In the name of journalism, I’m going to admit to my most unsavoury qualities. Here goes: I’m highly stubborn, give up way too easily and I don’t make enough time for myself. This adds up to a recipe for disaster when it comes to a whole host of things… but in reference to the world of beauty, it means I’ve been vehemently against self-tan since I was a teenager.

The associations with fake tan are forever intertwined with the awkwardness of my teenage years, conjuring memories of stained bedsheets and the omnipresent whiff of biscuits. Tanning did not go to plan, so I was all too willing to give it up. It took too much effort to be worth the pain of finding my wonder product, so I stood by au naturel like the stubborn mule I am.

But, as 2023 rolled around, a recent shift in the beauty world piqued my interest. We’ve officially entered the era of lazy girl beauty: we’re seeing does-it-all make-up products with long-term skincare benefits fly off the shelves, and easy-to-apply, no-faff gradual tan is having a resurgence, as we say sayonara to laborious instant tan routines.

For a whole host of reasons, I started to realise the lazy girl trend might be a sign from the beauty gods to make building my ultimate self-care routine a high priority. In doing so I fell in love with the pursuit of a more gradual glow - here’s why I’ve been in a committed relationship with gradual self-tan ever since…

This is how I fell in love with self-tanning after years of going au naturel