St Tropez: Purity Bronzing Water Mousse

Martha Temmuz 13, 2021

As a pale girl, I am always filled with a sense of fear whenever I try a new tan. I always worry that it is going to be too dark and it is going to make me look as orange as my hair, which believe me has happened before. I've tested out quite a few different fake tans over the years which has allowed me to find out what works for me. There is a particular brand which I always look to for tanning products which is St. Tropez. Back in the day when I first ventured in the world of fake tan, I started off with an entry level tan, the very hyped Gradual Tan from Dove and I really liked it: it gave me a tiny bit of colour, it was easy to apply and it was cheap. I was quite happy with my Dove Gradual Tan and then I received a deluxe sample of the St. Tropez Gradual Tan and I haven't used another brand since. St. Tropez changed my tanning world. Even though I no longer use Gradual Tan, it was the colour and ease of the products from St. Tropez that made me permanently switch to the brand. See, sampling with magazines does work or it did before blogging blew up.

I am going to throw it out there early on, St. Tropez are not a cheap brand by any means but their products certainly get the job done. I started using the St. Tropez Gradual Tan back before I really took an interest in tanning. At the time I didn't want a really strong tan but as I used it more, I started to want a bolder colour. After a while, I decided to give the Classic Bronzing Mousse a go and it was love at first application. I have been dedicated to the Bronzing Mousse ever since. I have only changed my Bronzing Mousse once and the product I swapped to was still part of the St. Tropez Bronzing Mousse family!

I had been on holiday but I did not have a tan when I got back; I am a typical ginger so I do not tan. Before I officially went back to work, I had to go in for a meeting and I didn't want to look deathly pale. As I didn't have much time, I rushed out to buy the St. Tropez Express Bronzing Mousse in hope that in the few hours I had between buying it and the meeting, it this would give me a bit of colour. It says you should be able to apply it for 1 hour for a light tan and then the max it suggests is 3 hours for a golden tan. Well I left it for 4 hours and it didn't really work. I still looked pale and everyone still asked whether I had actually been on holiday or if I had been hiding for past 3 weeks. I realise this makes it sound like the Express Bronzing Mousse doesn't work, it does, but for me it doesn't work as an Express Tan. I continued to use the Express Bronzing Mousse but I just used it in exactly the same way I use the Classic Bronzing Mousse.

I have to admit there was one thing I preferred about the Express Bronzing Mousse opposed to the Classic Bronzing Mousse which was the colour it gave. The colour for the Express tan is much more golden opposed to the warmer, more red based tone of the Classic Mousse. The colour is one of the many reasons that the new St. Tropez Purity Bronzing Water Mousse is now my go to tanning product. The new water mousse gives that same golden colour as the Express tan without any of the downsides of the product.

As the Express Tan is dubbed the Express tan, I would want it to give me a golden tan much quicker than it does. The Purity Bronzing Mousse does not give you a time limit that it should work in but it is suggested that you just leave it on and it develops. I prefer this as it doesn't get my hopes up in regards to how quickly I am going to be looking bronzed. I apply the Purity Bronzing Water Mousse before I get into bed and wake up with a cracking tan. On my skin, I would say the tan continues to develop the following day, even after I have had a shower. Personally I like this because even though it continues to develop, it never looks too much. Sometimes if I use the Bronzing Mousse it can look a bit too dark for my skin. I actually do two coats of the Purity Bronzing Water to get the colour I want during the Summer months. I do an application, two nights in a row to get my desired colour and after that, it is perfect. The first night takes the edge away from my super pale skin and the second night gives me the desired depth to my colour that I want. After using this two coat system. my tan is good for around a week before I start to look patchy. If I want to keep my tan going, I only need to do it every 3-4 days. In terms of the colour, if you are a pale girl like me, this is the tan of dreams. You do not need to worry about it going to dark and it gives a light golden tan which can be subtle if you want it to be.

As I said, I like to do my tan before I go to bed which means I have to sleep in it. With the Classic Bronzing Mousse that means I have to wear a full, long set of jammies which is actual torture during Summer, or I have to continuously swap my bedding for my tanning sheets which doesn't make it any easier, especially in our current climate. When I change my bedding during Summer I literally have to take a 5 minute break in between changing each sheet because it makes me a sweaty mess. With the Purity Bronzing Water Mousse it makes all of these struggles irrelevant. It is a clear mousse which is unusual in itself. The colour develops rather than being something that is applied which is both a good and a bad trait. Good because it means it doesn't leave any marks. I slept in my short jammies, in my normal bedding and when I woke up there wasn't even a speck of tan on my bed!

The good part of this tan being clear is that it doesn't ruin your bed sheets but the bad part is, you have no idea where you have applied it. On the bottle it says it is supposed to leave a sheen where you have applied the tan but if you have legs which are in relatively good condition they will naturally have a shine anyway. On my shins I really struggle to see where I have applied this tan. Despite this I have not had a problem with patches or streaks. This does give a very even looking tan, probably the most even out of all the tans I have used. Obviously the same problem areas apply with this tan. You do still need to be careful with areas like: your wrists, elbows, knees and ankles as they will gather the tan and create awful lines. I still use a cream/moisturiser in these areas to make sure the tan doesn't settle to much. This trick does work but I don't find this trick works as well with this tan so I do still get marks in these areas but the marks are no where near as bad as some I have been left with from other tans. This could be user error but I just want to give you my full thoughts and reflections on this tan. If the fact that I do not need to worry about this tan transferring doesn't automatically make this the best tan, I don't know what does? Well actually I do, the scent of a tan is pretty important and St. Tropez have vastly improved tanning with the scent of the Purity Bronzing Water Mousse.

Even if you have never used a fake tan yourself, the likelihood is you will be familiar with the traditional biscuit scent that comes along with fake tan. Basically it makes up part of the scent of any student party or halls. I remember, every girl in my flat during first year coating themselves in tan before any night out. You could always tell who was going out that night depending on how tanned they were. Anyway the new St. Tropez Purity Bronzing Water Mousse skips this horrendous biscuit scent so nightclubs will no longer smell like hobnobs. This tan has a tropical scent which literally smells like a fruit cocktail. I can safely say I have never been so impressed by the smell of a fake tan before. When I first applied it, I made everyone in my house smell me and they couldn't tell that it was my fake tan that was giving me such a good scent. Unfortunately this tan is not completely free of the biscuit scent, the biscuit smell does come through the more you wear this tan. You will never get a tan completely free of the biscuit smell as the smell comes from the ingredient which actually gives you a tan, the key part of fake tanning. However it really is not as strong as some other tans, even when you have left it on, so I still think this is a winner.

Tanning waters really have found their way into the beauty market and in a big way, everyone is trying to launch their own. The first one I remember seeing was the Tan-Luxe water and I thought it was such a weird concept. The Tan-Luxe Tanning Water was quite expensive but when I tested it, it did work. That was quite a few years ago. Now brands like Isle of Paradise sell a slightly cheaper alternative which is more widely available in Boots. Personally the St. Tropez Purity Bronzing Water Mousse was the only one that turned my head enough for me to buy it. My tanning formula of choice is a mousse texture. I find a mousse easy to apply and it doesn't take a long time for it to sink in. The Purity Bronzing Mousse combines my favourite tanning formula with a golden tan shade and a tropical scent, what is not to like? I like it so much that I've actually bought the matching Face Mist and I never usually tan my face.

The Purity Bronzing Water Mousse has filled me with such confidence that I feel brave enough to give tanning my face a go. If that doesn't tell you how much I love this tan then I don't know what will. I mean other than the fact that I have said it a thousand times throughout this post and over the past few weeks! I have been raving about this tan for weeks now so it feels good to have finally been able to put all of my thoughts into one post. Tanning can be a scary concept, especially if you are a beginner but St. Tropez are a great brand to start with as they have everything covered when it comes to tan and every product I have tried works. It might be a little bit more expensive but I think you have to spend a little bit more on a fake tan to get a good one. If you are a tanning beginner and you have quite fair skin, I highly recommend giving the Purity Mousse a try.

P.s. At the beginning of Summer I did a whole post dedicated to how I prepare for my Summer tan so I have linked it here if you want to read more: Prepping for a Tan

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