When Jergens Natural Glow Daily Moisturizer launched in the spring last year, a drugstore executive described it as the "hottest thing since Cabbage Patch Dolls." Early waiting lists were estimated at 38,000. It turned up on eBay auction sites selling for 50 percent more than its original $6 or $7. Eventual sales rose to more than $31 million.

The appeal was that with olive and avocado oils, it provided moisturizer. But it also included self-tanning ingredients so that gradually over several days it added color and glow to the skin. It was goodbye to orange streaks. Maybe.

Its success has won it the "Breakthrough Product of the Year" honor from trade journal Women's Wear Daily' s Beauty Biz, a monthly beauty industry magazine. And it already has triggered copycats, the publication says, certain to emerge this spring.