Regular readers will know that I love a bit of fake bake. As soon as the sun peeks through the clouds I’m whipping out my mit and tinting my skin as dark as it can go. Why? Well it’s the only way my whiter-than-white skin is ever going to get tanned. I gave up trying to achieve a natural glow a long time ago. The best I can ever hope to achieve is a lobster red fading straight back to pale white. It’s just not going to happen for me.

So to the bottle I go, spending a fortune each year in fake tans, moisturisers and mits. But not all the time, sometimes I go au naturelle and let my inner pale skin shine out. I was inspired when watching Crime drama the other day and saw this gorgeous girlie.

Actress Molly C Quinn has the most stunning pale skin, it looks like clotted cream. But she’s not the only one…

So, let’s embrace the pale and let our inner pearliness shine out. Here are my five top tips to looking after your pale skin.

Water

Yes, I know I’ve made this point before, but you can start working from the inside out. Stick to your two – or more – litres a day and it will make all the difference to you skin. Lighten, brighten and certainly lessen the blemishes.

Scrub scrub

She might not be quite as pale as some of us but there is no doubting that Holly Willoughby has gorgeous skin and she swears by a good skin scrub. She’s not wrong. Exfoliation once or twice a week will get rid of dull, dead skin cells so  you skin will look much brighter. A regular scrub unclogs pores and leaves skin more open to moisturiser, it also gets rid of those annoying little bumps you can get on the back of your arms. You can use a scrub, mitt, loofah or even make your own. A top tip though, don’t do it too often or you might strip your skin of its natural oils. Once or twice a week is enough.

Wear high factor all year round

Again, another point I’ve made before but us pasty beauties are much, much more at risky to sun damage to our skin than the tanned types. Until I started slapping on sun cream on a regular basis I would end up with a red patch on my chest from sun damage and it would take months to go away.  It’s really worth going overboard with the suncare to make sure your skin retains its pearly whiteness.

Conceal and Blush

I’m all for letting your skin’s natural beauty shine through but from experience I think the paler your skin, the easier it is to see blemishes. Unless you have made a deal with the devil then you’re going to have the odd off day. Spots, dry patches and dark circles are, I’m sorry to say, all facts of life. I like to illuminate as well as hide so I opt for products like Bourjois Radiance Reveal or the range of concealers from Benefit.

On the flip side, there is absolutely nothing wrong with adding a little colour to your cheeks. Embrace the pale yes, but there’s no need to look like a corpse! I tend to go for pale pinks and peaches for blushers. I find the darker colours and bronzers ar too strong or just look odd.

Colour

What you wear can have a surprising effect on the appearance of your skin. There is no one-for-all cure for this as everyone is different. You might have pale skin but you could have dark hair or be pale blonde like me. There are plenty of places to get your colours ‘done’ but if you’re not sure try this: Hold the colour next to your face in the mirror, close your eyes for a moment and pay attention to the way you look. Close your eyes again, take the colour away and open eyes again. You should be able to tell if the colour makes your skin look better or worse.