Adelaide’s Hondrou Tanning Twins expect to turn over $1m for their online fake tan

With more than half a million followers, these twins are turning their love for fake tan into a $1m empire, all from their dad’s garage.

Fake tan TikTok sister act the Hondrou Twins are set to turn over $1m in the first year of their online product range – all operated from their Adelaide family home’s garage.

Victoria and Jacqui Hondrou, 25, launched their Outer Ego Express Tanning Mousse on TikTok, Instagram and online on March 31, aiming to sell 5000 bottles in six months – but they sold out in just three months.

They have since ordered another 10,000 bottles, which sell for $34.95 each, and will also launch two new Outer Ego products – Glaze Drops and a Contour & Blending Brush – on September 14.

Twin sisters Victoria and Jacqui Hondrou. Picture: Supplied

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“I feel that we can definitely get there (the $1m mark) considering how well we’ve done so far, with just one product,” the sisters said, with Victoria finishing Jacqui’s sentence.

Before that, the twins estimate they made $150,000 last year as influencers, spruiking other companies’ items from clothing to make-up, skincare and hair products.

The Hondrou Twins began posting videos on TikTok in 2020, including one which showed them applying fake tan with nitrile powder-free gloves, rather than absorbent mitts, to waste less tanning product.

“That went viral and then, from that, we decided to review all these tans, give tips and tricks,” Jacqui said.

The sisters expect to turn over about $1m in sales. Picture: Supplied

Victoria and Jacqui Hondrou have about 700,000 social media followers. Picture: Supplied

“TikTok is all about having a niche … ever since then we’re known as the Tanning Twins,” Victoria added.

The duo, who have more than 605,000 followers on TikTok and another 83,000 on Instagram, even have their own “Tanning Thursday” jingle.

Other videos show the twins testing various brands on the market, and how to remove fake tan from hands using hacks with hair conditioner and sugar, or toothpaste.

“Then everyone was like: ‘You have to come out with your own fake tan’. We wanted to make a brand that was all about positivity with fake tan,” Jacqui said.

“We put all of our favourite things that we love about a tan in one bottle.”

The twins both studied medical science, then echocardiology and audiology at university but found it difficult to get student placements in Adelaide. Meanwhile their TikTok work was taking off and soon became full-time.

The Hondrou Twins still live at and run the business from their parents’ Bedford Park home, where they said their father now has to keep his car in the driveway because their products have filled the garage.