A Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover model and content creator with over 1.3 million followers on Instagram, Ellie Thumann is the example Sunnee BaeSkin girl, said founder and celebrity spray tan artist Isabel Alysa.
Announced Monday, Thumann will be the first official global ambassador and investor for the sunless tanning brand, which launched in 2024 as a more affordable alternative to Alysa’s high-end line, Dolce Glow, praised by the likes of Miley Cyrus, Hailey Bieber, Kylie Jenner and Selena Gomez. Sunee BaeSkin offers a range of hydrating products, from sea sprays to serum drops.
Ellie Thumann for Sunnee BaeSkin, the sunless tanning brand by Isabel Alysa.
“From her love of wellness to beauty, Ellie is all-around the perfect face for Sunnee Bae,” Alysa told WWD over the phone, with Thumann on the line, too.
Alysa started Sunnee BaeSkin for a version of her younger self. Being 17 and in foster care, with barely enough money to spend on food, she recalled wanting to still look and feel amazing. “There was no way that I could afford prestige, elevated sunless tanner,” she said. To that end, accessibility has always been top of mind, and it’s what drove her to create her second sunless tanning line.
Bringing Thumann on as the first global ambassador was an organic integration, Alysa said. At 23 years old, the beauty and fashion influencer is a role model for Gen Z, not to mention an avid user of both Dolce Glow and Sunnee Bae. “I’ve tried every kind of spray tan, self tan, everything, and I’ve had every different smell and color, and my mom always jokes she has the nose for it more than anyone. She knows immediately if I have self-tan, and this was the first brand along the cycle that did not have that smell; it looked very natural on me, and I was always really attracted to that,” Thumann said.
Sunnee BaeSkin self-tan products, from sea sprays to serum drops.
Indeed, Thumann has been an ambassador and accepted brand partnerships countless times, but when it came to Sunnee BaeSkin, she wanted more, or as Alysa would say, “She wanted meat in the game.” Why? Because Thumann believes in the brand. “I really believe in the products, and I also believe that this brand has something super unique going for it. I think their team and everything about them really aligns with me,” she said.
This new partnership will see Thumann bring the Sunnee BaeSkin products to life, sharing more about how she factors the products into her self-care at a series of meet-and-greets held at Ulta Beauty. Together, Thumann and Alysa will also continue Sunnee BaeSkin’s beach preservation efforts through organized clean-ups and monetary donations.
“We didn’t want this to be a financial, quick payout,” Alysa said of Thumann’s involvement in the brand. “We wanted it to be a long-term relationship.”