Pro-longing your golden summer tan

People say that the most depressing part of a holiday is the flight home. But in my opinion, the most depressing part of a holiday has got to be the moment you realise your tan is going to start fading. (Of course it doesn’t really count if you get a tan – but you can see where I’m going here.)

Tanning by the pool in Tunisia

When tanning, the sun actually tans the first layer of your skin – whether that is a fresh layer of skin or dead skin that will soon fall off. Therefore, I made sure I treated myself to a Turkish bath on my first day of my holiday. It’s basically a steam session, then a good scrub to remove all of the dead skin from the body, revealing soft new skin that is perfect for pro-longing a tan.

Two weeks before my holiday…

After two blissful weeks in the scorching heat of Tunisia, I went from an olive skin (I am olive right?) into a beautiful bronzed goddess. I loved how with each day that I sunbathed, my tan line grew more and more noticeable.

The last night on my two week holiday

I would spend hours at a time laying on the sun bed and soaking up the vitamin D.

But now that I am back in London, I have done as much as I can to ensure that my tan lasts as long as it possible can – even if I have to start faking it!

My chosen beauty products to help pro-long my summer tan.

• Soap & Glory Scrub ‘Em and Leave ‘Em™ Body Buff 300ml (Boots – £8)

I noticed that my skin started to get a bit patchy – I was looking like a leopard to be honest. It was basically my skin slowly peeling off section at a time and it wasn’t a pretty sight. A good friend of mine recommended I use a body scrub to slowly start removing the rest of the dead skin and make the skin area more even. The Soap & Glory Scrub ‘Em and Leave ‘Em did the perfect job. I didn’t use it every day, as of course the more dead skin that falls of the fainter your tan gets, so I used it every other day until the patches disappeared, then again once new patches appeared.

• Garnier Ambre Solaire Tan Maintainer 200ml (Superdrug – £3.98)

Keeping the skin hydrated is the best way to delay the process of the skin peeling off, therefore twice a day I moisturised my whole body. With this particular after sun, it came with a subtle tanning ingredient magically mixed into it. Therefore I gradually built up a tan, keeping my skin looking bronzed.

• Dove Summer Glow Lotion Medium to Dark 250ml (Superdrug – £2.48)

Although, After Sun is the best to use on your skin after a holiday, any normal body lotion still works its magic. This Dove Summer Glow Lotion has a stronger hint of self-tanning added to it. However, the label should warn you that it leaves your skin really glittery! I found this product to be really good at leaving a tan on your skin, however using it every day would make you look orange! Definitely a body lotion, I would alternate with the Garner Ambre Solaire.

(All prices correct at time of posting.)