Garnier Essentials Tonique

Well, this is not an essential item in your skin care routine, because it doesn't add much as a skin care product, it only makes you feel fresh, smells good, and may have some active ingredients that might work, but not make a huge difference. If you have a sensible skin type you don't want to build up much to your face.

So I wanted to try this product as it says it has pro-vitamin B5, which is panthenol that in contact with the skin and absorbed, transforms in pantothenic acid. This component helps lock in the moisture in the skin, retaining water, resulting in a much softer and elastic skin. So no harm in that, only making your skin look good and healthy, I would say.

After I applied the product to my face, having an oily skin type, I actually noticed that the smell was quite refreshing, and not overpowering, very pleasant, and the effect on the skin, was actually a bit moisturizing. Not very much so, because it will not do as much as a lotion, but enough. It also helps remove the dirt out of your pores, which is something good, after a day in the city.

The only thing I didn’t like was the fact that, this actually leaves my skin oily quicker, but not that much, so I started to apply it only at night. So I would say this is a product more suitable for dry to normal skin, and a good one. Not excellent, but good.

Garnier Ambre Solaire Natural Bronzer

After I tried the Garnier Body Summer lotion, I guessed that this one might be good too, and quicker. I don’t really have the patience to apply a gradual self-tanner until it reaches a nice dark color, at least a noticeable one. By summer I want a tan, more than a “glow”, as people call it, so I bought this one, for something like 10€, I’m not sure.

It is a face and body lotion, and has a nice smell, kind of like the gradual tanner from Garnier. It’s a sweet smell, but not so overpowering, and covers up the smell of DHA (the self-tanning agent). On the bottle you can read that this product will give you a nice, natural looking tan, and that it has a guide color to help you see where you’ve applied. Well, when I read that I didn’t knew how was I suppose to feel, because a guide color maybe welcome sometimes, but I wasn’t expecting it form that product. But turns out that the so claimed guide color, was a slight shade of orange/brownish, very pale that you couldn’t even see on your skin. Guide color can sometimes ruin your clothes, but be very useful, to avoid the streak look, but in this case, I don’t even know why they even bring up that subject.

So I apply the lotion at night, because I don’t like the smell of this lotions, and I hope to wake up a shade darker, and I did. The color is very natural, kind of a brown, but with a warm hue, If you push it, you can get a bit orange, but nothing very serious, only after 3 or 4 coats. I don’t usually go beyond the second coat in 4 or 5 days, so it turns out nice.

As it is a lotion, it leaves your skin very moisturized and soft, and helping your tan, to last for like 5 days. On your face is also very good, not causing pimples and developing a nice color too. On this body part, though, the tan lasts less time, because I exfoliate quite often, and the face creams with chemical peeling agents also shortens your face tan, so I apply the Garnier Natural Bronzer, to my face at day time, mixed with my daily moisturizer and apply it.

Overall is a good product for men, because it will give you a natural color, and leaves your skin very smooth. As for the body hair part, I don’t find no problem at all, you just need to spread it well with your finger, and don’t forget to exfoliate those areas, because they can build up after some applications.

Garnier BodySummer Lotion

Although the summer has already arrived, and you can tan your skin more easily and naturally, it is always possible to achieve a darker tan helping to enhance the one you got on the beach. For those, like me, who have a lighter skin tone, a help achieving a healthier skin tone, is always welcome.

A few years ago I found this gradual self-tanning lotion that turned out to be my second experience with self-tanners (the first was with Nivea for Men Summer Look), and therefore my lotion of choice for this purpose. Like many products from Garnier, this is of excellent quality and is inexpensive, costing about 4 €.

Starting with the package, it has a color that at first may scare you because it has an orange hue, which goes against the prejudice that exists about the self-tanning, that turns the skin orange. As for the smell, the packaging states that the aroma is a light apricot scent, which there's nothing soft about it, being quite overpowering. The smell is a bit sweet, which does not necessarily mean that it is bad, just not suitable to apply by day time and leave the house, because turns out to be a little strong. Furthermore, there goes the usual smell of DHA, which together with the sweet smell of the lotion, leaves a scent of cookies, that turns out not to be totally disgusting, because you will get used to it, but for those who know the smell, can detect miles away we are using self-tanner.

As for color, it is a gradual self-tanning, so the color takes a few days to be able to see. For me, the version that I used was the dark skin tones, and it takes about three days to get some shade, which is visible after one week, but not very dramatic. Only a winter glow, to remove the gray tone of the skin. If you do not exfoliate your skin and keep applying it, the tone starts getting more yellowish, and I only recommend to apply until it reaches a certain shade of tan. Less is more, and in this case, a light color, turns out to be natural and warms the skin tone.

The lotion is rich in vitamin E, and with no doubt leaves the skin very soft and is a great addition to the product. For men with body hair, this lotion is quickly absorbed, and you need only to wait for a few minutes (4 or 5 min) for the lotion to dry, and does not accumulate in the hair, avoiding the stains. However, I noticed that the hair may darken slightly after repeated uses, because, as the skin peels, the hair will remain for a little more time.

Personally I apply at night, waking up each day with a slightly more tanned look, and removing the smell of self-tanner in the shower. It is undoubtedly a great solution for the winter, but for summer months it gets boring, because the results are not as dramatic as you wish, and I end up not having the patience to wait for the results. Finally, it is necessary to warn all that is necessary all the usual care that you have with self-tanners, although some of them, with less concerning.