I'm a bit surprised I haven't reviewed this little beauty before, it's the Clarins Instant Smooth Self Tanning it's one of my favourite primers, in fact, scrap that, it's my favourite make up primer. But, not only is this just a primer, oh no no, it's actually a fake tan for your face as well, I was dubious about trying this initially for that very reason, I'm a pale girl and I tend to embrace the pale pretty much all year round and have never been one for fake tanning really, I have never found one that doesn't streak or leave me looking like a patchy wotsit. So, I didn't think this would work very well for me especially as I don't fake tan the rest of my body but I wear a lot of SPF on my face, I work from home and my desk is directly in front of the window so my face is always at the mercy of the elements, I started to notice last year that my the rest of my body was starting to tan and not my face and I'd read so many good reviews on this that I decided to give it a whirl.
Consistency wise, this is a like a Mousse, Gel & Balm hybrid, that massages into the skin to give a really subtle hint of colour and leaves the perfect base for makeup,I get so many compliments on this when I'm wearing it about how well I look or that my skin is glowing, seriously, I pull this out when I'm feeling a bit down just so I get complimented. It doesn't leave my face noticeably darker, it's just a really subtle natural colour that could probably be built on if you were to use this everyday to get a darker colour, I use it maybe 2 times a week and that kind of works for me. It blends into skin really well and because it has a caramel colour, it's easy to see where you're applying so you don't end up with a two tone face, my skin can be quite sensitive to these kinds of products but I've had no issues with this, it didn't clog my pores or cause any irritation.
My only real issue with this is that I can smell that fake tan smell and it does linger which I think is something Clarins could have potentially tried to cover up a bit, I do have a particularly sensitive nose though so I can smell EVERYTHING and I know a lot of reviews think this doesn't smell so it might be worth checking it out to see if it bothers you or not, it really wouldn't put me off re-purchasing this, I loved this so much though that I picked up the sister product (and the original Instant Smooth product) Instant Smooth Perfecting Touch which is basically the non tanning version, I actually don't like it half as much as I like this one, firstly it's half the size, Self Tanning comes in a 30ml pot while the perfecting touch is only 15ml and it just doesn't give me the same flawless look that the self tanning does, I do still use it but I definitely favour the self tanning, it's also made me want to try the Clarins Delicious Self Tanning Cream which looks like a similar product but for the body.
Anyway, you can find this here for only £15.20 at the moment if you're interested in picking it up.
Have you tried the Instant Smooth range before, what did you think?
Soph x
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