How to keep your summer glow

On returning to the Mighty Kingdom of Fife, the blustery North Eastern gales that greet you after hitting Leuchars Station are an unwelcome reminder that summer is well and truly over. As the warmth of the sun starts to diminish, you can almost feel your hard-earned tan being stripped away, leaving you looking as pale as you did before spending a month frying on a foreign beach. Before resorting to breakdown and panic about your skin’s sickly shade, read our guide for tips on how to stay beautifully brown for as long as possible.

Step 1: Moisturise. Moisturise. Moisturise.

A bottle of moisturiser should be your new best friend. If applied both morning and evening, moisturiser will help stop your skin from flaking and maintain the darkened top layer. If your skin is particularly sun-damaged, I recommend Laura Mercier’s Crème de Pistache Soufflé Body Crème for some intensive skin TLC.  However, if you don’t have the time or money to spend on overpriced moisturising creams, just apply Johnson’s Baby Oil on damp skin after showering.

Laura Mercier Soufflé Body Crème

Step 2: Thou shalt exfoliate.

Now, this may appear to contradict my first point about locking in your tan with moisturiser. However, exfoliating once a week will slough away dead skin cells and reveal smooth, glowing skin underneath. Try Soap & Glory’s Smoothie Star Breakfast Scrub, a gentle exfoliator which is neither harsh nor abrasive.

Soap & Glory Smoothie Star Breakfast Scrub

Step 3: Fake it.

Start using a gradual tanner. I’m not talking about achieving an orange-palmed, TOWIE-esque, Oompa-Loompa kind of tan (although I have been there). I’m talking about channelling the ‘Kate Moss just back from a long weekend in the South of France’ kind of hue. Garnier’s Summerbody Moisturising Lotion delivers a natural-looking colour and will prolong your tan until October, when fashion laws dictate that pale skin is acceptable again.

Garnier Summerbody Moisturising Lotion

And if these tips just don’t cut it:

1. Don’t wash…ever. Dirt will make your skin look darker.

2. Drink large quantities of Sunny D. You might get lucky and turn yellow like that four-year-old girl in Wales who reportedly drank 1.5 litres a day.

3. Buy a sunbed. I’m sure your flatmates will be willing to split the cost.

Images courtesy of thepriceiswight.co.uk, www.harveynichols.com, www.luckymag.com and www.feelunique.com