as it's all so time consuming but understand the need to tan. Nivea had a protect and tan sunscreen that actually worked for me before ( and gave a blonde milky pal a golden glow!). Always thought you just continued slathering on the dove and Johnson's gradual ones (get sick of doing that too!)

My mum uses the dove gradual tanner and it looks really natural.