Vacation Brought Back Orange Gelée—Just in Time for a Luxe, French-Girl Summer

We’ve all had that one beauty product discontinued by the powers that be. It can feel like the one that got away or an even more intense heartbreak. (I definitely pine for certain liquid eyeliners, red lipsticks, and fragrances from my past instead of any exes!) Imagine if a brand brought back your one truly holy-grail product in a new form. That is precisely what the SPF brand Vacation did with Orange Gelée, a discontinued cult sunscreen product originally by Bain de Soleil, which recently launched as Orange Gelée by Vacation ($23).

But Vacation didn’t just bring back a reimagined version of Orange Gelée—the brand got the OG product's most diehard fans involved in the process every step of the way. Comprising 11 panel members—including longtime fans and modern beauty experts—the Orange Gelée Advisory Board tested formulas and gave input throughout the entire process. Full disclosure: I was hired by Vacation to be its official Orange Gelée reporter and wrote regular updates about the panel’s findings. I truly put on my investigative hat to learn all I could about this beloved orange gel.

For the uninformed, Bain de Soleil’s Orange Gelée was invented in the 1920s when tanning started becoming trendy (some believe Coco Chanel had something to do with that). This was pre-SPF times, so the first iteration of Orange Gelée was a tanning gel that gave skin a glow. By the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s, Orange Gelée had amassed a devoted following that included Tom Ford, Michael Kors, Dorinda Medley, and queen of the beach, Pamela Anderson. It was famous for its catchy commercial jingle and luxury, laying-on-a-yacht-in-Saint-Tropez vibes. Eventually, SPF was added to the formula, but not much. Many of its loyal fans remember using SPF 4. (Yes, four!)

In 2019, Bain De Soleil’s then-parent company, Bayer, announced it was ceasing all production. Once word spread, resellers took advantage of the opportunity to make cash, tempting the diehard fanbase to succumb to ridiculously inflated prices. Old, expired, and decrepit tubes of Orange Gelée (even some that literally look like they’ve been run over by a truck) have sold for $400. Real Sméagol, “My precious!” energy, but I can’t blame them. I once panic-bought eight bottles of my favorite Bath & Body Works coconut lotion when I heard it was discontinued.

“Why, oh, why did they discontinue #baindesoleil orange gel, I’m down to my last tube,” wrote actor, comedian, and national treasure Amy Sedaris on Instagram. It pains me to say it, Ms. Sedaris, but the answer is just an unsexy corporate pivot. According to a statement from Bayer to the New York Post in 2019, it “discontinued the production and sale of Bain de Soleil products due to limited consumer interest.” Later, in 2021, Bayer told Business Insider that the suncare category was “no longer a strategic focus.”

“Our mission is to prevent sun damage and the risk of skin cancer by making sunscreen fun, and products that people will genuinely enjoy using,” explains Dakota Green, founding partner of Vacation Inc. Green says that ever since the brand’s launch in 2021, it's received requests to bring back Orange Gelée. It makes sense, as Vacation is known for using nostalgic themes in its products, like my favorite Dessert Lip Balms to its famous Classic Whip SPF 30, so if any brand could do Orange Gelée justice, it’s this one. “Seeing the fans’ passion for this product—which seemed to reach almost mythical levels—made it clear that making a version of Orange Gelée available to them again would help us further realize that mission,” continued Green.

But many people are afraid of change, even when it comes to a dangerously low SPF level. “By involving the public in this very unique and transparent way, we were, of course, inviting criticism at every stage of the process,” says Green. “We welcomed this feedback, as we know this product is so special to so many people. To our surprise, the topic which became the most divisive, though, was the SPF level.” The brand conducted a survey of 4000+ Orange Gelée fans, with the vast majority requesting a higher SPF level than the traditional SPF 4 rating, and everyone on the panel supported SPF 30, which lined up with Vacation’s own sun safety standards. “When we made the announcement to followers of the Orange Gelée Revival Project, we were bombarded with emails expressing intense disappointment that the SPF level was any higher than factor 4,” says Green. The brand’s response to the complaints was that the decision for SPF 30 stems from Vacation’s mission as a sunscreen company, which is “to protect as many people from sun damage and the risk of skin cancer as possible.”

A major part of Orange Gelée’s allure was its scent, which has been described as spicy, musky, and sophisticated—not your typical sunscreen smell. As we know, the connection between fragrance and memory is a powerful thing, and an especially delicate aspect to consider when you’re creating a new version of a product that so many people hold dear to heart. The brand worked with perfumer Carlos Huber of Arquiste Parfumeur to make the scent, which consists of bergamot, clove, saffron, patchouli, and sandalwood. For many of the panel members, the fragrance was the most important part, and it passed the test. “I know it was difficult getting the fragrance down. Well, you really have nailed that,” said Denise Dion, a panel member and fan of the original Orange Gelée. Jordan Rumsey, another panel member and Orange Gelée newbie, also liked the scent. “This feels very high-end—in a way where you don’t want to spend $1000, but you still want it to feel like you have money. That’s what it feels like,” she said.

Overall, Green says the brand received tremendous support from Orange Gelée fans around the world who missed the product. “It has brought us so much happiness to be able to restore its presence (now with broad spectrum protection!) in their lives,” he said.

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