Bali Body Gradual Tanning Butter Review

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As soon as summer arrives, my body care routine steps up a gear. Of course, it’s important to keep your skin soft and hydrated all year round, but it feels like even more of a necessity when you know your skin is going to be on show!

The only thing better than a good moisturiser is a body cream that gives you a healthy-looking bronzey glow at the same time, which is why I was drawn to Bali Body’s Gradual Tanning Butter.

What is the Bali Body Gradual Tanning Butter?

Bali Body’s Gradual Tanning Butter is a ‘3-in-1 daily moisturiser’ designed to deeply nourish the skin, while also building a natural-looking, sun-kissed tan. It can be used in three ways: as a body moisturiser, a gradual tanning cream, or a tan extender to help increase the longevity of your existing fake tan.

The colour develops over six to eight hours, with initial results showing in just as little as four. The brand claims that one application gives medium to dark results, and that best results can be seen after two to three applications.

Like their Clear Self Tanning Gel, this is a rinse-free formula so no need to wash the guide colour off – you can just apply it and get on with your day.

How to apply it

A good, even fake tan always begins with thorough prep. Follow the steps below for best results:

1. Exfoliate the day before. Take an exfoliating mitt and slough off any dead skin (or any remaining self tan). You’re going to want to shave no less than 12 hours before too. This prevents the tan from pooling in open pores.
2. Use you hands to apply. Rub this into the skin as you would a normal body moisturiser. Be sure to blend thoroughly around areas like your wrists, knees, armpits and elbows.
3. Wash your hands. Rinse off any excess product, getting right between your fingers, to avoid those tell-tale orange palms.

Formula, feel and transfer test

As far as body butters go, this has such a dreamy texture. It’s soft, buttery, and feels almost whipped. It melts into the skin with ease and doesn’t have any stickiness or greasiness to it. This is a huge plus point for me!

The cream is packed with shimmer which is sort of helpful for application. It means you can at least see where you’ve applied it. But, in all honesty, I think I’d prefer this without the glitter. It can end up looking a bit metallic come the end.

If you don’t wait for the body butter to dry down, the shimmer also transfers onto your clothes, leaving golden streaks across them.

Does the actual tan transfer onto clothes and bedding? Unfortunately I did find that it created faint marks across my white sheets.

It probably didn’t help that it’s recently been 30°C most nights and I’ve been sweating profusely in my sleep! The saving grace was that the colour did completely wash out, so at least it’s not permanent!

My experience using the Bali Body Gradual Tanning Butter

Honestly, this isn’t like an gradual tan I’ve ever used before. I hadn’t realised before I tried it for the first time that just one application gives medium to dark results (my bad!), so I was really shocked when I woke up to quite an intense tan. I was expecting to have to build this up quite a bit, but actually one pass was enough for me.

That meant I didn’t really use it like a gradual tan. I didn’t reapply it after a few days, like the instructions suggest, because I think this would have tipped it into orange territory.

How easy is it to use Bali Body’s Gradual Tan?

Unlike other gradual tans I’ve used, this one had a bit of a learning curve to it.

Because most gradual lotions and creams tend to build up colour over multiple applications, they’re a bit more forgiving. You can apply them haphazardly and usually any mistakes aren’t that obvious.

But I found that, after the six to eight hours of developing time, I could detect all the places I’d gone wrong. There were streaks, lines, and patches where I’d obviously applied too much product. And spots where the gradual tan hadn’t taken as well.

I was hoping I’d be able to apply this quite quickly after showering, as I would a regular body lotion, but I don’t think this a ‘rub it on and you’re ready to go’ type of product.

You need to spend extra time making sure you’ve applied this evenly and blending it around your joints (like you would a typical fake tan). It doesn’t have the same ease of use as other gradual tanning formulas I’ve tried in the past.

Before & after: Does Bali Body’s Gradual Tanning Butter actually work?

If you’re constantly finding yourself let down by gradual tans that never seem to make a noticeable difference, you won’t be disappointed with this Bali Body one.

The results speak for themselves. After just one application, my skin definitely looked bronzed and glowy.

As I mentioned previously, the undertone does lean slightly orange, so it’s not the most natural gradual tan I’ve tried. However, it’s easily one of the most effective, delivering quicker and more noticeable results than any other gradual tan formula I’ve tried.

How long does the Bali Body Gradual Tanning Butter last?

I’m not exaggerating when I say this might be the longest lasting gradual tan I’ve ever used. I think this has to be down to the intensity you get with just that first application.

A week after application and the tan is still going strong. Sure, it fades slightly in that time, but not a lot. It’s at this point that you’d reapply it to top up your existing tan – applying another layer is supposed to extend its life for up to seven days.

Honestly, I can still see traces of it even after two weeks. That’s with a lot of exfoliation too!

If you want a low-maintenance gradual tan that you’re not going to have to top up every other day, this definitely ticks that box.

Price & value

You can buy this directly from the Bali Body website. It currently retails for around £27.

You can also order it from Boots or Ulta, depending on where you’re located.

Final verdict: Is Bali Body’s Gradual Tan worth buying?

If you’re looking for a deep, fast-developing tan, this Bali Body Tanning Butter will be right up your street. But, if you want something subtler, this probably isn’t it.

To me, this doesn’t really feel like a gradual tan. The results from the first application are so stark (especially on pale skin) that this just feels like a traditional fake tan.

It’s not a bad product by any means, but it just wasn’t what I expected. I think this would likely work well if your skin is at 3 or above on the Fitzpatrick scale, but it was just a touch too orange on my pale skin.

Is the Bali Body Gradual Tanning Butter on your summer beauty wish list? Let me know in the comments below!