Sticking to a Routine: SunLabs Self Tanning System

I’m genuinely awful at keeping up any kind of exfoliating/fake tan/moisturising routine, and hence this set that SunLabs sent me to review way back in the spring has lay dormant in my drawer… until now! I’m off on holiday in a few weeks (struggling to contain the excitement!) to California, so I have therefore decided to get my ass in to gear and sort my body out!

I’ve been using this twice a week for the past two weeks so I thought it would be a good opportunity to give it a little review for you all.

If the Sunlabs name rings a bell, you may have already seen the ‘big names’ of YouTube talk about their products. I know Kandee Johnson, JuicyStar07 and DulceCandy87 have all raved about them in the past, but here’s my take on the system.

The kit I was sent comes with a 250ml Exfoliating Gel, 250ml Self Tanning Lotion in ‘Ultra Dark’, 250ml Tan Maintainer and a fluffly loofah. The products are all Paraben free and not tested on animals (two thumbs up!)

First off… The Exfoliating Gel:

It doesn’t have beads in it like a conventional exfoliator, so it seems like the loofah is doing a lot of the work (which I like!) It has a fresh, minty scent and seems to leave the skin pretty smooth. This doesn’t do anything magical, but it’s a nice product to use.

On to the the self tanner itself… The first thing I notice is the smell: YUM! It smells like almonds/marzipan which is lovely, considering most fake tans smell pretty gross. The smell however, does fade. After a few hours you are left with that oh-so-noticable fake tan smell (like you’re wearing a flashing siren on your head that’s shouting out ‘look at me! This tan’s not real!’).

This doesn’t really bother me too much, but just to let you know… some of the YouTube girls have obviously not properly tested this out before filming, as it DOES smell just like conventional fake tan when dry.

As for the colour? It’s great! Nice and brown, not orange or streaky. As it’s a lotion, it does streak if you drip water on it (like I did whilst washing my hands after applying… so be careful!) It lasts for about 4-5 days, so I reapply every 4 days to keep an even colour. The ‘Tan Maintainer’ is actually a lovely product to use as well. It smells wonderful, is a nice smooth consistency and stops your skin drying out or flaking. It’s not essential to use, but if you want to try and maintain a routine like me, it helps a lot to use a product like this!

As an overall impression, I’m really impressed with these products. The kit I have is meant to retail for $85 (ouch!) but at the moment it’s on sale for $39 (about £25 – bargain!)

The only problem is… the official SunLabs site charge $59 (£40!) for shipping to the UK! That is bound to put any UK customer off! Their domestic shipping charges are reasonable at $10 (£6.50) so the extortionate international rates have me dumbfounded!

My final verdict? If you’re in the States, this is a lovely self tanning set which I would thoroughly recommend. If you’re in the UK or elsewhere… definitely not worth the money! If you want to get your hands on this, I’d recommend finding a third party retailer, where you can get hold of it for a more affordable price.

Anyone else tried this system out? Opinions?

Fleur x