Guest blog: your ultimate guide to bridal tanning

Lucy Jones, tanning expert for Xen-Tan, reveals her top tips for getting the wedding party tanned for the big day, and explains how bridal tan packages can boost your business.

Here comes the bride! Ready or not bridal season is upon us and with the average UK couple spending more than £20,000 on their special day, wedding tans can be a very profitable add-on to your treatment list.

Here’s your ultimate guide to bridal tanning:

 

Bridal tan trials

Sunless tanning has come a long way since its original inception in the 1970s, however, no matter how skilled a tan technician you are, you have no way of knowing how a tan will look on a client’s skin unless you have spray tanned them before.

So, a bridal tan trial is just as essential as a make-up trial. I would suggest tanning your bride in time for her hen do as this way she’ll be nicely tanned for her big night out, and then ask her to text you on which day that she most likes the look of her tan – for example two days after.

This will help you assess how many days before the wedding to book the bride in for her tan.

 

Bridal prep and aftercare

Proper preparation is the key to success in sunless tanning, so why not pull together an essential selection of retail products for your bride-to-be.

This package should include a non-oil-based scrub to ensure thorough dead skin removal as well as to avoid streaks and uneven fade; and an oil-free moisturiser to keep skin hydrated but not to break up the tan.

 

The wedding tan

The tan trial should have indicated which day your bride felt her tan looked at its best, but I usually recommend tanning the client at least two to three days before the big day to get the best result.

A good tip is to lightly dust skin with talcum powder on any areas where the dress is tightly fitted. Also, book in your bride’s manicure and pedicure before her tan so that any cuticle oils used won’t affect the result of the tan.

 

Bespoke tanning

They key to flawless bridal tanning is that less is more. No bride wants to look fake tanned on her big day, instead she wants to enhance her natural beauty with a radiant, olive glow.

To help ensure this is achieved, Xen-Tan solutions and retail products use a high percentage of DHA, which reacts with clients own amino acids to develop into a bespoke, natural looking tan perfect for their individual skin tone.

Lucy Jones is a tanning expert for professional tanning brand Xen-Tan.