“Golden hour beauty, for me, is about sea, sex and sun; whatever it is, it should always be easy to wear,” Francisco Costa tells me as we dive into the uncomplicated appeal of a 24/7 glow. After years as creative director of Calvin Klein womenswear, the Brazilian-born, New York-based founder of Costa Brazil understands the importance of ease in modern glamor. He points to Sol Sunlight Body Oil, one of the newest additions to his luxurious (and environmentally-responsible) beauty line, as an example. “Sol is all about the energy of the day and the warmth of summer,” he says. “It has that romantic quality of hanging onto your tan,” highlighting the skin without glitter. “It almost disappears into the skin,” Costa promises. “It’s not flashy.”  

A little glitz can help, though. “Who wants cold, fluorescent lighting on the skin when you can mimic a soft, incandescent, sunkissed glow?” asks RMS beauty founder and makeup artist Rose-Marie Swift. She notes that for all tones, “One of the most flattering colors on the skin is rose gold,” which mimics the luminosity of those golden hour rays in any setting. Swift likes it in the light-reflecting formula of RMS Master Radiance Base, which can be applied like a cream before makeup or spot-checked as a dewy highlighter. It’s customizable, like the flattering tan delivered by Tan-Luxe founder Marc Elrick’s just-launched The Body & The Face Illuminating Self-Tan Drops which doubles as skincare. “It combines superfood ingredients like raspberry seed oil, aloe, and vitamin E with a gradual self-tanner,” he explains. It’s a logical dare to dip back into a head-to-toe faux glow (at last!).   

 

Here, 9 VIOLET CODE APPROVED ways to cheat the light and make every hour golden.