If you take just one thing away from the Croisette this Cannes Film Festival, let it be this; tanned skin only looks good if it is a, the result of a week’s (protected) sunbathing in the Med or b, has been professionally applied with perfectionist precision by famed tanners, James Read, James Harknett or Nicola Joss (we’re not fussy which – we adore all 3). But without the experts on quick dial, nor any sunshine breaks on the horizon, we’d ordinarily suggest simply taking a leaf out of the pale and porcelain-skinned Nicole Kidman and Carey Mulligan’s books. But that was before we buffed Crème de la Mer newest offering, and first foray into the tanning market, The Face and Body Gradual Tan onto our limbs.
I expected the skin-softening. The refining, a given – it is Crème de la Mer after all. But the tan tone? That was a bolt out of the blue, although not in any literal sense because the shade I woke up sporting the next morning (surely night is the only time to tan) was as close to au naturale as a faux tan has ever been. Even the Dove Gradual Tanner that I have sworn by for the past couple of years, in one foolproof application, overshadowed.
The tan tone is everything the brand represents; luxury. It develops into a natural, honeyed shade, all luminous and 3D. There’s no matte, unnatural flatness, drying patches or spots of uneven tone. Build it day-by-day until you are as holiday-ed as you like.
Crème de la Mer The Face And Body Gradual Tan, £65,