For many of us, tanning oil feels, smells, and is marketed towards nostalgia. It brings me right back to high school. On a hot summer day, between nannying jobs and soccer camp, we would convene at a house with a pool in the backyard. Before laying out on chairs draped with terry cloth towels, a few friends would coat themselves in tanning oil or baby oil in an effort to draw in the sun so their skin would burn and then create a darker tan. It worked, too: Come September, they were fried.