At the risk of sounding terribly clichéd and British, isn’t the weather a bother right now? All this flip-flopping between drizzle and dazzle has turned getting dressed into a daily guessing game, particularly when it comes to the issue of our legs. Do we dare to bare, or not? Is it worth the hassle of fake-tanning legs? And what can we do about pale, veiny calves when the sun sneaks out and takes us by surprise?
My answer to that last one is easy: instant fake tan. I’m someone who’s often caught out by summer’s impromptu appearances, and have become very fond of a wash-off leg tan. For those panicky moments when I need my bare legs to look presentable now, a great instant tan is like tights in a tube, adding colour while skimming over imperfections.
(A terrible instant tan, though, is like Marmite in a tube: sticky, streaky, overly-dark, and impossible to blend. Buyer, beware!)
So I was very much hoping for the former when a new instant leg tint landed on the beauty desk just while reports of Heatwave Part 2 kept changing by the hour. Prai Beauty Ageless Leg Perfecting Serum is a £30 fixer-upper that’s just landed on the high street, and one I very much hoped would do what it said on the bottle.
Firstly, my legs are naturally very pale, but not in a prettily ethereal way. They’re blighted by bad circulation, mottled tone and regular bruises from my clumsy ways.
I’m also recovering from microsclerotherapy treatment for a road map’s worth of veins, from ankle to thigh. They’re fading, for sure, but I’m told it’ll take a couple more months to see the final results now that I’ve taken off the compression stockings. (Believe me, wearing thick, sweaty flight tights 24-7 for three weeks is something I’m glad is out of the way.) So yes, Prai has plenty to work on.
What’s Prai Ageless Leg Perfecting Serum like?
Prai is a brand that’s regularly impressed both the GH beauty team and the Good Housekeeping Institute, particularly for mature skin issues. For instance, its Ageless Throat & Decolletage Serum was the winning neck serum in our Believe In Beauty awards and beauty assistant Zara’s mum felt its new sheet mask took ten years off her neck in 10 minutes. Its Menoglow night cream is also a top-rated GHI product for menopausal skin.
So how would Prai fare lower down the body? Very well, it turns out. The Ageless Leg Perfecting Serum really does dispense confidence in a bottle, via a tint that tans, blurs and hydrates in one. Prai promises the colour works for all skin tones, and while I can only speak for myself, I can confirm it’s excellent for ‘mottled and pasty’.
In terms of expectations, it’s not a heavy-duty camouflage but it really does take the edge off pallor, uneven tone and veins. It’s like putting a blurring filter on my legs; not perfection but a definite airbrushing of gnarly bits. For me, that’s more than enough. I’ve found thicker, more opaque leg products look obviously makeup-y, and are also tricky to blend. No bruise, blotch or thread vein looks worse than gravy-like smears clinging to ankles and knees.
The online reviews back up my experience, too. The Boots website is already filling up with five-star feedback, with one user writing: 'Wow wow wow. Totally fabulous. I’m telling all my girlfriends to try it now! Goes on really easily and dries quickly. And no transfer!!'.
The fact it’s reasonably sheer (think 15 denier tights vs 80 denier) has other benefits beyond believability. The tint has a subtle, luminous glow, so delivering it in a lightweight texture makes legs look healthier but not in a naff, shiny or sparkly way. It’s easy to blend and build, yet doesn’t stain palms. I’ve had instant tans before that took longer to scrub off hands than they did to actually apply to legs.
And while its cosmetic effect may be instant, Prai promises longer-term results. The clue is in that name – Leg Perfecting Serum. The ingredients include peptides to help boost collagen production, super-ingredient Sepilift as a sort of elasticity booster and hyaluronic acid for moisture. While I’m not sure I’d dare brave it on a white sofa on sticky days, I’ve not seen any obvious issues with transfer.
Overall, I’d say this is an excellent instant fix. Whether you’d wear it regularly enough to see the long-term skincare benefits is debatable (personally I’ll be whacking on my favourite fake tan now the long-range forecast has perked up) but I still think it’ll be one of my summer must-haves.
As well as getting me through those in-between days and ‘tan in need of top-up’ days, that radiant airbrushed glow is lovely for arms and chest, too. I’ll take a promise of perfection on any inch of skin, thanks.
