Showing posts with label Marissa Carter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Marissa Carter. Show all posts

Tuesday, 29 April 2014

Cocoa brown: Dark 1 Hour Tan

Well I caved I ended up buying the Dark Cocoa Brown. I have said previously that the Original 1 hour tan was dark enough for me so that's why I wasn't going to buy it, but with the sunny days after appearing I felt like having that little extra darkness. 


I'm currently a Cocoa Brown junkie and love everything Cocoa Brown. When I’m prepping for my tan I always use the Tough Stuff exfoliator (I use it nearly every time I’m in the shower which stops any dramas if I ever have to do a last minute tan). I love this exfoliator, it’s so easy just to grab it in the shower because it’s in a tube, but you can use any exfoliator that you want, I love the Soap and Glory ones too. It’s also important to use any exfoliant when you shower after you have applied your tan to create an even tan and avoid patches; it’s also great to get rid of any mistakes you might have made during tanning application.

Left: Before application, Right: After application
So normally I would use one of my Soap and Glory moisturisers but when I’m tanning I always use the Cocoa Brown Chocolate Whip. It looks like chocolate pudding and smells like it too but when you rub it in it goes white and dries in really quickly. A word of warning though, a little goes a long way with this stuff; it’s as if the amount doubles when you start rubbing it in so go easy and add more if you need to. I use the Chocolate Whip before application and I use it for the full week that I have my tan on. As far as I’m aware using any oil free lotions will prevent any of the dreaded streaking.

When it comes to the actual Darker 1 Hour Tan it is so much darker, if you’re really pasty I wouldn’t recommend it, it might look a bit cray otherwise.

I always put a bit of Vaseline around my elbows, in between my fingers and around my wrists or anywhere that the skin is a bit drier.
On application you can see the tan come up instantly, I’d try and buff it in as much as possible and as quickly as possible. I’ve noticed that if you leave it for any longer than a few seconds it will dry in so buff, buff, buff!!
I noticed that when I put it on it did take a bit longer than usual to dry, and it was still slightly tacky after a while, but that didn’t have any effect on how it turned out.
You could leave it on for an hour but I always leave it on for a full night before washing it off, the longer the better with this stuff.
Left: after application, Right: A day after application 
Overall the result was really good and any streaking was up to my bad application (for some reason I completely missed my fingers). It was a lot darker than the other tan, it still looked natural though which can be hard when you have a darker tan, luckily you do look brown and not orange which is always a bonus! 

If you like your tans dark and are fed up like me having to layer it on the get the New Dark 1 Hour Tan! You can get your tanning mitts on all Cocoa Brown products in all good chemists and Pennys/Primark.

Love Sarah xoxo

Tuesday, 18 March 2014

Review | Cocoa Brown Gentle Bronze and Lovely Legs




Last weekend I went to the Irish Beauty Show and of course I had to go to the Marrisa Carter Cocoa Brown stand. I had watched her a week or two before hand when she was on Xpose talking about her trip to Hollywood to tan the stars at the Oscars and she mentioned that she was introducing 3 new products, the Gentle Bronze - a gradual tanning moisturiser, Lovely Legs - a tanning instant leg spray and the 1 Hour Tan in a new Dark colour. 
I'm a huge fan of Cocoa Brown since they came across my path last year. I've already gone through a few bottles of the 1 Hour tan, I use the Chocolate Whip every time I tan to prolong and keep the tan even and the Tough Stuff exfoliator is a staple in my shower for the last few months.

As I have the 1 Hour tan and it makes me pretty dark any way I decided to just get the Gentle Bronze and the Lovely Legs spray. I started with the Gentle Bronze (€5.95), only testing it on one arm. Each morning I would put a layer of it on. The smell was OK, it had a chocolate smell that most of the other Cocoa Brown products have and it dried quickly enough. As I was only using it on one arm and using normal moisturiser on the other arm I could see if there were any differences, it didn’t give it any more or less moisture than the other arm.
No Gentle Bronze
After 7 days of Gentle Bronze
Each day in work I would ask the girls if they could notice any difference, they couldn’t until the end of the week. I suppose if I put a layer on morning and evening it would of darkened more but it did give a lovely sun kissed look (from an Irish sun any way). I’ll keep using it as I’m as pale as Casper after this winter and it will give me a bit of a glow without looking like an Oompa Loompa. I’ve used the St.Tropez gradual tan in the past and that made me look orange so I’m happy with the results of the Gentle Bronze, I’d give it a 4/5.

Last Tuesday I was going to Beyonce and last minute I decided to put tan on. I usually put Sally Hansen on my body if I haven’t put anything on the night before so I decided to try out the Lovely Legs spray (7.95) thinking it would have the same effect (oh lord did it not work out). Firstly it sprayed on bright orange which I should have known by then that it wasn’t going to work out good. With my tan mitt I really buffed it into the skin and it did turn out even and didn’t streak but I was frickin orange. So that’s the day I learned not to test a product just before I go out.
I did however test it on my legs a few days after and the result was really good. I tested against the Sally Hansen leg spray and the results where the exact same. It was slightly orange but for some reason it did work out better that when I put it on my upper body.
I probably won’t buy it again as I rarely get my legs out and it doesn’t look right when I put it on anywhere else, in the end I’d give it a 2.5/5.
Sally Hansen on the LEFT, Lovely Legs on the RIGHT







I have only seen it available online or in pharmacies, I've yet to see it in Penny’s but I’m sure it will be there soon enough. 

Have a good day Girls
Sarah xoxo