Cocoa Brown 1 Hour Tan Review

Hi Beauty Lovers,

I hope you are all enjoying your weekends! I just can't get enough of the weather at the moment and have pretty much been spending every hour of daylight outside. The parks in London are so beautiful and the perfect setting for a picnic and a few ciders! But, with sunshine inevitably comes shorts and flip flops, and with that comes the need for perfectly bronzed legs...

Today I am reviewing Cocoa Brown's 1 Hour Tan Mousse, another product that I'd seen floating around on various other beauty blogs and decided I had to try. For those that don't know, the Cocoa Brown products were created by Marissa Carter, the owner of Carter Beauty Blackrock and a well-known beauty expert in Ireland apparently. The Cocoa Brown range has been available in Ireland for quite some time but has only recently hit the UK, and I tracked down the 1 Hour Tan Mousse in my local Primark for £6! Now, I'm not usually one for a bargain fake tan as I am under the (often misguided) impression that high cost leads to high quality, but I am so glad that I tried this product as I was so impressed with the results!

The tan comes in a bright pink bottle with a typical mousse-dispenser top. There are two products in the range; the 1 Hour Tan Mousse and the Night and Day Tan Mousse (which comes in a pink and white can). I would have really loved to try the Night and Day tan as it is designed to give you a perfect tan for a night out, and leave you with a nice, golden glow after showering the next day. Unfortunately the Primark I visited didn't stock this tan, but you can pick it up for £7.99 here. This will probably be my next fake tan purchase once the 1 Hour Tan runs out.

Cocoa Brown 1 Hour Tan Mousse

Straight out of the bottle the mousse is a very pale brown colour which develops quite quickly. Cocoa Brown's fake tans have a Tahitian Gardinia scent which is quite subtly floral and definitely not too overpowering. It's quite hard to describe exactly what it smells like but I would liken it to a floral shampoo and quite pleasant. Once the tan was applied I could barely smell anything at all.

The tanning mousse immediately out of the bottle

I applied the Cocoa Brown tan immediately after showering to clean, dry skin. I also exfoliated beforehand to try and avoid any patchiness. I found the tan to be quite easy to apply; not too messy although you need to be careful around the feet, knees, elbows etc as the mousse is light in colour and it would be easy to over-apply without realising.

Post shower- I'd applied the tan to my right leg only at this point

Once applying to both legs I did not see much of an immediate colour difference. I have been away on holiday recently anyway so my legs were not very pale to begin with, and I felt the colour was more of a subtle enhancement than a full on fake tan. After 1 hour I saw some development but not as much as I expected, although personally I quite liked the subtlety of the colour for an everyday look.



Immediately after application on both legs

The tan after 1 hour






















 

The next day was when I really saw a big colour difference, and I woke up to beautifully bronzed pins! In my opinion the end result was very natural, as though I'd just come back from some exotic destination, and the tan was even with no streaks or fake-tan biscuit smell.

The next morning, after developing overnight

Even after showering the tan largely stayed put, and that is a big plus for me as I am lazy and prefer not to have to tan every day. I went out that evening and received loads of compliments from friends saying how tanned I was and asking if it was natural. This for me is the ultimate test of any fake tan, as being orange is a big no-no for me and I want my faking it to look at real as possible!

After showering the next morning

All in all, I was really impressed with this product and I would definitely buy it again, especially given the bargain price tag. I have tried so many fake tanners over the years and I'm gradually starting to realise that cost does not always equal quality, and this is one of the best tans that I've tried in a while (I am normally a slave to Fake Bake's Beyond Bronze Instant Tan). The nice thing about the Cocoa Brown tan is that it is not messy in the slightest and won't stain your clothes or dribble down your arms if it rains! It has far exceeded my expectations and I'm so pleased that I read about it as I don't think I ever would have trusted a fake tan from Primark before.

Have you tried any products from the Cocoa Brown range? Are there any other bargain tanners you think that I should try?

Rosie x