With one week to go before I was due to bare my limbs on the beaches of Miami I was on a major diet and exercise regime, but my legs were still woefully pasty. I'm very against sunbeds so decided a fake tan was the way to go, and booked in for a spray tan session at the Beauty Lounge. The salon was delightful, with glorious forties embellishments and a combination of eclectic features such as cowhide rugs nestling next to Art Deco chairs and a overflowing magazine rack. I was seated for around 5 minutes, before I was brought upstairs to the Fake Bake booth.
The lovely beautician escorted me to a the room where a large freestanding pop up spray tan booth stood. There was enough room to change, and a place to put my clothes, but it was a pretty snug area. I was handed attractive paper knickers and bath hat, and told to make sure that I applied extra lotion to areas such as the hands, feet and knees (these areas are commonly dry and tend to pick up more product than the rest of the body). I was also given stick on foot pads to wear on the bottom of my feet.
Whilst I got changed I listened to the iPod in the room, which was a pleasant way to get ready. After five minutes the beautician entered and proceeded to coat my body in a fine mist. It's never fun standing naked in front of someone, but she treated me kindly ands with courtesy, minimizing any awkwardness.
I decided to go for a medium brown, and had my fingers crossed it would look natural, as that's darker than I normally opt for. The process took about 15 minutes and involved lots of turning on the spot, allowing the therapist to cover every area, and we then re-did the process to make the colour more intense.
Immediately after I looked pretty brown, but more in a dirty way than a natural glow. I spent the night sleeping on towels and then showed in the morning and the dirt rinsed off, leaving a really lovely golden glow. I admired my newly bronzed limbs and did a little shimmy- I was very impressed.
Fake Bake gave me a really natural look that could only have been achieved by a month of hardcore sunbathing, and it was even all over. There was no annoying smell and the colour really complemented my natural colour- it was just a better version of me.
The tan is estimated at lasting 7-10 days but mine actually lasted about 14 days, with no patches.
I love the look of the tan, and the staff at the Beauty Lounge were very friendly- I might just become an addict (but NOT in a Jersey Shore way).
A treatment costs £45 at the Beauty Lounge. 1 Kingly Court, London W1B 5PW , Tel: 020 7734 6161 .
