St. Tropez Classic Self Tan Review
If you’ve ever heard anything about self tanning, you’ve probably heard about St. Tropez. They’re one of the first brands that offered self tan years ago and they have been one of the most loved brands ever since. I looked into their products when I was first discovering self tan options, but decided to start with the more affordable “dupe” brand instead. Thanks to Boxycharm, I finally get to see what the St. Tropez Classic Self Tan Bronzing Mousse is all about.
One of the first things I noticed about this product is that it only comes in one color. St. Tropez definitely has many more options and shade ranges within their brand, but this particular product doesn’t have a light or dark option. It’s just labeled as a “natural looking tan” that they’re claiming will tailor itself to your individual skin tone.
It does, however, come in three different size options. Since I received this in a Boxycharm, I only have the small travel size which comes with 1.69 oz for $18. The full size version (8 oz) retails for $42. That is quite the price difference from the $13 (for 6.76 oz) I pay for my beloved St. Moriz Fast Tanning Mousse. Their tanning mitt retails for $6.50, but it’s not my favorite. It feels more like a rough sponge on the skin, nothing as luxurious feeling as my favorite mitt from Norvell which is about the same price on Amazon.
St. Tropez has all the same claims as most other self tans. It’s supposed to be lightweight, easy to apply, streak free, quick-drying, non-sticky, and transfer-proof. They also claim for it to be vegan and have a mood boosting fragrance with no self tan smell. I’m not sure what they’re considering the mood boosting fragrance to be, I thought it had a sweet floral scent. That scent did last for a few hours, but the self tan smell did eventually come out in full force.
Above is what my skin looked like before, exfoliated and completely free of all self tan. The photo below is what my skin looked like immediately after applying the St. Tropez tanning mousse. I found that this was actually a little difficult to apply. Instead of being a bouncy mousse that dried quickly, it was more liquidy and took longer to blend in. It also took quite a while to dry completely before I was able to put any clothes on.
This tan needs eight hours to develop and the photo below is what my skin looked like immediately after rinsing it off. I should’ve known the results would be amazing based on how popular this tan is, but I was blown away with how dark this actually left my skin. Even though not much of the color guard rinsed off in the shower, I still expected to see a lighter color that would continue to develop over 12-24 hours. But that wasn’t the case. This leaves you immediately bronzed and ready to go!
This before and after comparison has to be one of the most dramatic yet. I’ve been pretty happy with a few other self tans in the past, but I don’t remember any of them having this significant of a color shift after just eight hours! Not only was I happy with the depth of the tan, I was also really impressed to see that there were absolutely zero streaks or patchy spots anywhere on my body.
As if this product couldn’t get any better, it really was one of the longest lasting self tans I’ve ever used. Normally, I’m only left with my desired color for about 3-4 days max with other self tanners. With this one, I was still seeing a deep color after 5 days! It faded pretty evenly, only leaving a few patches that were easy to exfoliate away. After about ten days, the color was completely gone and ready for another application.
I have heard a few times that the St. Moriz Tanning Mousse is supposed to be a dupe for the St. Tropez. St. Moriz Fast Tan is what I usually use because of the time and money it saves. After trying both the original St. Moriz and the original St. Tropez, I definitely don’t think they’re a dupe for one another at all. The St. Moriz is still a great product, but the formula, scent, color undertone, dry time, and overall results are completely different.
Based on this product’s popularity and price point, I kept my hopes and standards pretty high throughout the entire process and I’m happy to say that I was not disappointed. With a little more practice, I think I could get better at working with this formula and might look into some of their express tanning options. I don’t tan at night, so waiting eight hours during the day is a little much for me. Regardless of the development time, this is a really good product and one I would definitely recommend.
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XO ♥ Christina ♥
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