Kiehl's makes the kind of cosmetics that inspire deep loyalties, prompt pilgrimages to the mother ship (aka its 150-plus-year-old flagship store in New York) and leave us wondering, "What else can we buy?" Their ingredients are of excellent quality, their packaging is pleasantly low-key, and their products cost enough that you feel as if you've purchased something great.
Now there's good news for Kiehl's devotees -- the company recently introduced a new anti-aging cream that's said to have inspired waiting lists in Los Angeles, New York and Miami.
The cream is named for a "survival molecule" that reportedly comes from the bottom of the ocean. Mixed with soy and wheat proteins, Abyssine works to protect and defend skin from aging properties by minimizing fine lines and wrinkles to smooth out the appearance and give a radiant look.
Kiehl's Abyssine Cream costs $38 and is available at www.kiehls.com and at Nordstrom stores in Towson and Columbia.
Flair for hair
Dyeing one's hair is a rite of passage. No, we're not talking about Grecian Formula, hair in a can or Hair Club for Men. What we're talking about here is the kind of hair coloring that goes on among middle school students who yearn to look like cool punk rockers but instead just end up with crazy-colored, badly-dyed, Halloween-worthy hair that just looks kind of lame.
Take a stand, young rockers, and discover hair color that's bright, wild and temporary. Streekers isn't a mascara, crayon or paint. It's a brush-on hair color that one puts on with a sponge-tip applicator and removes with a simple shampoo. It comes in eight colors, ranging from red and orange to purple, blue and ultraviolet.
Streekers costs $8.95 and is available at www.streekers.com.
The scent of youth
The mere mention of middle school and beauty products reminds us of watermelon lip gloss and baby-powder-scented body splash. Ah, wasn't it nice to smell so delicious?
Regain the feeling with a new set of fragrances brought to you by Chupa Chups, makers of the lollipops favored by Madonna and Britney that come in flavors like super-sour cherry and diet cola.
The company's "I Love Me" perfumes come in three flavors / scents: Pop Vinyl is a floral fragrance dusted with cassis and vanilla. Night Fever is a fruity fragrance with tangerine, apricot and peach. And Soul Shine is a combination of pineapple, mandarin and violet.
Chupa Chups perfume costs $30 and is available at JC Penney stores.
Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate
No discussion of delicious fragrances would be complete without someone mentioning chocolate. Short of putting chocolate chips in face cream, we had no idea how we could put chocolate into our beauty routine.
Thank goodness for philosophy's chocolate lovers cookbook -- three tasty products for the shower that work as shampoo, conditioner and shower gels. Start the shower off with a slather of White Chocolate Hazelnut Cake, move on to a slug of Chocolate Cream Coffee and finish it up with a few sips of cafe au lait. The gels smell delicious but are calorie free. If only we could say the same about Oreos.
Philosophy chocolate shower gels come as a group of three 8-ounce bottles and cost $30.
The set is available at www.sephora.com or, for a store near you, call 800-568-3151.