The spring brings sunshine and warmer weather, trouble is that keeping covered up all winter can hide how pale your skin has become. The good thing is that keeping out of the sun helps to reduce the signs of premature aging.

The cooler weather can zap most of the moisture out of your skin, the darker days can leave you feeling you less than upbeat.

Time to break out the fake tan. Trouble is nothing looks worse than patchy, poorly applied self tanning product.

We've listed a few tips below on how to apply fake tan to hands, body and feet. Follow this advice and we're sure you'll have the most natural looking fake tan within miles.

1. Applying self tan to your face and neck:

• Exfoliate (using a circular motion) with a facial scrub or a cleanser and facecloth to remove dead skin cells

• To blend the self tanning product into your hairline, gently massage with the tips of your fingers, carefully massaging the product up to the hairline.

• To create contours around the cheek area, add a little extra tanning product to enhance these areas.

2. Body Application:

-In a similar way you did with the facial area, exfoliate! Taking your time with this very important step will enhance the longevity of your safe tan. Make sure you focus on the dry spots like heels, knees and elbows. Don't forget, self tanning products are absorbed more by areas with drier skin.

• Begin your application by working in the tanning product from the bottom upwards.

• Make sure you wear gloves when applying the product, this makes for a lot smoother application and saves time because you won't have to spend hours scrubbing it out of your palms later!

• An easy way to apply the lotion to your back, is to take a long flat folded strip of cling film, add the fake tanning product to the middle, and make like you are towel drying your back in a side to side motion.

3. Foot Application:

-To avoid ending up with patchy areas on the feet, the trick here is to start off with a gentle and light application, taking care with dry areas such as the heels, ankles and parts of the toes. Careful blending and the use of moisturiser can help to dilute and even out the application.

-Take your time working the product into your feet and in-between your toes to avoid the tell tale 'tidemark' effect.

4. Getting Wet:

-This sounds obvious, because it is. Avoid getting wet for at least 2 hours after the tan has been applied. You should relax too, because perspiration changes the chemical balance of the tanning proves. This in turn will affect the end result.

Finally:

There are many safe tanning products on the market now that promote SPF protection. You should take care and read the instructions carefully, because in many cases the SPF protection doesn't last. As time goes on, the protective effect of the product can be less than zero.