Human beings have always had a complex relationship to tanning—from the lead-powdered faces of Elizabethan England, through to the plucked and preened vision of ’80s beachside beauty, to the fake-bake culture of today’s reality TV.

For the final instalment of our Define Beauty series, director James Lees—known for his atmospheric videos for the likes of Bloc Party and Two Door Cinema Club—presents an extreme, infomercial-inspired examination of the beauty phenomenon.