Here's my latest
Deeply Superficial column as it appeared in the (sydney) and the (melbourne) magazines:
Another day, another $400 face cream. The luxury end of the skin care market is so expensive now that when I was checking the price of a 50 ml jar of
Chanel’s quite indulgent
Précision Sublimage Essential Regenerating Cream for this column and discovered that it cost a modest $420, I thought, Wow! That’s almost a bargain!
Consider the big players in the luxury market.
La Prairie’s Skin Caviar Luxe Cream is $560 for 50 ml. (Luxe Eye Lift Cream, $460).
SK-II’s Ultimate Revival Cream from its prestige LXP range is $450.
Lancome’s Secret de Vie Eye Cream will set you back $415. A 60 ml jar of
Crème de la Mer is $440 and the Lifting Serum with Intensifier is $635.
La Crème Parfaite, from legendary Parisian beauty house
Carita, retails at $748 for 50 ml (available through the Crown Spa in Melbourne at crownspa@crowntowers.com.au). And
Estée Lauder’s Re-Nutrive Re-Creation 24-hour system retails for $1320 for the Night Crème and Day Crème together, or $690 for each 50 ml jar.
So when a black lacquer box that housed
Giorgio Armani’s new
Crema Nera moisturiser arrived, call me psychic, but I just knew it would cost the magic $400-plus. (It’s $420 for 50 ml or $460 for the Ritual Coffret, which includes a polished black obsidian stone to massage the melting cream into the skin.) What is essentially different about the Armani product is that it is suitable for all skin types and ages, whereas the other pricey creams mostly target ageing skin, when the need for a more intense treatment to combat dehydration and hormonal balances becomes more essential and, dare I say it, when our insecurities about what we see in the mirror are likely to be more pronounced.
The costs of the products, according to the marketers, reflect the huge investment in science (discoveries which later filter down to the cheaper brands) and, more pertinently, the price of sourcing. For instance, the brief to Estée Lauder’s chief scientist Dr. Daniel Maes when he was formulating Re-Creation was to use “the best of the best.” That includes 74 vital trace minerals, a sea plant extract called
Padma and a mechanism to provide the skin with a more effective way of utilising essential calcium reserves.
What’s more, with many of these products, you don’t just get the ingredients, but a romantic story that makes the cream seem even more precious. Mr. Armani, for instance, has a holiday home on the island of Pantella in the Mediterranean, famous for its thermal mud baths, which heal skin problems. Lying in his mineral bath one day, he wondered if the
obsidian hidden in the volcano, a natural mineral known for its wellness powers and positive energy, could be adapted to a skincare line. With the scientists of L’Oréal on hand, the white powder made from the black stone was harnessed into an unusual solid cream, Crema Nera, which melts when it meets the warmth of the skin.
This is either
gobbledygook or fascinating, depending on what kind of money you’re prepared to spend on your face. When I canvas other women about this, there are some who find it inconceivable to contemplate spending $400 on a small jar. However, I must say, most of these women are younger than forty. After Estée Lauder gave samples of Re-Creation to a group of distinguished Australian women, I spoke to one of them, who loved, loved, the product but was quite shocked when she found out the price. So, she started to make the kind of accounting we all do when we know we’re about to do something which might be considered indulgent. She reckoned she could make the jars last a few months, she could easily spend more on jeans in a year… her face was more important, wasn’t it?
In all honesty, my skin texture is amazing after a few months of using a variety of these products. But if you get frown lines from worrying about how you’re going to pay for them, then that rather destroys the purpose, doesn’t it?
Well, The Woman in the Lobby is finished. Off to the printers. And I've been lobbying around Europe, checking out the best hotel lobbies. Some favourites: the Hotel de Crillon in Paris (great crowd); The Regina, Paris (great slightly seedy ambiance); The George V, Paris (completely OTT filthy rich clientele); The Gresham Palace in Budapest (astonishing restored art nouveau interior, left); and the Pariz in Prague (small, lovely and atmospheric.) Next week, I'm off to Beijing and Shangai to seek Chinese hotel decadence, courtesy of the Shangri-La group. Stay tuned.
