You will know by now that I am taking part on a series of reviews, with a bunch of other lovely bloggers – the project is all about tanning for women of colour – hence the TFWOC abbreviation!

The project was the idea of LaaLaa Monroe from Dolce Vanity and Annie from EpiphannieA and altogther there are 10 bloggers involved, all Aisan or Afro-Caribbean! Annie and LaaLaa have worked extremely hard on this and I cannot thank them enough and I am SO excited to be part of this project, as often tanning is focussed and targeted towards lighter women. You can read up more about this project here, but basically for 5 weeks we shall be testing out and reviewing different brands of tanning products to see which ones are the best and share our experiences!

Here is a list of the other bloggers (as well as Annie and LaaLaa mentioned above) that are taking part in this project:

Lola – Lola Star Hearts

Safiyah – FrootiBeauty

Tass – Une Tasse

Hafsa – Muslimah Beauty

Sophia – Tattoed Tea Lady

Yinka – Vex In The City

Stephanie – Nerd About Town

Dija – Dijas World

Last week the product I reviewed was the Make Believe Tinted Moisturiser  which you can read up about here.

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This week up for review is the Xen Tan Dark Lotion Weekly Self Tan. It also featured in the goody bags for the LiveBloggers event a few weeks back!

This is for use on the face and body, the full size version costs £28.99 and is 236ml, however we were given small sample sizes for review. Here is a link to it on the website.

This is what Xen Tan have to say about it:

A favourite of A-List celebrities and beauty editors alike, our best-selling Dark Lotion gives you a rich, natural olive tan that looks great for up to 10 days. Easy to apply, it goes on evenly, smells delicious and instantly creates a gorgeous streak-free finish you’ll love.

Packed with rich moisturisers and premium ingredients, Dark Lotion glides onto skin and leaves it feeling nourished and silky smooth. Enriched with coconut and walnut oils, it helps you achieve a stunningly natural olive tan that’s exceptionally longwearing. And to make sure you enjoy a beautifully balanced result, it doesn’t gather at the ankles or elbows, and fades evenly.

The back – Double click to enlarge

This applies quite well, as its rich in natural oils such as Walnut and Peanut oils, its easy to make it glide on to the skin and blend in. I find the smell is your classic ‘biscuit’ fake tan smell, which I am not keen on, and the smell was fairly strong to me. Once I had applied it to my arm it was easy to wash off my hands and didn’t stain my fingers which is brilliant.

A swatch – Double click to enlarge

On my olive skin its lovely, it gave me very natural looking tan, its one of the nicest looking fake tans I have ever used. It is not too orange, brown or red and it looked gorgeous.

No product applied – Double click to enlarge

1 Layer of Xen Tan applied – Double click to enlarge

The problem for me with this is that it doesn’t seem to last for 10 days or even 7 days as its meant to. I found that after 3-4 days or so it faded significantly and that 5-6 days it had completely gone. Therefore for me, I don’t think this lives up to its “weekly tan” promise, which is  shame.

It seems that the Company have changed the formula of this, as several reviewers on their own website said it used to be great but now its more streaky and the smell had changed. I cant comment on this since I have never used it before and it was not streaky on me. On the other hand, I know this is very popular with other bloggers and has a good reputation.

I do love the colour of this and it was easy to apply but I am not sure I would buy this, as I would like it to last for longer. Whilst the smell is not my favourite, it is typical of fake tan products and is to be expected as its common in most tanning products. The shade it gave me though is one of the best, by far. Massive plus there!

Here are the ingredients:

Water, Ethoxydiglycol, Dihydroxyacetone, Caprylic/ Capric Triglyceride, Glycerin, Glyceryl, Stearate (and) PEG-100 Stearate, Cetearyl Alcohol (and) Ceteareth-20, Dimethicone, Cetyl Alcohol, Sorbitan Stearate, Propylene Glycol, Corylus Americana (Hazel) Seed Oil, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Juglans Regia (Walnut) Shell Extract,Arachis Hypogaea (Peanut) Oil, Mineral Oil, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Tocopheryl Acetate (Vitamin E), Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Hydroxyethylcellulose, Potassium Sorbate, BHT, Sodium Metabisulfite, Tetrasodium EDTA, HEDTA, Citric Acid, Methylparaben, Propylparaben, DMDM Hydantoin, Fragrance.

I am giving this 4/5

So, what do you think of this latest TFWOC trial? Have you ever tried Xen Tan? Do you think you will give it a go now?! Get in touch and let me know.

Thanks for reading!

Don’t forget you can follow allthatslap via Twitter – Facebook – Blog Lovin - She Said Beauty or Hello Cotton!

P.S – this post and related posts contains a PR sample, however my reviews are always honest and my thoughts are my own  You can trust me on that, but you cant trust me not to steal your blusher if I like it!

Other Posts

• Clarins Extra Firming Day and Night Creams
• Origins Checks & Balances Facial Cleanser
• My Hair Loss – Managing Alopecia
• Fitness Mission – with some help from Maxitone!
• Lactic Acid Peel & IPL Expericence with Adrienne Shostak

Grace