Could this be the best Fake Tan yet? |
Over the last few years the application of a fake tan has become a way of life to most Irish Dancers. Along with a fancy Dress, Shoes, Tiara, Wig and makeup a bottle of fake tan is part of the essential costume for all serious competitors. But with so many to choose from, which do you choose? There are basically two types of fake tan, the first of which are known as "Instant" tan. These simply stain the skin and wash off afterwards. Effectively these are really body makeup, and have a tendency to make a dancer look Orange, or in some cases, just dirty. This type of tan tends to rub off onto the white poodle socks and sometimes dresses too. The main advantage of these are that they are instant, and can be re-applied on the day if the stage lighting is strong enough to make the original coat look pale. The second type of fake
tan are those known as "self-tanners". Self-tanners are specially formulated
to develop a "real" tan in the skin over a
number of hours. The tan tends to look more natural and
doesn't wash or rub off easily. It also fades slowly just
like a real tan, so can be kept topped up for regular
feis goers. |
Irish-Dancer have recently been testing a Fake Tan product that we hadn't seen before. It is one of the self-tan type as we prefer to go for a more natural & even look for feis. The product is called Fake Bake and is available via their website at www.fakebake.co.uk We have used self-tanners before and the main problem we have is ensuring that all areas are covered properly. It isn't unusual to find that once the tan develops there are white patches that were missed. This results in the need for a second coat straight away, so the first coat is usually applied 2/3 days before a feis. Another issue we've had is simply that the colour isn't strong enough. Most tan products are designed so that lilywhite people don't look out of place when they first arrive on their holiday beach. A gentle colour just adds a glow until the real tan begins to reveal itself over the next few days. However, for Irish dancers the need is for a strong even colour that doesn't disappear under strong stage lighting. |
Fake Bake is quite an expensive product so had a lot to live up to, if it was going to inmpress our resident testers Siobhán and Mum! As with most fake tans Fake Bake recommend that you Exfoliate properly first to soften the skin. Obviously they supply their own exfoliant (called Body Polish) but any proprietary brand should be okay. We never followed this advice, simply washing with soap before applying the tan, as we hadn't left ourselves enough time before the feis! With that in mind I was prepared to accept that the results may suffer accordingly, but was pleased to find that they didn't. The first thing you notice upon applying the lotion is that it is very dark. This is because it includes a colour guide so that you can easily see where it has been applied. This was very well apreciated by Mum. Once applied it takes about 15/20 minutes to dry so Siobhán has to do her usual Irish Dancer fake tan strut, which is the only time that she doesn't keep her feet together and kness crossed! Next morning we washed
the colour guide off of Siobháns legs and were very
pleasantly surprised. The colour was very even and quite
dark compared to other tans. A second coat was applied
that evening and on the morning of the feis we were
pleased to see a very strong, but natural looking tan had
appeared. On stage at the feis the tan looked good
against her new black dress, although it was only a
school hall, so the lighting wasn't particularly strong. The next evening Siobhán attended her next class, and this was the first
time that Teacher had seen her tan. She was pleased with the
colour and even covering too, despite the fact it was
nearly two days old already. Two weeks later we found ourselves at the All Irelands in Belfast, having been to another feis in between. Siobhán had been topped up for the previous feis and again for Belfast. and the results were good. It appears that after the initial application a weekly top up really is sufficient to maintain the tan, which is in line with the claims that Fake Bake make in their literature.In the event that an instant top up is required they also supply a Self Tanning Mousse which tops up the tan but dries in seconds. So far we haven't needed to use this product, which must be quite a good sign! Both Teacher and Mum were really happy with the look in Belfast, and
this time we had very strong stage lighting to contend
with. Siobhán said it was one of the brightest stages that
she's danced on, but the tan still looked right! Irish-Dancer is happy to endorse the virtues of this product as it really does the job that Irish Dancers need it to. It is fairly expensive, but then it seems that in this particular instance you really do get what you pay for. Anyway, compared to the annual cost of Irish dancing it doesn't seem that much at all! |
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