I’m slowly but surely catching up on all of the blog posts I want to write. My exams put a halt to my blogging for a couple of weeks but I’m back in the swing of things. Today I have yet another tanning review for you! It seems that a lot of my beauty reviews are on false tanning products, but being Irish, tan is almost a necessity! About a month ago I was contacted by the lovely Sarah from SR Beauty. She asked if I would be interested in trying a new tan on the Irish market, Luv Tan.
Luv Tan
Luv Tan is developed in Ireland and contains an organic DHA. Dihydroxyacetone, or DHA as it’s more commonly known, is a chemical that interacts with amino acids to colour your skin. There are 8 products in the Luv Tan range so far and they are all free from alcohol and parabens. They cater for professionals with their Spray Tanning Solutions as well as for us ordinary gals. Luv Tan have developed an Instant Mousse and a Rapid One-Hour Mousse.
Sarah very kindly sent me the Rapid One Hour Mousse to try out. I gave it a trial recently when I went to the Bruno Mars concert with my bestie. For this, I wanted a good, dark, even tan.
Application
To apply, I used a double sided velvet tanning mitt. This is always my mitt of choice as the velvet finish ensures the mousse glides on. It’s also thick enough that none of the product seeps through on to your hand while it’s in the mitt. Two pumps of the Luv Tan mousse was enough for one leg and you can see the colour instantly. This colour guide makes it easy to see where you’ve applied the product, and more importantly, any areas that you’ve missed. There’s nothing as bad as a streaky tan! Below are the before and after pictures of the application. These pictures aren’t photoshopped or filtered, (as you can tell by the imperfections on my legs), so you can see the true results of the tan.
I was really impressed with the colour and was excited to see how dark it would be after developing for a couple of hours. Because I had a golden glow almost instantly, I knew that if I were to wash it off after an hour like the bottle suggests, I would have a natural looking tan. Instead I decided to leave it on over night and washed it off the next morning for the darkest shade possible, obviously 😂😜
One thing I was conscious of during the application was with the actually bottle. Each time I pressed down on the pump, some of the mousse leaked up around the nozzle. Now, that may just be with my bottle in particular, but I would be vigilant of it if I was travelling and had the bottle in a suitcase.
Development
Overnight, the tan developed to the shade in the next picture. It’s definitely up there with some of the darkest self-tanning mousses I’ve tried. Some people prefer tan lotions as traditionally mousse can leave your skin feeling dry but this wasn’t the case with Luv Tan. My skin didn’t feel dehydrated at all. Even after a shower, the colour was still really dark and even. As you can see in the picture below, it develops to a deep olive shade.
Wear
To be honest, I wasn’t sure how this tan would wear off over time. I hadn’t heard much about it before so I just hoped for the best! Thankfully, I was pleasantly surprised. I have to say, it’s one of the longest lasting tans I’ve used so far. It wore off quite evenly for a mousse too. In conjunction with using a good moisturiser every second day, I got a good 9 or 10 days out of this tan before I need to start exfoliating and preparing my skin for a new layer. I used a moisturiser after showering every second day, which is one of my biggest tips for tan! This helps to lock in moisture in the skin and prevents the tan from going patchy and wearing off unevenly.
Wearing Luv Tan – one day after application
Wearing Luv Tan, the day after the first application
Recommendations
I would recommend Luv Tan’s Rapid One Hour Tanning Mousse for anyone that likes a dark tan and one that will develop quite quickly. There are some developing tans that really do need to develop overnight, which is fine if you’re prepared but that’s not always the case. If something comes up last minute and you only have a couple of hours to get ready, Luv Tan would definitely give you a gorgeous glow after allowing it to develop for one hour, then rinsing off.
I would also recommend it for anyone that wants to do their own tan before heading away on holidays. It’s nice to have a colour when you’re going away; nobody want’s to look pasty in their swimsuit. A layer of the Rapid Tanning Mousse before you fly would see you through a weekend away or a week long holiday. Just make sure to bring a body moisturiser with you and stay hydrated.
Finally..
Luv Tan’s Rapid Tanning Mousse comes in at a great price point too – at just €14.99, it’s really affordable. I’m only about a quarter of the way through the 200ml bottle now. I’ve gotten 2 full body applications and one half body application out of it so far. The Luv Tan range is available from Sarah at SR Beauty and she also does the Luv Tan Spray Tans at her salon. I hope you enjoyed this review and thanks a million to Sarah for introducing me to Luv Tan. If you have any questions about Luv Tan or self-tanning in general, leave me a comment below or you can contact me on Facebook, Snapchat and Twitter.
