Product review: My festival tan from Xen Tan Deep Bronze Luxe

When I say I don't tan easily, I really mean it. Forget interesting: I'm just pale. In fact, I'm so pasty that my veins are visible even in photographs and going out in direct sunlight for even an hour is a recipe for sunstroke.

This was great news back in my Goth days, when I never had to spend money on white foundation, but now I'm looking to cultivate a less anemic complexion, it's a choice between fake it or bake it, and I know which option my skin will thank me for. So earlier in the summer, en route to a festival where I planned to kick back and strip down, I slapped on some Xen Tan Deep Bronze Luxe which promised me an instant tan.

Read on to see how I got on

As any regular user of fake tan knows, this stuff usually honks to high heaven. Not great news, I thought, knowing that my boyfriend and I would be sharing a two-man tent right after the first application. But I needn't have worried about this, as Xen Tan actually smells good: it has a fresh vanilla scent that's actually quite delicious. Don't be put off by the fact that it comes out of the tube a greenish-brown: the green stuff is just a friendly pigment to prevent the skin taking on that dreaded orange look.

By my first day at the festival, I was impressed to see that the tanning effect had already kicked in and my legs had turned a lovely olive colour, reminding me very much of my sister's skin tone - she got the Meditteranean genes in our family, whereas I take after the Celtic side. The few bits I'd missed were easily fixed with a quick top-up, and the quick action of the tanning meant the gaps were covered pretty quickly.

I'll definitely use Xen Tan again, and the generously sized bottle means I'm confident I can look naturally bronzed till the option of actual sunbathing becomes highly theoretical. Its scrummy scent is what gives it the edge over rival brands in my view, but I also felt the result was more realistic than other fake tanners I'd tried.

Xen Tan Deep Bronze Luxe costs £25.95 and can be purchased online.

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