Author: Tracey McAlpine Category: Beauty, Pro-Ageing, Skincare, Suncare
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How a devastating skin cancer diagnosis inspired this award-winning product

‘You have skin cancer, an aggressive melanoma’, these were the words Gillian Robson heard when she was diagnosed with skin cancer five years ago.  A devastating diagnosis to a young businesswoman with a family.

A busy mum running a successful beauty business, Gillian loved to look tanned and healthy.  Little did she know at the time that her love for the sun, and sun beds, would soon see her undergoing surgery to have many moles removed due to skin cancer.

Gillian was advised to wear a high protection sunscreen all year round to protect her skin from further damage but, she still wanted to look tanned.  She assumed that she could pick up a self-tanning product with a high sunscreen factor SPF50, that would protect and tan at the same time.  In fact, there wasn’t a product on the market that offered this two in one solution Gillian was looking for.

Tancream the first ever high protection sunscreen with gradual self-tan

Having carried out research into why such a product didn’t exist, Gillian found that it’s not quite as simple as it sounds, it’s difficult to formulate a cream that offers 5-star sun protection and gradually tans the skin at the same time.  Gillian discussed this with her friend, another Yorkshire mum, Katy Foxcroft and the idea for Tancream was born.  With Gillian’s knowledge of the beauty industry and Katy’s previous experience in retail and marketing, they make the perfect partnership to create such a bespoke product.

Determined to find a solution to the self-tanning while protected dilemma, Gillian and Katy set out to find the experts who could help them create such a product.  The friends met Dr Jack Ferguson, an independent consultant to the cosmetics industry, and Jo Warren, an expert formulator in sun and skin care.  Together the four made a formidable team all passionate about protecting skin from sun damage.  The formulation wasn’t straight forward, obviously why it hadn’t been done before, mainly due to the different pH’s that the active ingredients need to work.

Tancream launches and immediately starts winning awards

After three years of development Tancream hit the market in 2017 and rapidly took the beauty industry by storm.  Not least by winning several industry and consumer awards, including the Pure Beauty Global Awards in 2018.  Since then the product has been endorsed by Dr Hadi Abushaira, a renowned consultant dermatologist with 30 years’ experience and also Gillian’s consultant.

Unlike any other product on the market, Tancream has a blend of organic sunscreens and sunless tanning agents in a luxury face and body lotion with SPF50 5 star rated sun protection.  Tancream has a natural bronzing tint making it easy to apply and has high moisturisation properties keeping the skin well hydrated.

Tracey McAlpine discusses Tancream with founders, Gillian Robson and Katy Foxcroft

What benefits do you get from Tancream?

Daily Defence
SPF50 and Ultra UVA 5-star high sun protection which protects against premature skin ageing and safeguards against deeply penetrating UVA rays which accelerate photoaging.

Healthy Tan
With a gradual self-tan and instant bronzer, skin immediately has a healthy glow, and then gradually gets a natural, streak free tan.  Tancream can be applied daily to build a lasting safe tan.

Colour Corrector
Tancream evens skin tone, the antioxidant formula protects the skin from premature ageing.

Easy to apply
Tancream is a light non-streaking, fragrance and odour free tan with a tint that covers easily and absorbs straight into the skin.

Tancream 100ml £44.95 available from Tancream, Lookfantastic* and stores throughout the country, check website for details.

*Affiliate link