Is it Time You Ditched the Fake Tan?

Ireland is known for a lot of things: rolling green hills, Guinness and fake tan. Yes, fake tan. In fact, when it comes to getting our bronze on, the Irish are single-handedly keeping the European fake tan market a float (eh…almost).

According to reports, Ireland is one of the largest consumers when it comes to buying fake tan products in all of Europe. Well, given the state of our climate (every season = rain) it’s understandable that we’re all a bit mad for some sunshine in a bottle.

It is estimated that more than 40 per cent of Irish women use self-tanning products on a regular basis – this is not surprising. Sure don’t we all love a healthy glow when we’re heading out on a Saturday night?

But like everything, fake tan also has a bad side. We’ve seen girls walking down the street with streaks galore. We’ve been victims of the Snooki look more times than we’d like to count.

Fake tan can be great, but if we’re being completely honest, it can also be a pain in the backside. Ladies, here’s a radical question for you – is it time you ditched your fake tan habit?

Here are just a handful of the benefits when it comes to embracing the pale…

1. Your house won’t smell like biscuits anymore: Ah fake tan, not only do you stain everything you come into contact with (including our fabulous selves) you also make our homes reek of digestive biscuits.

If you hang up your tanning mitt, just imagine how great it will be to not get a nostril of fake tan smell every time you draw a breath in your bathroom. Sure it smells interesting, but too much can be seriously overpowering.

2. You’ll have so much free time: How many hours of your life have you wasted scrubbing off and slathering on the fake stuff? If you embrace your natural, gorgeous, pale skin you’ll have so much more time to spend doing the things you love.

Just imagine: you could have enough time to learn a new skill, have pre-weekend cocktails with the girls and visit your parents – all in the space of one evening. Hello productivity!

3. Your day will run smoother: You’ll be able to go about your business without having “the fear” when it comes to streaks, patches and those grubby bits that develop around your fingers and ankles.

You also won’t have to keep running to the bathroom to do some essential touch-ups and if you see a raincloud, your reaction will be much more mellow and less: “I have to get inside NOW! OUT OF MY WAY YOUNG CHILDREN/THE ELDERLY!!!”

4. Your skin will be happier: Fake tan, great and all as it is, has the tendency to clog up our pores if we use it too frequently. The result of this? Well, unless you have amazing skin, spots. Lots of spots.

Now, just imagine how happy your skin will be if you let it breathe, tan-free for a few weeks? Goodbye blackheads!

5. Sure the celebs are doing it: Yes, fake tan has always been associated with celebrities, but it seems that even they are starting to take a break from the brown stuff.

Check out the second part of this article where we’ll be counting down the most glamorous pale-skinned celebs and celebrating their pallid skin tones.

Trust us women, once you catch a glimpse of Emma Stone looking pallid and perfect, you’ll definitely be inspired to go au naturale...