Isle Of Paradise Tanning Water Review

I put on a self-tan! - Something I never thought I'd say.

In the past, self-tanning wasn't of interest to me. I truly am a novice where tanning products are concerned. What changed this year, you may ask. Well, I don't often get a tan and this year I'm not going abroad to a beautiful beach resort, so with no rays to give me sun-kissed skin and a desire for a summer glow, I thought if I wasn't going to do it now, when was I?

After a small bit of research, I knew I didn't want a creme self-tanner. Surprisingly that made my search a little easier as I then had fewer products to choose from. It wasn't till I came across a Youtuber mentioning Isle of Paradise tanning water, that I finally jumped in and purchased. I knew of the brand and product but hadn't seen any visual results until that video. Once I saw that I knew it was the product for me.

How did I know? Well, the product promises that it's easy to use- which for an inexperienced tanner like me, is key. It's also vegan and cruelty-free which as some of you will know, I care about a lot.

What I purchased: 

From the research I had done, I chose to go with the light shade in the collection of self-tanning waters and to rub it in I used the Soltan double sided mitt. I chose not to use the tanning drops in light as the water can be used on the face as well as the body, however, the drops may be essential to those of you who wear foundation on a regular basis and/or have a daily skin routine where the product may wear off. As I don't wear foundation and only wash my face with water, the tanning drops seemed pointless for me.

 

Application:

I've seen and heard of a few different application processes for this product; one where a girl saturated herself with the water, let rest and then put on a tanning onesie and another girl who spritzed herself with it and after leaving it to set for 10 minutes, then rubbed it in. Considering both these girls weren't as fair as me, I didn't want to try either of these processes and instead opted for spraying my body and rubbing in the water straight away, section by section. The application wasn't hard at all other than the fact I needed my mum to spray and rub in the water on my back where I couldn't reach. I also moisturised some of my dry areas (like my elbows and ankles) before applying the water, which was a tip I picked up from some written reviews online. 

Developing: 

After the application, I stood for 20 minutes and then threw on a silk robe. My skin felt tacky but not at all wet. I wasn't left with an awful fake tan smell but instead smelt of a musky peach like perfume which wasn't overpowering and only lasted for a couple of hours. In the next two-three hours, I saw a small change in my skin tone but no drastic change so went to bed and waited till morning to see the final results. 

Results: 

When I woke up, I immediately went and checked myself in the mirror to see if I was an orange Oompah Loompa. To my surprise, I looked as if I had been on holiday for a week. I wasn't orange at all and the bronzed finish was more natural looking than I had imagined. I did have streaky hands but that was due to washing them a few times after the application. I also found my feet to be darker in some areas, like my ankles, soles of my feet and healing blistered areas on my toes. I did expect to have some markings in those places since others said they had that issue. To fix those areas I attempted a wash with baby wipes which worked a treat. 

Final Thoughts:

I loved the results so this product is a total winner for me. For my whole body, I only used a quarter of the bottle so I could easily get another 2-3 applications out of it. My only issue with the bottle is how hard it was to spray with one hand and as it was a spray, it did get messy at times. The results were pretty even but I think that's more to do with my application than the product itself. I loved that it was a clear colour water as that meant it wasn't daunting to see on the skin when applying it. Some say they have found this to be annoying as they can't tell where they have and haven't applied it, however, I didn't find this to be an issue as it was still wet when first spritzing it on. I also found no staining on my bed sheets or clothing which was impressive. The only issue I had in the first full day of the wear test was the tan started to wear off in areas where I had sweated but overall it lasted the amount of time the product promised (4-6 days).

Pros: 

•  Easy to us
•  Natural finish 

•  Bearable scent

Cons: 

•  Hard to spray at times

•  Sprays far meaning it's messy 

and could stain surrounding areas