As amazing as it sounds now, the South of France began the sunkissed revolution
It may be the home of chic, but the South of France also began the obsession with faking a colour...
Teetering on the edge of a yacht in the tranquil harbour of Villefranche, Marissa Carter is finally telling us why we’ve been brought to the South of France. Not that we were complaining, mind. Marissa has just launched the latest addition to her Cocoa Brown collection, the one-hour tan mousse in an extra dark shade, which makes it easier to achieve a darker tone without being left with an orange tint.
So why the French Riviera? Well, as Marissa tells us, fashion designer Coco Chanel visited the area in the 1920s and suffered accidental sunburn. When she arrived home, fans craved to mimic her suntan and tried to adopt darker tones themselves.
Around the same time, Parisians fell in love with singer Josephine Baker, the first person of African descent to become a world-famous entertainer and star in a major film, 1934’s Zouzou. Josephine was also a good friend of Grace Kelly, who was regularly seen outdoors walking and enjoying the sunshine.
As a result of all three fashion icons, dark skin became perceived as fashionable, healthy – and covetable.
In 1927 Jean Patou saw a niche in the market linked to the new fad of tanned skin and launched Huile de Chaldee, a deep oil so pigmented that it gave a suntan-like glow when applied to skin.
Some 90 years later and Dubliner Marissa is keeping the trend alive. With almost 10,000 stockists worldwide, a bottle of Cocoa Brown is now sold every 15 seconds. Due to the Irish obsession with having a tan but being unable to maintain one due to our weather and natural skin tone – and, of course, the continued education of skin cancer risks – many of those bottles are sold here. As I sit in a bikini on the deck of a yacht in the water off the coast of Villefranche, surrounded by some of Ireland’s top beauty experts, we’re all glad that we were given a sneak peek at the product and the chance to try it out ourselves. Putting it on the night before, it glided on easily, the tint making it simple to see where it’s going to ensure it goes on evenly. It also dries very quickly so there’s no hanging around waiting for it to soak in, nor is there a strong smell from it, so no complaining from anybody you have to share a bed with either. The following morning, there were very few marks on my pristine white sheets at The Hermitage Hotel in Monte Carlo – although the
tan takes just one hour to develop so you don’t have to leave it overnight if you don’t have time.
The colour had developed into an incredibly rich hue yet managed to avoid looking overly false – the holy grail of fake tans.
Probably the last thing natives in the South of France expect to see is a yacht filled with tanned Irish women pull into port, but as we disembark back in Monte Carlo, we’re all definitely sporting a Chanel-like glow.
We blend in so well, we’re convinced we could easily pass security at Prince Albert’s Palace of Monaco just a short drive away. Though if the outdoors was good enough for his mother, Princess Grace, to show off her glow, then it’s good enough for us too.
COCOA BROWN 1 Hour Tan Mousse Extra Dark is available nationwide now, price €7.95