We sell sunbed creams, so you'd expect this blog to tell you tanning is brilliant for you. It won't. Plenty of tanning brands dress UV up as a health treatment, and it isn't one. What you'll get here instead is the stuff we actually know: how to prepare your skin before a session, how to look after it afterwards, and how to pick a cream that suits you.
First, the honest bit
Sunbeds work with UV light, and UV carries risk. That's not small print, and no cream on this site or any other changes it. If you want the full picture before you book a session, read the NHS guidance on sunbeds and make your own call. You'll make it as an adult, because that's the law. Commercial sunbed use is strictly 18+ in the UK under the Sunbeds (Regulation) Act 2010. Any salon worth your money enforces it without being asked.
So here's our position, plainly: we don't make health claims about tanning. Not one. We make tanning creams for adults who've already decided to use sunbeds and want their skin looked after and their colour even while they do.
What a tanning cream actually does
No jar of anything decides whether you tan — your skin and the session do that. What a good cream does is look after the skin you're tanning. Dry, flaky skin takes colour patchily and lets it go early. Moisturised skin takes colour evenly and holds onto it. That's the whole job: hydration in a texture you'll actually enjoy putting on, with a scent that doesn't smell like a chemistry set.
That's how our range is built. Every formula is £20, and every one earned its place over the counter at Beautano, our sunbed salon in Glasgow — if it streaks, it doesn't get made. Have a look at the full range of sunbed creams when you're done here.
Before a session
- Exfoliate the day before. You're taking off the dull, dry layer so colour develops evenly instead of clinging to rough patches.
- Arrive with clean skin. Perfume, deodorant and makeup can react under UV or block the cream from doing its job. Plain, clean skin is the starting point.
- Apply your cream evenly just before the session. Massage it in with circular motions, then wash your hands — palms don't need a tan.
- Patch test anything new. Especially a tingle cream: a small amount on your inner arm, 24 hours before your first proper use. It's a minute of effort that saves a bad afternoon.
During
Wear the goggles. Closed eyes aren't protection, and every decent salon has goggles at the desk. Stick to the session time the salon recommends for your skin. Staff set those times for a reason, and pushing past them doesn't build colour faster, it just punishes your skin. And don't stack sessions back to back; colour keeps developing for hours after you've gone home.
Afterwards
Moisturise the same day and keep it up daily — the tan you just worked on lives in skin that stays hydrated and fades with skin that dries out. Drink water. Skip the scalding-hot shower straight after; lukewarm is kinder to skin that's just had a session. That's it. Aftercare isn't complicated, it's just consistent.
Choosing your cream
The honest shorthand for our shelf:
- New to sunbeds? Start with Mango Mousse: light, fast-drying, no tingle, no drama.
- Skin runs dry? Pineapple Butter is the richest texture we make.
- Seasoned tanner who likes heat? Banana Tingle: strong tingle, patch test first, genuinely not one for beginners.
- Face and touch-ups? The Watermelon Wand puts cream exactly where you want it.
One thing to know across the whole range: none of our creams contain SPF. They are not sun protection, and we won't dress them up as any. In natural sunlight, wear sunscreen.
Who should give it a miss
Under 18? Not legal, not up for debate. If your skin is very fair and burns rather than tans, sunbeds aren't your friend and no cream changes that either. And if you're pregnant, or on medication that makes skin more sensitive to light, talk to your GP before you book anything. That's a conversation for a doctor, not a tanning brand.
The short version
Be 18. Know the risks and decide like an adult. Exfoliate the day before, arrive clean, cream on evenly, goggles on, stick to your time, moisturise after. Pick the formula that suits your skin, patch test if it tingles, and remember nothing on this shelf is sun protection. That's the whole guide — no miracles, no science-y waffle, just how to do the thing properly.