After a months-long effort, Vacation Inc. has released Orange Gelée SPF 30 Sunscreen Gel—a revival of a famous, but discontinued Bain de Soleil sun tanning product. The gel—which traces its history back over a century— had fans around the world before it was put out to pasture in 2019.

Vacation, based in Miami, dubbed the process to bring the formula back to life as the “Orange Gelée Revival Project.” The company says it was a joint initiative that included Vacation staffers and an advisory panel comprised of diehard fans and beauty experts.

Vacation, which calls itself a “leisure enhancing” sunscreen company,  contends the new iteration maintains the heart of the original formula—mainly the scent, feel, look and performance.

Throughout the development process, the fans who served on the panel represented the “desires of Orange Gelée fans worldwide,” according to Vacation. The devotees weighed in on the scent, feel, color, design and even marketing plans.

One of the Orange Gelée loyalists, in fact, was rather adamant that Vacation maintained a key elements of the original formula.

That panelist reportedly remarked: “If the scent isn’t close to the original, I wouldn't buy it.”

The Original

Initially launched in France in the 1920s, Orange Gelée became a mainstay of beach culture in the 1970s through to the 1990s. It was  well-recognized for its orange hued balm-to-oil formula and a scent that many fans felt transported them to sun-soaked beaches in St. Tropez—even when they were stuck on the Jersey shore.

The Bain De Soleil brand bounced around in the late 1980s and 90s. After it was acquired by Procter & Gamble in the 1980s, P&G offloaded it to Pfizer in 1995. 

It was eventually scrapped by Bayer in 2019.

Fanatics were upset. 

James Fallacaro, who resides in Staten Island, NY, created a Change.org petition in June 2020 that asked Bayer reinstate production. It has garnered more than 11,000 signatures.

What’s more, secondhand products were selling for hundreds of dollars online.  A quick search on March 27, 2024 found an unopened Classic Formula Bain de Soleil Orange Gelee SPF 4 without a box but from a “smoke and pet free home” for $307 and another Bain De Soleil Orange Gelée Tanning Gel that the seller said was  “70% full” for $663, both on Mercari. Another was posted on Poshmark for $550.

The Revival

Vacation set out to keep three key elements intact—– the look, feel, and scent – but build a formula to meet current standards. For example, mineral oil, petrolatum and paraffin were eliminated from the formula. Most importantly, Vacation added broad spectrum SPF 30; the original iteration was in the single digits.

The scent was recreated in partnership with Carlos Huber of Arquiste Parfumeur, along with Givaudan perfumers

The launch of Orange Gelée comes just weeks after Vacation announced that its suncare products had been picked up by Target. The mass market retailer now stocks the company’s Classic Lotion SPF 50, Classic Spray SPF 50, Classic Whip SPF 30 and. the uniquely named Chardonnay Oil SPF 30 at select doors and online.

Vacation, which  has been sharing updates on the Orange Gelée project with fans through regular blog posts and newsletters, accumulated a wait list of 15,000 people interested in buying the product. 

Today, they have access to their favorite once again.