Tuesday, June 20, 2006

I'm so vain!


We're leaving on our annual family vacation at the end of next week and I've already started preparations. We're going to a HOT country at the hottest time of the year. The thing is, I'll be bringing my non-hot country skin along with me. Over here the normal colour of my skin can be compared with the underside of a trout. A pale bluey white. It will take me a week of middle east sun to get from blue to white and then the second week to get from white to a pinky colour.

The above photo illustrates the colour of my true skin after a Scottish winter.

In the past I have actually spent money on going to a tanning salon and cooking my skin for 15 minutes at a time so as to have a bit of a starter tan when I arrive at our holiday destination.

However years of speaking to doctors every day has had an affect. They have convinced me that these tanning beds are really not good for me. That combined with an acceleration of the aging process has changed my stubborn mind about them. There is one nice thing about tanning beds though and it will be the reason I will miss them. Tanning beds are warm and quiet. You get a nice peaceful 15 minutes a couple of times a week (I used to fall asleep) and I will miss that part of it.

So, no tanning beds then. I can't get a bit of sun on my skin the normal way, with the sun because the last time I checked, it was raining. . . . pause to look out the window . . . . yup, still raining. I have reverted to fake tan products.

After experimenting with different brands, different shades running from clementine to Malibu perfection and different methods of application with varying success with streakiness, I have found one that suits me best. The trouble is, I can't get my back. I am a lone woman in this house of men and its not the sort thing they'd be good at. If I force George to do it, he'll be scarred for life I'll figure out a way. A small paint roller might do.

That is the malibu perfection I am aiming for.

3 comments:

T said...

Let me know if/when you've found a good one - I'm currently tyring out Dove Summer Glow. I'm only on day two - it takes five for the results to really kick in, apparently.

I didn't like Nivea Sun Touch.

Heh heh, what are we like?!

Peggy said...

St Tropez is my favourite - naturally one of the most expensive. I've had two applications and no streaks and I'm as brown as a nut. I tried the Dove and Johnson & Johnson and found they had good non-orange colour but really streaky, but perhaps that was the fault of application.

Reasoning for the tan-before-vacation is to minimise the horror of the natives when I'm in a swimming suit. Brown fat is easier to look at than white fat.

T said...

I've never tried St Tropez but I might give it a go ... if it's good enough for Victoria Beckham ... ;o)