Consuming Beauty

L'Oreal has some new lipsticks in cases embossed with signatures of attractive celebrities, lending them a touch of glamour.

By EVA BEN-DAVID
loreal lipstick 88 (photo credit: )
loreal lipstick 88
(photo credit: )
There's definitely a tendency nowadays to enrich facial creams with minerals that are good for you when taken as vitamin supplements and which, when added to a cream, are supposedly absorbed by your skin. Garnier has joined the ranks with its Nutritionist creams, containing omega-3 and -6 fatty acids and magnesium. The Nutritionist night cream smells a bit of green tea, even though this ingredient is not mentioned on the box; it has a light green color as well. The cream has a nice texture and is easily absorbed. It's hard to say if my skin is better nourished now with all these natural ingredients, but it sure feels more pleasant. The price for the cream is right too: NIS 125 for a 50 ml. jar; also available are Nutritionist day cream (NIS 125), and Nutritionist eye cream (NIS 120 for 15 ml.). A friend with big, curly hair that certainly needs lots of treatments liked the K rastase Nutritive Gluco-Active Nutrid fense hair mask. The mask is especially suitable for dry hair and protects it against damaging influences. My friend reported her hair felt soft and light after use of the mask. After shampooing, you need to apply the mask and leave it in for a few minutes. The treatment can be done once a week. A 200 ml. jar, available at selected hair salons, is NIS 180. L'Oreal has some new lipsticks in cases embossed with signatures of attractive celebrities, lending them a touch of glamour. The list includes, Pen lope Cruz (red), Milla Jovovich (purple, or actually more of a dark pink), Laetitia Casta (pink) and Scarlett Johansson (pink), and in what I guess is a concession to more mature consumers, Jane Fonda (a kind of blend beige-pink). The lipsticks feel smooth and moisturizing and stay on for a fair amount of time; the price for the Star Secrets lipsticks is NIS 90. Stella McCartney, the talented designer daughter of ex-Beatle Paul, is launching a new branded perfume, called Stella in Two. These are actually two different fragrances that complement each other and can be worn together or separately. The Stella in Two Peony is a light, flowery eau de toilette, which smells of roses. It comes in a square bottle, which opens by pulling off the top right corner. This fragrance is refreshing and certainly not overbearing, making it good for everyday wear. The Stella in Two Amber is a concentrated perfume with a wax-like texture. It is supposedly more suitable for winter weather, and comes in a small box that you can carry around in your purse. A 25 ml. bottle of Peony eau de toilette is NIS 256, 50 ml. is NIS 372 and 75 ml. NIS 455; the Amber solid perfume is NIS 242 for 10 gr. Herbal Care Professional is a locally-produced shampoo and conditioner supposedly suitable for the dry Israeli climate, containing plant extracts that help your hair look shiny and keep it healthy. The shampoo and conditioner have a pleasant but subtle smell, ideal for those who don't like the strong fragrance left by some other shampoos on the market. After shampooing, your hair feels manageable; too bad the bottles are a bit too inflexible and it sometimes is hard to squeeze the product out. The Herbal Care products are available at selected hair salons only - call (03) 941-2658 to find out where - and are on the pricy side: A 250 ml. bottle is NIS 38. Sabon shel Pa'am now offers a series of cosmetic products for men, packaged in its trademark old-fashioned-looking bottles and tubes. The Gentlemen series contains a cleanser, shaving cream, a shower oil and an after-shave face cream enriched with white tea extracts, aloe vera and chamomile. My husband, whose thick stubble makes shaving a less-than-pleasant experience, reported back that the Sabon shel Pa'am after-shave cream left his face feeling refreshed after his morning's struggle with the razor. A 150 ml. tube is NIS 88.