If there’s anything I don’t like about summer it's that there's suddenly a requirement to wear shorts. Not that there’s anything wrong with shorts, per se; even I have a soft spot for a particularly shredded pair of denim cutoffs. But no matter the short, they leave me little leeway to mask what has become a rather insurmountable problem: my paper-white, scarred-to-high-heaven legs. Depending on how fastidious I’ve been over the winter with my various sugar scrubs and heavy-weight moisturizers, some years are better than others. I have less patience with the self-tanner route (any advertising claiming a less noxious smell is straight up lying to you). But nothing can completely hide the obvious nicks and dents I’ve acquired over the years.

When I saw a friend instagram a shiny gold tube of Jergens BB Body Perfecting Skin Cream, I was cautiously optimistic. I'd never been compelled to use a BB cream on my face—but legs seemed like they might be a more forgiving canvas. Not that the stuff needs to be applied with caution—unlike your run-of-the-mill self-tanner, the DHA in the BB Cream doesn't streak or threaten the cleanliness of every upholstered surface in proximity. The tan-colored cream blends right into your skin (I've been using the light formula), giving it the slightest glow, plus a subtle shimmer thanks to a few sparkly bits. The improvement is slight, but my legs weren't oily, smelly, or orange, which was a plus. And after a solid week of use (and hoping and wishing and praying), my scabs healed and my scars became distinctly less off-color. Now that my bottle's empty, I'm tempted to pick up a bottle of the darker formula in lieu of a more traditional self-tanner. And a new pair of cutoffs.

—Emily Ferber