Tanning used to be tied to one storyline: beach bodies, summer vacations, glossy limbs stretched across sand. It was a culture shaped by comparison — the darker, the better; the bronzer, the hotter; the glow, the proof that someone had lived their best, sun-drenched life. But lately, something quieter and far more meaningful has been happening. Tanning is shifting from “beach body culture” to “skin-confidence culture.” And Coco & Eve is one of the brands rewriting the script.
What makes this shift so interesting is that it isn’t driven by aesthetics alone. It’s driven by a new understanding of how people want to feel in their own skin. In place of chasing a specific body ideal, they’re chasing comfort, ease, and authenticity. The glow they want is less about performance and more about presence. And that’s exactly where Coco & Eve’s approach lands — inside the everyday rituals of real people who simply want to look like a healthier, more confident version of themselves. Coco & Eve didn’t take the classic tanning-brand approach. Instead of selling aspiration wrapped in palm trees and unrealistic bronzed perfection, they leaned into something softer: Bali-inspired nourishment, playful formulas, and a glow that feels lived-in, not painted on. Their tanning line — from bronzing foams to face drops to feather-light mists — was built less around “going darker” and more around giving people control. The glow becomes customizable, adjustable, wearable. It becomes yours. The brand arrived at a moment when traditional tanning culture was already cracking. Years of UV awareness had pushed people away from sun-worshipping and tanning beds. The idea of “earning” a tan through sun exposure started to feel outdated and, frankly, dangerous. Consumers were questioning why glowing skin had to come with a trade-off — why beauty required burns, peeling, and long-term risks. If tanning was supposed to make someone feel beautiful, then why did it damage the very thing they were trying to celebrate?
Enter the new era: skin-first, health-first, confidence-first. Coco & Eve understood that tanning couldn’t just be about pigment anymore. It had to be about skin condition — hydration, nourishment, radiance. Their formulas are vegan, cruelty-free, and infused with skin-loving ingredients that leave the skin softer than before the tan, not compromised by it. The result is a glow that feels believable, like it belongs to the wearer rather than sitting on top of them. That difference — the feeling of ownership — is what defines the culture shift. Instead of tanning as a performance or a status symbol (“look, I’ve been on vacation”), people are embracing tanning as an extension of self-care. They’re using it the way someone might use a tinted moisturizer or a good pair of jeans: to feel more themselves, to soften the edges of a tired week, to step into the world a little lighter. It’s the emotional glow as much as the physical one. Coco & Eve taps directly into that mood. Their bronzing foams build gradually and evenly, their face drops allow for tiny, precise adjustments, their mists offer a barely-there veil of warmth. It’s tanning for the person who wants to glow without announcing it. Tanning for the person who wants their skin to feel healthy, not coated. Tanning that fits into a routine rather than hijacking one.
What this shift reveals is that tanning has finally become democratic. No plane ticket required. No sunbathing marathons. No performance. From the privacy of a bathroom, anyone can create the version of radiance that feels most like them. Not for a beach body — just for their body. And beneath all of this, something bigger is unfolding: tanning is becoming less about achieving a look and more about reclaiming agency. People aren’t tanning to fit into a cultural mold. They’re tanning to connect with themselves, to enhance what’s already there, to quiet the noise of perfection culture. Coco & Eve didn’t just catch that wave; they helped shape it. Because when tanning stops being about comparison and starts being about confidence, it stops being shallow. It becomes self-expression. It becomes care. It becomes freedom.
Coco & Eve didn’t just give people a safer way to glow — they gave them permission to glow on their own terms. And that small shift, multiplied across millions of people, is what’s transforming tanning from a beauty trend into a cultural reset.
