Summer is well and truly over – gone are the beach days, evening barbecues and picnics in the park. And it’s not just the sun that’s fading away – our tans are toning down, too. So there’s nothing to do but reach for the bottle… of bronzing gel, that is – to stay looking more sun-kissed and raise our sunken spirit.

Famous for hair masks, body lotions and scalp scrubs, Coco & Eve has long been on the wish list of many a beauty buff. We’re quite the fans of the brand here at IndyBest, too, raving about the leave-in conditioner, Bali buffing sugar and sweet repair hair mask.

But here, we’ve turned to the tanning range for an in-depth analysis. Sweeping its sunny honey Bali bronzing foam over our bodies in the hope it looks like we’ve basked in the sun for a week, we were actually “blown away” with the results, which is a high claim from our tester who dubs herself a (near) professional self-tanner.

While the Bondi Sands aero aerated tanning foam was our tester’s go-to faux glow throughout the summer, and Next’s new NX glow range also got to sit in for a few weeks, this Coco & Eve fake tan tops the tanning top trumps as we head into winter. It delivers a sweet-scented, natural-looking glow with a streak-free finish.

So far, sunny honey Bali bronzing foam has received over 2,400 five-star reviews on cocoandeve.com from a wide range of customers, and we can now be counted in the ever-growing fan club. Keep reading below to find out exactly why.

How we tested

With over 10 years of fake tanning experience, our very fair-skinned Caucasian tester has become somewhat of a fake tan fanatic. While testing a new product was no hard ask, reviewing it came with a near scary level of scrutiny, with scent, feel, shade, ease of applying, final look and lifespan all being closely vetted.

Slathering on the foam for three weeks with the Coco & Eve soft velvet tanning mitt on the body (£12, Cocoandeve.com) and the Coco & Eve deluxe vegan kabuki brush on the hands and face (£19, Cocoandeve.com), sunny honey Bali bronzing foam has become a regular feature in our tester’s weekly routine and shows no sign of stopping just yet.

Coco & Eve sunny honey Bali bronzing foam

Best: Natural-looking fake tan

Size: 200ml

Shades: Medium, dark, ultra dark

Type: Foam

Scent: Mango and guava

Developing time: 2-8 hours

Buy now £25.90, Cocoandeve.com

The key to any successful fake tan comes in the prep. If you want to remove any hairy bits, do so 48 hours in advance, and exfoliate your body and face 24 hours before applying. Immediately ahead of applying the product, make sure your pores aren’t open (as they would be if you’ve just stepped straight out of a hot shower).

Popping moisturiser onto dry patches – such as the ankles, knees, elbows and hands – also goes a long way to avoiding a patchy-looking fake tan too. But, great-prep aside, this tan still stands out in the crowd – for all the right reasons.

Formula

There’s a lot going on in sunny honey Bali bronzing foam that goes above and beyond your generic faux glow. But although we fell in love with this fake tan for its beautiful bronzing qualities, we’re on the fence when it comes to its other claims, such as cellulite busting, which we’ll talk about further down.

Starting with the tanning formula, a green-grey base has been used to create a golden glow with no orangey tones, and we have to say, we found exactly that, as our tester certainly looked much more bronzed than suspiciously tangerine. We’d even go as far as to say it is our best bronzed colour we’ve found so far, with one coat being enough to make a noticeable difference while still staying in the realm of post-holiday glow rather than a different person altogether.

Getting its bronzing power from 100 per cent natural DHA (dihydroxyacetone), the ingredient that darkens dead skin cells to give them their tanned appearance, this fake tan is also fully vegan. The guide colour was dark enough to spot any missed patches too, leaving an even, streak-free finish every time.

Looking at the claimed skincare benefits, this tan includes a patented Cellushape technology, raw virgin coconut oil to hydrate the skin, and mango, fig and cocoa extracts to scent, as well as provide antioxidants to boost the skin’s health. All of these goodies left our tester with soft and supple skin for days post-use.

Cellushape, or lotus extract, works as an antioxidant to reduce the effects of pollution, external stressors and UV rays on the skin. It’s also said to “fight cellulite”, although claims such as these are heavily disputed, so please don’t fix your hopes on this. The brand has done its own research into these claims, with results showing that it did reduce some cellulite. However, that’s when the Cellushape technology was used twice a day for 28 days, which seems like a lot of fake tan to be applying, if you ask us.

Design and drying process

Housed in a 200ml tube with an easy-to-press pump, this foam is simple and straightforward to use. The removable lid makes it easy to carry around, and the whole product, bag included, is fully recyclable.

We would recommend shaking the product before applying to evenly distribute the tan, and it should come out like a brown cloud of light, fluffy foam. Effortlessly rubbed into the skin with both the mitt and the brush, the foam is instantly absorbed. However, it does leave a tacky finish that lasts around 30 minutes, so be sure not to pull on your best white shirt until you wash it off.

After about two hours the base colour will start to develop, and you should be able to get dressed without fear of too much transfer. However, our tester recommends proceeding with care on this point – best to not go jumping into your fresh white bed sheets just in case.

Performance

This natural-looking tan left our tester with more compliments than they’d ever received, with even their own mum fooled into thinking it was a natural tan. With no classic fake tan smell or annoying black dots in pores, we have very few negative things to say about this faux glow.

Testing shade “dark”, we found one coat to be perfect when applied once a week for a golden glow, which required little maintenance. Any less than that and you’ll start to see it fade; more often and you may be darker than you desired.

The verdict: Coco & Eve sunny honey Bali bronzing foam

It’s very rare for our testers to give a product full marks – we are a picky bunch, after all – yet this fake tan deserved it.

When it comes to the “fighting cellulite” claims, it’s best not to pin hopes on products to physically change your body. That said, fake tan works on dimples in the same way it does on stretch marks and scars, blurring them in an airbrushed-like effect, so they’re less noticeable to the naked eye. For some people, this is a definite plus, while for others, it’s an extra they can take or leave.

So, while we won’t recommend sunny honey Bali bronzing foam for its cellulite-busting claims, when used as a faux glow, we can’t say a bad word against it. A failsafe golden glow that had everyone fooled as the real thing (without the telltale fake-tan smell), we’ll be hard pushed to find a fake tan better than this, so we can only encourage you to go try it for yourself.

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Looking to try some more Coco & Eve products? Take a look at our review of the best buys here.