Either you’re back from your hols all fit or else you’re about to go off somewhere hot and sunny and you’re in a slight panic as to what you can do to smooth the limbs that spend most of the year covered up. First off, some tanning treatments to top-up the colour you’ve already acquired or to get started before you leave. Since most of us can’t run to a personal tanning therapist, the next best thing is to have a salon treatment. For a pale glow rather than a deep-orange tan, Palmer Cutler salons are a good bet. The actress Patsy Palmer is a pale redhead who had a skin cancer scare* and so couldn’t sunbathe. When she looked at the professional tanning formulations she found that they were too dark for her, and so she got together with Charlotte Cutler to devise the Palmer Cutler tanning products.
They are made from cane sugar, they don’t stain, have only the faintest odour, dry quickly and a gentle tan develops in a few hours. You can have them applied at salons around the country (www.palmercutler.com or call 011273 623748 for the nearest salon). It costs from £25 for 45 minutes. The products can be bought in shops such as Tesco and Asda.
For a serious treat, book in with Palmer Cutler’s top therapist, Anastasia Achilleos. She has a jewel of a salon in the basement of the San Domenico Hotel in Draycott Place, just off Sloane Square, London (call 07939 331889 to book). It is filled with all manner of delicious lotions and potions, and besides the tan, she will tailor-make a holistic treatment to suit you, such as a lymphatic drainage facial. She charges £150 for 90 minutes.
If you don’t fancy a fake tan, today’s bronzers add a flattering glow. I think it’s hard to beat Guerlain’s classic, Teint Doré. Formulated in the 1940s, it is beloved of make-up artists and was used for a famous shoot of Kate Moss glowing and radiant in the desert. It smells of Moroccan rose, comes in a beautiful vial and has come to be known as “Tights in a Bottle”. It’s been reformulated since those early, heady days and now comes in spray form. It is not a fake tan — it stains the skin without activating the melanin — but it gives a gorgeous golden glow and, once dried, it is waterproof and doesn’t stain clothes. A single layer gives a golden colour and it costs £20.50 a bottle.
If you just want to give your face a little lift then Guerlain has another cult classic — its Terracotta Moisturising Bronzing Powder. Simply sweep the powder across the face and it adds a golden shimmer. It comes in six shades and costs £24. For pale blondes there’s a newer version, the Terracotta Sheer Bronzing Powder, which is a collection of different colours, including pink and gold, which you mix by sweeping your brush around the compact and then brushing on to the face (£25).
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While you can’t whittle away the inches overnight, you can smooth out the dimples and tighten the skin reasonably quickly. Elizabeth Somapala has a clinic at 12 Harley Street, London W1 (020-7637 2656) where she does a Fast Track Firming Body Wrap to tone and firm before you set off on your holiday (£75). After you get back she recommends a Fast Track Detox and Slim Body Wrap to reduce fluid retention from heat or travel (also £75). It’s worth getting her to add in half an hour of lymphatic drainage, too. Combined, they certainly help to smooth the appearance of the legs.
*On August 21, The Mole Clinics in Superdrug branches on Oxford Street, The Strand and Holborn, London, are offering a free melanoma check. Alternatively, you can book appointments on 020-7734 1177 and get checked out for £45.