Paris Hilton may own the trademark to her catchphrase ‘That’s Hot,’ but one place you’ll never find her is baking in the sun. “Since I was a kid, my mom always taught me to stay out of the sun. She said it would destroy my skin. I’m so happy I listened to her,” Hilton, 43, tells Allure over the phone from Los Angeles, shortly before being whisked to the pink-carpet launch party for her new self-tanner with Tan-Luxe. “At the same time, I never wanted to be pale. I’ve been spray tanning since I was a teenager.” She admits to occasionally overdoing it. “Back in the day, there were times when I literally looked orange.”
She’s been on a Goldilocks-like quest of the perfect bottled bronzer ever since. Having found nearly everything on the market too streaky, too smelly, too carrot-colored, or too stain-prone, Hilton has now partnered with Tan-Luxe on The Future Airbrush 360 Self-Tan Mist. The mist, which can be built up for customized shades, aims to combat the dryness often associated with tanning products with hyaluronic acid and vitamin D. The formula also features an original scent created by Hilton—whose billion-dollar fragrance empire just expanded to include her 30th perfume—with notes of cassis, violet, and white leather. The blend, called Pink Sands, is light, sweet, and reminiscent of cotton candy. “Most tanning products don’t smell great, so it was important to me to get that right,” she explains. “People come up and ask me what perfume I’m wearing and I’m like, ‘Oh, it’s my spray tan.’”
In addition to a lab coat, she donned a producer’s hat for the cheeky campaign video. Conceived by Tan-Luxe and Hilton’s 11:11 Media, the ad depicts Hilton summoning two AI versions of herself, the Simple Life Paris Hilton from the early aughts and a futuristic Paris Hilton from the year 2064. With all three looking identically sunkissed and smooth-complexioned, 2064 Hilton assures her present-day counterpart, “The future looks good on you.”
“The idea is that because I spray tan and never go in the sun, I’ll always look like I did 20 years ago,” says Hilton.
She’s equally proud of the product’s no-mess efficiency. “It’s clear and it dries so fast. There’s no walking around sticky trying not to get streaks on anything. Before, I’d have to walk around the house waiting for it to dry and trying not to ruin anything.”