OK, so your holiday may be over, but the good days aren’t over yet. It’s definitely too early to go headlong into winter and lose that summer mood, so here’s how to keep that golden afterglow.
* Don’t let your colour fade faster than a holiday hangover. If your skin is desert-dry and peeling, start with an all-over body scrub, like Origins Modern Friction For The Body, £32 for 200ml, (1) to polish away the dehydrated, flaky surface cells that summer dried out. Your natural tan will fade a little, but don’t worry – there’s a plan.
* Follow with lashings of rich body moisturiser, especially over parch-prone areas such as shins, arms and decolletage. By protecting skin from further dry-out, it will not only look and feel silkier (and, by the way, younger), but any residual tan – or fake tan – will last longer, too. Palmer’s Shea Butter Formula Moisturizing Lotion, £4.49 for 400ml, (2), leaves skin supple, smoothed and soothed.
* Top up your colour with tan extender. Tan extenders, also known as graduated tanners, are basically diluted self-tans, often containing around 2% self-tanning ingredient. They need daily reapplication to gradually build up the colour to the level you like, but there’s virtually no risk of streaks. They also range in price from cheap-n-cheerful, such as Dove Summer Glow Nourishing Lotion, £4.99 for 250ml (3) to the super-luxurious Sisley After-Sun Care Tan Extender, £97 for 200ml.
* Emphasise dewy, golden skin the way A-listers do it. For example, Scott Barnes Body Bling Moisturizing Shimmer Body Lotion, £27.99 for 120ml (4) was originally created for J-Lo, who knows a thing or two about looking like a glamorous and ageless goddess. (Actually, that ageless goddess is 45.) Alternatively, Nuxe Huile Prodigieuse Or Dry Oil Golden Shimmer, £21 for 50ml (5), is not only a gleaming skin-softener but its delicious orange blossom, rose, lily and vanilla fragrance further perpetuates that summery mood.
* Add sunkissed polish to your face, too. Laura Mercier Foundation Primer in Radiance Bronze, £29 for 50ml (6), adds a subtle luminous glow under – or instead of – foundation, while Guerlain Terracotta Moisturising Bronzing Powder, £33.50 (7) is a velvety, non-drying bronzer that adds the perfect finish on top.
* Highlight your tanned complexion with neutral eyeshadows with a metallic gleam, such as the shimmering cocoa and pearly highlighter in Japonesque Velvet Touch Eye Shadow duo in 07, £18 (8). Edge it with mascara and discreet brown eyeliner or, for a fashionably bold streak of colour, apply Rimmel Scandaleyes Waterproof Stick in Blamed Blue, £3.49 (9) as eyeliner instead.
* Finish with eye-brightening drops to soothe irritation and redness, such as Optrex Eye Brightening Drops, £3.79 for 10ml (10), plus soft pink or peach lip colour for a flattering contrast to warm golden skin. Bourjois colour Boost Lip Crayon Peach On The Beach 4, £7.99 from Superdrug, (11) is perfect.
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