I have decided, over the past couple of months, that I rather like these ‘gradual tanners’ that you can get. They’re easy to use and they’re convenient. No orange hairlines, tea-stained knee-caps, bright yellow palms. No ruined bedsheets and mottled bath towels, no brown overspray on the Cole & Son wallpaper. I’m beginning to wonder why anyone would want to ‘go the whole way’ with their fake tan when these gradual tanners are up for grabs? You just whack them on after you’ve got out of the bath, just like a body lotion,  and the next day you have a glowy, healthy sheen! The day after that, you apply again and you look as though you’ve been in Greece for a week and the day after that – well, I haven’t actually done three days in a row. There has been no need. I do two days and then wait a week, top it up, wait another week. It’s working perfectly – I look as though I’m permanently on holiday!

I have been testing out quite a number of gradual tanners this summer –  I’ll be doing a little round-up of them soon so that we can all sashay into Autumn looking glamorous and sexy – but the He-Shi has really impressed me straight away. On the very first application I was brown as a nut but there were no streaks or patches even though I applied it in the dark!  Now tell me: how can a tanner get any better than that? No effort to apply and a perfect result?  My own tan, coaxed to perfection back in July, has been brought back from the brink of tan-death and my skin is nicely bronzed.

Top marks He-Shi! I like you a lot. After twelve years of not touching fake tan products with a bargepole, I can now finally see the point in you – dilute down the gravy browning, mix it with a body lotion and hey-presto! A natural-looking tan with no disadvantages. Who needs to go on holiday? Stay tuned for more gradual tan results…

He-Shi Gradual Tan is £13.75 with free delivery from FeelUnique: http://tidd.ly/fbb01a3e