Wedding Legs
Last year it seemed we’d reached an age where we were having a wedding lull. Loads of wedding invites in our twenties ‘pre kids watching our friends get married’ kinda weddings. Nice. One or two family ones when we were thirty, a five year lull then BOOM… 2016 hit and we were invited to four weddings!
This was good on two counts. One, it gave me and the hubby target dates to get a little trimmer and two, it meant new dresses. Yay!
The first two weddings were in May. I’ve mentioned before that I’m dark skinned but even I’m still living with a lighter shade of pale winter skin when May comes around. My mission was to have silky smooth tanned legs by the first wedding.
I’ve always been a leg shaver but there’s no getting away from that dotty, stubble about to resurface look (especially when you’re dark haired too) so I googled, of course, and it sounded like an epilator could be the way to go. Off I went to Boots to browse the epilator section. So many to choose from! This was the land of the unknown to me so I didn’t want to spend a fortune but also didn’t want to shred my leg skin. I went for mid price range and bought the Braun Silk Epil.
You need to let the hair on your legs grow a little which feels gross if you’re usually clean shaven. Do it on an evening the instructions said. The kids were reading in bed and I decided to give it a whirl.
Oh. My. God. The pain! Worse than getting a tattoo and that’s pretty stingy. I literally did a postage stamp sized patch and could have wept. But come on, I’ve given birth to two children with no drugs, surely I can epilate my legs?! Pure determination to not be a wuss powered me through and I managed to do one leg before wimping out. The next day was thankfully not a shorts day because I had one leg like a gorilla and the other was like a well plucked chicken. That night I did leg number 2 and I’d become slightly more accustomed to the pain. The red raw rash fades within a couple of days and when I did it the following week the pain was reduced and the rash was minimal. After a month it barely even stings and very little immediate reddening so it’s definitely a perseverance thing. The best bit is the little black stubble that’s usually visible stops resurfacing after a few uses. Silky smooth legs to the eye and the touch, achieved!
Stage 2 was the tan. Let me start by saying I hate fake tan. I’m rubbish at applying it, it’s streaky and generally looks ridiculous (sorry fake tan fans!) The only reason I wanted to use it was because my legs never seem to match the other parts of my body that would be on show in a dress. We’re so outdoorsy that I have a natural tan on my face and arms pretty much all year round. My friend highly recommended Vita Liberata luxury tan mousse (mid to dark) and to be honest at £25 a bottle I’d have never tried it without recommendation. I also opted for a Soltan self tan applicator mitt, I was determined to get it right!
For best results and a two week tan, the bottle said to apply it three days in a row. I was in love with it after the first application. No smell, no streaks and the colour was so natural looking. I’m more a dirty brown skin tone, the golden tans just don’t work for me. The mousse dries really quickly after application so you don’t have to stand around for ages waiting to put clothes on. The tan did last around two weeks and I loved it so much I did all my white bits! I can’t recommend this product enough and definitely get a mitt because it gives a more even coverage and avoids weird orange palms.
The final result for me? My silky smooth tanned legs were officially wedding ready.
