TikTok throws up its fair share of dodgy advice — from diet tips to screwball takes on pop psychology. But one area where it can be a source of unexpected insight? Beauty.

I recently stumbled on a video of one ingenious young woman doing the next day’s make-up the night before — using fake tan.

The idea is to create a natural-looking base by using fake tan to do everything from your eyebrows and cheekbone contouring to your lip liner. Let it develop overnight, then wash and go in the morning.

It sounds kind of mad. But if the videos (and there are thousands of them on TikTok) are to be believed, the results the morning after are pretty fantastic.

So, with the help of make-up artist Desmond Grundy and the advice of fake tanning expert James Harknett, I decided to recreate the look and produce a step-by-step guide to semi-permanent makeovers, overnight…

Libby Galvin before pictured before she tried the latest beauty TikTok trend of doing the next day’s make-up the night before – using fake tan

PREP WELL

To avoid streaks and orange patches, ‘ensure any hair removal is done 48 hours before and that you exfoliate 24 hours before,’ says James Harknett, who’s been called the Tom Ford of tanning. ‘Tan lotion or cream should be applied to clean, dry skin, not over any face products or make-up.’

He also recommends using a tan with a guide colour so you can see what you’re doing, and arming yourself with different shades of tan for different types of ‘make-up’, i.e. darker for lip liner and lighter for eyeshadow.

I have the Utan Pen for my lips and freckles and Utan Cherry Almond Turbo Mousse, which deepens according to how long you leave it on, for the rest.

We both agree on using a mousse tan rather than a liquid or cream, as the texture ‘will help with a more airy application’.

CHEEKS AND EYELIDS

Desmond uses the mousse, an angled Kabuki brush and a light touch.

‘Pick up some of your fake tan and gently press it onto the areas where you would apply your bronzer or contour, starting small and then blending out until all the lines are soft,’ says James.

It’s simple enough, and when Desmond has finished applying the tan on the apples of my cheeks, it looks almost exactly as it would if I had applied bronzer myself.

As for the eyeshadow? ‘A light application will take any redness away and give the eye area some depth,’ says Desmond.

Using a freckle pen, Libby pricked the tip on her cheeks and around the nose at irregular intervals to create a generous smattering of freckles 

BROWS AND LIPS

James recommends plumping for the darkest shade of tan.

I’ve got some in a small bowl and he says to use an angled brush to lightly feather it through my brows. But I think that sounds like a faff, so I use the Utan Pen instead.

Apparently, there is huge potential for error with my lips.

‘You will need to use a darker tan (same as with the brows) and start at the cupid’s bow, then blend out and down along the edges,’ says James.

‘On the bottom lip, start in the middle and blend outwards, making sure you don’t go too far outside of the lips’ natural line. Afterwards, tidy up the outer edges with clean cotton buds.’ I do the whole outline with the Utan Pen and I feel pretty happy with my etchings.

FINISH WITH FRECKLES

The freckle pen needs a very light touch — just pricking the tip of it on my cheeks and nose at irregular intervals to create a generous smattering of ‘freckles’.

Worrying that my lips looked a little ‘empty’ with the brown outline, I filled in my overlined lips with a translucent layer of tan as ‘lipstick’. I look like I’ve drunk a flask of teak oil.

THE RESULTS…

Libby was pleased with the results for the most part – but she drew a line at the eyebrows. She found that the orangey shade contrasted too strongly with the colour of her natural hairs 

I leave it to develop for about an hour before washing off the guide colour, scrubbing a little harder at any OTT areas.

The freckles are a great success — from a metre away you can’t tell that they’re not genuine. I love the lips, too. They’ve gone from disappearing into my face to standing out, without being overt.

The only area I’d hesitate to repeat is my eyebrows; the pen lines I’ve drawn are too light, so up close the orangey shade does not match the dark brown of my natural hairs.

Lesson learned.