The great Irish fake off

No foreign holiday doesn’t have to mean no tan with these fabulous faux glows

Well, it’s as good a time as any to start perfecting your faux tan. It’s not as though we’ll be jetting off to sunnier climes any time soon for the real thing (always mindfully and with SPF). So to help the faking process along I’ve narrowed down my favourite five new self-tan launches.

1 St Tropez Purity Vitamins Bronzing Water Mist (€32.99, boots.ie) is a clear variety of tanner, which is much easier to apply than you might imagine as you can still tell and feel where you have applied it. This comes with skincare benefits, including vitamin C – which is great for skin clarity – and hyaluronic acid. It also delivers a lovely bronze hue which develops over four to six hours. It’s vegan too – as are all of these products.

2 New to our shores is Australian Glow – a brand with a conscience as bottles are refillable. I like the Self Tan Mousse (€18.50, superdrug.com), which comes out of the tube a shade of brown. The texture is light and easy to spread as you can see where you’ve placed it. It takes four to six hours to develop.

3 St Moriz Advanced Pro Formula Spray Tan in a Can (€14.95, superdrug.com) is another colour-free application process. This has an aerosol nozzle which I found took a little mastering but it’s better to be emphatic rather than pussy-foot around and it delivers a fairly deep tan.

4 If you want to go for the softly, softly route towards building your tan then I recommend the

Tan-Luxe Super Glow Body Hyaluronic Self-Tan Serum (€46, spacenk.com). This is a body version of its already much-trusted face self-tanning serum in terms of the texture, easy application and the very natural sun-kissed look it gives. Rub a few pumps into your skin and the colour will develop in four to six hours. It’s light enough that you can apply it daily and comes with hyaluronic acid so can also act as your moisturiser.

5 Bare by Vogue Williams Self Tan Lotion (€19, barebyvogue.com) is great if you prefer to see where you are applying. It comes out dark – almost worryingly tar-like – and I’d use sparingly as a small amount really goes far. It rubs in easily and develops into a gorgeously deep golden tan.

With all of these I found using a mitt to rub in the tan made a difference for the better (most brands have their own). Regardless of how and what you apply make sure you wash your hands well afterwards or you will have orange palms.

It’s not as though we’ll be jetting off to sunnier climes any time soon