So summer is coming and I’m often a bit jealous of
people that manage to get a little bit of colour in their skin over the season as I have naturally very pale skin. Saying this, I know I should be happy with my natural skin tone but it’s nice to have a change as it hides the ruddy complexion. In the past I have used home spray on tans such as Garnier Ambre Solaire and other moisturisers such as Johnson’s Holiday Skin and Dove Summer Glow, all with no problems at all. However, one thing that I did want to achieve this year was finding a gradual tan moisturiser that didn’t have that incredibly off putting chemical smell that tends to linger. After looking at a few reviews online, I decided to go out and pick up a bottle of Garnier Summer Body as many people said the scent was lovely and didn’t have that orangey undertone others have.
I was pretty excited to try this as it did smell lovely due to the apricot extract, so after I’d had a shower I covered myself with a small layer of the moisturiser and it dried extremely quickly as it was thin in texture. Compared to Johnson’s, which is thicker and can take over an hour before you feel it’s dried, Garnier took around 10 or 15 minutes and wasn’t greasy in any way. The next morning, the moisturiser had worked its magic and I now had a subtle glow that went well with my hair colour and it wasn’t blotchy or streaky (yay)! Compared to others I’ve tried, avoiding those nasty brownish/orange streaks can be quite hard if you haven’t ex-foliated properly (which you don’t have to with Garnier). I guess it’s fair to say that I was impressed and I had some nice comments off family saying that it smelt nice and didn’t look orange so I applied a small amount more after showering that night.
Upon waking the next morning I was acutely aware 
that my neck was itching quite badly and I could feel bumps on my skin (kind of like a heat rash). I was horrified when I looked in the mirror and saw that my shoulders and neck were completely covered in red bumps! I’ve never really had sensitive skin or been prone to breakouts or anything like that so I was rather shocked that I’d had such an allergic reaction to Garnier, particularly since I’ve tried competing products and never had an issue. Following this I spent a good half an hour in the shower trying to scrub this stuff off my skin in a bid for some relief from the itching but when I came back and looked in the mirror I saw that it wasn’t just on my neck and shoulders…I also had patches on my inner arms, wrists and face (but less severe). As you can see from the picture (post removal), it does look like a bad heat rash but it’s insanely itchy. I’m finding E45 and Palmer’s moisturiser is helping my skin feel a little cooler but I have no idea when this will calm down. After googling my experience with this product, I came across plenty of people who have had the same reaction as I have had but have had no luck with Garnier’s customer services.
So if you’re looking for a gorgeous smelling and subtle tanning lotion this summer, Garnier might be the one for you. However, I would advise using this with caution, even if you have never had a reaction to similar products as I’d never had reactions before either. Perhaps using a test patch, such as on your chest or inner arm and seeing how you reaction over a 24 hour period before going all in. Despite the pros of this product, I will not be purchasing this in the future – a sometimes ruddy complexion is much better than a rash!
-Enyaji
**UPDATE** If this happens to you, it might interest you to know that rash has taken almost a week to disappear and I have been using Dove Summer Body (light) with no reactions whatsoever.
Mindful Dreamer 