This post was created in collaboration with Urban Outfitters and Philips.
I find that getting my legs out during the first days of a holiday can be a bit daunting if they’ve not seen much sunshine. Ahead of my trip to the South of France I tested out a few products given to me by Urban Outfitters, to help give the illusion of golden summer legs so I felt more comfortable and confident in my summer dresses; I swear a tan can make you look a little bit slimmer.
I started by preparing my skin, giving it a really good scrub with Fig + Yarrow’s Sea Scrub every 2-3 days for a couple of weeks before we left. I kept it in the shower so it was easy to add to my morning routine. This particular scrub is a mix of salt and oils so is both exfoliating and moisturising, it left my legs super soft. It doesn’t smell like the sea as you might think from the name, it just harnesses the sea’s wonderful minerals. Even though the scrub did a great job of moisturising I still followed it with a rich body butter, also by Fig + Yarrow. Their Yarrow Buttercream is absorbed quickly and left my skin feeling nourished. The yarrow scent reminds me of walks in the Dorset countryside.
I usually epilate my legs every 1-2 weeks but when I read about Philips‘ Lumea products I was intrigued. It uses flashes of light to put the hair follicles to sleep and over time thins and slows hair growth. You start by using it just after you shave but as I don’t shave I epilated and then gave it a go to see if that would work too. Initially you’re told to wait two weeks until your second use, so when fine hairs started to appear one week in I went back to my epilator to keep my legs fluff free. I was actually really surprised to find that there were far fewer hairs already and they were much finer. If you want to know how I’m getting on in a few weeks feel free to tweet me.
The pièce de la résistance to getting my legs honey brown without the sunshine was Madame La La’s Self Tan Mousse. Latex gloves are essential when applying the mousse, it dries quickly and deepens in colour with each layer, so you have to blend it quickly. The coconut water gives it a pleasant scent initially but within a few hours it does have that coco butter smell often associated with self-tans. After waiting 5 minutes you can get dressed but you’re advised not to shower for 10 hours. I’m so pleased with the results, my fiancé even commented on my legs, noticing how much browner they were.