London - July 13, 2005

Tanned to a Tea

Self-Tanning with Tea Bags

Two great British traditions: pasty, white legs and a nice cup of tea.

What genius, then, that one can benefit the other. This (PG) tip comes straight from your grandmother’s wartime book of radiance on a ration card and works as well today as it did in 1940.

Soak one tea bag in boiling water (go on and have a cuppa while you’re at it) — research (i.e., what was lurking in our cupboard at press time) suggests that a black leaf such as Lapsang Souchong is most effective, but at a push, builders’ tea will do.

Don’t toss that bag; instead, wring out most of the liquid and wipe it over legs, arms, decolletage and any other parts of the body you’d like bronzed. The result? A safe and subtle sun-kissed look that’s yours for mere pence.

Just pray a downpour doesn’t douse your summer idyll.

Although that, of course, would be yet another great British tradition.

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