As a person who is happy to embrace my natural paleness, I’m not much drawn to tan. Add to this the general bikini-ready vibe that wafts from false-tan marketing like the odour of burnt biscuits, and I’m doubly not into it.
However, a new false tan brand has launched which, refreshingly, offers something different and is consequently the talk of the industry, given that in beauty there is always something new, but rarely something different.
Isle of Paradise Tan is founded by celebrity tanner Jules Von Hep, and has done something that is unusual in the beauty industry (especially among tanning brands) for its recognition of reality and what the average consumer actually wants.
Not only are the products vegan, organic and cruelty-free, but Isle of Paradise have used a plus size (read average sized or even smaller) model in their campaign imagery. This should not be unusual for a mainstream brand, but it is. The woman in the imagery looks like a person who isn’t wearing tan to look slimmer, or to appear perfect. She’s just having a bit of a frolic in her smalls (I would do the same if I looked like her) and featuring a very lovely golden tan.
Isle of Paradise Self Tanning Water (€25) is the standout product of the range, though there are several formulations on offer. It comes in three tones, using peach, green and violet undertones to ensure even results and a natural hue.
Choose peach for a light, natural looking tan (the sort that takes the hard edge off corned beef legs still mottled in the cool Spring air), green for a medium, and violet for a deep tan, which should be the remit of those with naturally olive skin tones, and expert tanners. It is easy to use. Yes, actually easy to use. You don’t have to behead a chicken and recite an incantation while wearing yellow on a blood moon in order to get a nice, even, non-tangerine finish.
Supplement with the Isle of Paradise Self Tanning Drops (€26) for face (though they also work on the body). Since you mix a few drops with your moisturiser, they are all but impossible to mess up. This is surprisingly comforting – we have all made a pig's breakfast of self-tanning at least once, and had to tolerate the livid, streaky evidence for days after. Thankfully, in case of any errors, Isle of Paradise also offer an Over It Tan Remover (€23).
The market is saturated with tan. With brands like Tan Luxe, Vita Liberata and Bondi Sands to compete with, and even our home-grown Irish brand Cocoa Brown Tan, it is unusual that anything new makes an impression. However, Isle of Paradise is a brand that tanning docents will take to like ducks to golden water, and might actually convert people who don't like using tan, or are terrified of it.
