Review: TanOrganic self-tan, self-tanning oil and oil Arganic

It’s lashing. Really lashing. The type of rain that pours out of the sky; massive long droplets cascading down the roof, wet rods of miserable water, saturating the house, our garden and the poor farmers’ fields.

It was as I looked out at the grey sky, the gloomy horizon and the wet wet rain, I thought about TanOrganic. I thought, Mr. Farmer, your barley crop is not the only golden thing around here. And then I looked at my legs. GOLDEN.

This is how I look in the rain. Every time.

I’m the type of tanner who drops everything the moment the sun peeks out from behind a cloud. What’s that, I cry, as a ray of light appears through the window and lands on my forehead. If my forehead calculations prove to be positive (bit of warmth, slight gap between  the clouds) I’ll be out in the back garden like a great white Tarzan, swinging in and dropping down, bikini clad, ready to sprawl and GET A BLOODY TAN.

I burn myself. Yes, I’m one of those; the careless ones. The baby might be clad in factor 50, giant floppy hat and head to toe in clothes, but I, her mother, with the identical skin, come over all, well, sallow. At least I think I’m sallow.

“I think you’re burning there,” some concerned member of my family will prompt.
“No,” I’ll say, fuzzy with the warmth. “Sure it’ll go brown.”

And it might, somewhere way down in the epidermis, near my liver perhaps. But the skin on top goes pink. To red. To puce red. To where’s the aloe vera, I can’t lie down and in one week’s time I’ll be peeling layers of my skin off, onion style, red.

So, as you imagine, if I do that to myself when there’s a chance of getting a real tan, I’ve been a purveyor of many tanning products over the years. I met Noelle, the founder of Tanorganic at a recent conference called TecXpose. She was an engaging woman and it was easy to see how her business has gone from strength to strength. On the day we met, the product had just launched across Boots UK and the whole team were mega-excited.

Tanorganic has already battled and overcome some of the problems we’ve faced with self-tan. They’ve gotten rid of the undeniable smell, the pong that permeated your sheets, your pores and your boyfriend’s nostrils. They’ve deleted the chemical association with tan; their product (as the name states) is organic – it almost feels like you’re just rubbing a brown water over your skin.

I liked the glove they have produced, a mitt, that goes on either hand and is velvety soft. Best of all, I’ve found their product lasts. I’ve been wearing it for a week now and I don’t have one streak, speckly spot, or brown stain in the folds of my neck. It fades like a natural tan does and, let’s face it, that’s what TanOrganic are all about.

Tanorganic have worked hard to improve their product since it was first discovered on Dragon’s Den. They’ve reworked the product itself, the packaging and the marketing. I’ve spotted it in pharmacies all over Ireland (yes, I’m well travelled) and they have an eye-catching display.

They also have their messaging right and they donate and campaign for cancer charities, with an emphasis on skin cancer. Stay out of the sun, they warn. Tan safely, with us. Well Tanorganic, I will, I certainly will. But as soon as the sun pops out from that giant thundercloud, me and my golden pins will be out to the soggy garden to top up. Because I like the best of both worlds.

Review

I tried the Tanoranic Self –Tanning Oil, the Tanorganic Self-Tan and the Oil Arganic multi-use Dry Oil. I liked both tan products equally, but the self-tan contains ingredients that make it darker. I used both products with and without the glove; they’re designed so that you can rub on your skin, without the use of a mitt and I didn’t have crazy orange palms afterwards. (I felt the mitt used up more of the oil than I wanted). I got no complaints from himself, streak free bed-sheets and a very respectable glow for an Irish girl. I used the Oil Arganic to keep the tan fresh and I used it in my hair, along with a treatment, to great results. I did find the oil went quickly – it won’t last as long as some other products where you squeeze out a splodge and it covers your whole body – but what you’re getting here is quality, over quantity.

Disclaimer: I received the products free of charge for review purposes. Product available in pharmacies throughout Ireland and the UK.

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