We all know how troublesome it can be to find that perfect golden tan, so troublesome in fact, we recently embarked on a tanning experiment.

You may have heard of Lidl’s Cien Tropical Summer range that recently hit shelves and when we found out that retail prices started at €1.99, it sounded too good to be true. Could we really be so lucky to have the best of both worlds regarding great price and bronzed skin? In an effort to find out, we tried some of the products. We put Cien’s Self-Tanning Milk (for fair skin) to the test, as well as their Self-Tanning Mousse. The self-tanning milk is a soft luxurious moisturiser. It dries within five minutes and there’s no need to worry about the pungent odour usually associated with fake tan, this is simply heavenly. Due to having a fear of bright orange palms, we did use a tanning mitt to put on the moisturiser but judging from how it turned out on the skin, there’s probably no reason to be overly cautious. A little hand rinse would likely do the trick after applying. The end result was an exceptionally natural looking skin tone with a lightly bronzed glow.

Hey Girlies I tried lidl new self tanning milk last night and woke up to nice colour no streaks ?give it a try ?

— Dianne Campbell (@Diannejojo10) April 12, 2017

Next up is the Self-tanning Mousse. Again, we applied the product with a mitt and we have to say it was just as smooth as applying the moisturiser, despite the different consistencies. Although not as much of a luxurious floral scent as the moisturiser, it’s most definitely better than the majority of tanning aromas out there. Best of all it was streak-free after leaving it on throughout the night. The mousse does give a slightly darker shade—presumably because there are less moisturising properties than the first product we put under the microscope. With such great value and fab results, this is a fake tan range to have on your radar.