Meet Jimmy Jimmy Coco, Spray Tanner to Ariana Grande and the Victoria's Secret Angels
Me and Jimmy Jimmy Coco before getting my spray tan on.
Before heading to London for the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, I spent a week on vacation in the Mediterranean. Needless to say, I expected to greet the angels with a nice glow. But it rained, and I arrived in the United Kingdom with my typical complexion: pale. I needed to fake it. Luckily, I was in England for one of the most naked events of the year and there was no shortage of spray tanners at my disposal. If I was going to do it, I had to do it right—and there’s no one better than Jimmy Jimmy Coco.
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His given name is Jim Snyder, but that's far too bland for his line of work, so Jimmy Jimmy Coco got his moniker from the song “Shimmy Shimmy Ko Ko Bop.” People regularly mishear the lyrics as “Jimmy Jimmy cocoa puff” and to make his clients more comfortable he would regularly dance to the catchy song and the nickname eventually stuck. His skin appears about five times darker than what’s lying underneath and he greets everyone with big, welcoming bear hugs.
I’ve never gotten a spray tan, but I was ready to take off all of my clothes. He says, “[My] number one rule for the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show is no tan lines." The insta-BFF aspect of his personality is one of the many reasons he has developed such an extensive roster of celebrity clients. Coco started his business, Rock the Tan, the first mobile spray tanning company in the country, by catering to body builders and others wanting to look a bit more buff. He initially recruited customers by befriending a concierge at a hotel in Hollywood who would refer guests looking for a spray tan to him. He would pack up his camping tent and tote it directly into their rooms with all his tools of the trade.
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About nine years ago, Miranda Kerr was staying at the hotel Coco frequented for the Victoria’s Secret show and he boldly offered her a free tan. His work went over so well that she referred her friends. “She insisted on paying, but I told her no because I knew it would pay off in the end,” he said. It worked, and many of the models made sure to see Coco before hitting the runway that year.
Since that first year, Coco's traveled to every show with the Angels and given them their signature glow (with a bit of glitter mixed in). "It's just such an honor each year to be asked back,” he says. And the Angels aren’t the only ones who depend on Coco for that just-back-from-St. Barths look. He currently travels with Ariana Grande, and has given Victoria Beckham, Heidi Klum, Naya Rivera, the Kardashian Sisters, Jennifer Garner, and more a temporarily darker complexion. “I love my job. It’s like I don’t even work,” he said. “Someone once said that Russell James has the best job in the world, but I think I do. I mean he sees them all dolled up with the hair and makeup but hey I am up close, I’m personal and I literally get kisses and love and the big smiles.”
If you can't take him with you, Coco says there are three steps to getting a perfect spray tan: prep, tan, maintain. Prep involves removing all makeup and applying moisturizer to dry skin areas because the solution tends to condense more in those spots. I stand in his custom designed tent and follow his directions: hands up, hands down, leg out, leg in.
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He gave me abs where I don’t really have them, bulging triceps where skin kind of sags, and an overall luminosity that gave me a little extra swag. Those in on the fact that I was getting the Jimmy Jimmy Coco treatment were impressed by how different I looked. And for those that were none the wiser, I got comments that I looked great in that tone that kind of implies that I usually don’t. Coco told me, “You’re going to look like a Victoria’s Secret model once we’re done.” You better believe it.
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