We’re coming to that point in the year where Summer is just a memory immortalised in a series of throwback photos on Instagram.
And that tan? Fading fast. Which means more and more of us are hitting the (fake tan) bottle.
One person who always seems to look perfectly bronzed is Elle Ferguson. The blogger and entrepeneur has just launched her own tanning range, the Elle Effect, so safe to say she knows her tan.
When afternoons in Bondi look like this… @seafollyaustralia #facesofseafolly
A post shared by Elle Ferguson (@elle_ferguson) on
She also has a simple yet clever trick for preventing a streaky tan. The best bit? It will cost you exactly nothing.
After exfoliating in the shower and before she applies her tan, she rinses her entire body with cold water.
Maybe a slight shock to the system, but it will be worth it.
“This closes the pores and your tan will apply much better,” she tells Mamamia.
“This means the tan glides on and doesn’t cause you to get little black dots in your pores.”
Obviously moisturising is also important, applying to your hands and feet before you tan so it doesn’t get sucked up by patches of dry skin.
And Ferguson has plenty of other good tanning hacks up her sleeve.
“It’s important to wash your hair before a fresh tan because if you tan then wash your hair, rinsing off the tan the following morning can sometimes cause the shampoo to strip the tan from your back and back of legs,” she says.
Shooting in my fav place #Byron for something exciting @elleeffect #elleeffect
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She always uses a tanning mitt with her Elle Effect tanning mousse, $39.95, and starts with her legs fest, applying in a small circular motions.
“From legs I do torso and then arms. Finishing off with one pump for my face. I love a really dark tan so I then follow this process twice more,” she says.
“I sleep in my tan, morning after I rinse off and then moisturise. The key is moisturising so I always make sure I’m doing that to my whole body twice a day.”
As for removing tan? Ferguson says she’s currently in the testing stages of a tan removing formula but otherwise swears by exfoliating gloves and a dry towel to do the trick.
Flawless tanning, here we come.
Listen: Jessie Stephens recommends her go-to fake tan, on Mamamia Out Loud. Post continues after audio.