Doesn't Rhyme With Orange

When Jergens Natural Glow moisturizer made its debut last year, the company hadn't planned on it becoming the must-have beauty product of the year. The lotion, which creates a soft tan after two to three days of use, was so popular it started popping up on E-bay - and the company's Web site set up a waiting list that grew to almost 40,000. The editors of Allure, Lucky, In-Style, People, and Vogue recommended it enthusiastically, and Women's Wear Daily named it "Breakthrough Product of the Year."

Now Jergens is hoping to strike gold again, with its new Natural Glow Face daily moisturizer. The 2.5-ounce tubes, which come in three shades (fair, medium, and medium/tan), went on sale in March. They sell for $6.99 at CVS, Duane Reade, Walgreens, and other major drugstores.

What made the Jergens products so hot was the improvement over traditional self-tanners: Even if Natural Glow is glopped on by unskilled, impatient hands, there are no orange streaks. The tan look grows over the course of several days, rather than hours. And users don't have to worry about palms turning instantly citrus colored (though washing your their hands after applying the lotion is recommended).

A senior brand manager for Jergen's, Brian Rudie, said that the idea behind Natural Glow runs counter to the trend of fast-acting beauty products. "It's a lot more gradual than most of the sunless tanners. They've been going for instant glow, which makes sense," he said. "We're a nation of instant gratification. But we're going against that, to just knock off the winter white."

Mr. Rudie said the particular appeal of the facial moisturizer is that women can use it for more than one step in their beauty routines. Whereas the body moisturizer is two in one - a lotion and self-tanner - the facial cream does more. "The facial moisturizer is three in one, because women are also saying they can wear less makeup," Mr. Rudie said.

Of course, there's one demographic that hasn't fallen for Natural Glow - or at least hasn't admitted it: Men. "I use it!" Mr. Rudie said. "Anecdotally, we sure do hear about men using it." But the company has no plans (yet) to market to men.