Sunburnt mum left 'looking like drumstick lolly' after too long reading in garden

A mum who loves reading was left looking like a 'Drumstick lolly' after she got sunburnt while engrossed in a book in her garden. Drew Butler-Browne, 41, had been wearing a wide-brimmed hat from Primark.

But the hat did not cover her whole face and she forgot to apply any sunscreen. After spending two hours in the sun last Sunday (June 2), she looked in the mirror and thought 'oh s**t'.

The hilarious photo shows the lower half of her face bright red, while her usually pale complexion remained from the cheekbones upwards. She believes the hat did an excellent job at shielding her upper face, albeit embarrassingly.

Drew's husband Chris, 42, and their two children Xander, 10, and Soren, six, found her sunburn mishap amusing and giggled all night. The funeral director even had to use extra makeup to cover the line so it wouldn't be noticed during funerals last week.

She shared the unfortunate picture on Facebook last Tuesday (June 3), where it has since received more than 43,000 reactions and nearly 2,000 comments. The mum-of-two admitted she didn't realise she could get sunburnt in the mild weather, especially as she was wearing jeans and a jumper to keep warm at the time.

Drew, from Stratford-upon-Avon, West Midlands, said: "When I went upstairs to look in the mirror, I thought 'oh s**t'. I looked like a Drumstick lolly or a human thermometer.

"I had a perfect line across my face of bright red then my usual white colour. It's the line that's the hilarious bit and it's like I had a piece of paper over my face.

"My husband and the kids were like: 'what the hell have you done?' They could hardly look at me for the rest of the night because I could see them side-eying me and chuckling. My first thought was that it's a good job I wasn't doing funerals the next day.

"I'd been waiting to read this book for ages so I thought I'd sit in the garden in the hammock. I didn't think it was that hot and I thought I was all covered up.

"I didn't realise so many people would see it but people aren't laughing at you if they're laughing with you and I don't care if people are laughing at me anyway. It is still there but a sweep of makeup takes the edge off the line and nobody's noticed at the funerals."

Drew says she has learned her lesson and has bought SPF face cream to wear this summer and make sure the embarrassing hiccup doesn't happen again. She posted about her bizarre tan line to make people smile and she's pleased it's even opened up a conversation about how best to protect your skin.

The post said: "So I read a book with my hat on today. I can't even look at myself lol." One shopper commented to say: "It's adorable really! Great conversation starter lol," to which Drew replied: "That's the attitude! ".

Another shopper joked: "Now go read with a scarf on the bottom half of your face." A third chimed in with: "Thick book! " - eliciting Drew's response: "Thick brain! " Primark chose not to comment.