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 photo via www.leightonmeester.us
 Image via Lafco Maybe it's the bizarre recent announcement that nuns are participating in beauty pageants or something, but it made me think of a line I've been long obsessed with and somehow, fell out of touch with for a minute there, Santa Maria Novella. Now, there's nothing new about it: Monks have been churning this stuff out of a small monastery in Italy for centuries. But it's wholly modern in that the products are simple, effective and gorgeously decadent. 
DRUGSTORE COWGIRL
08.28.2008
BY WENDY
 Image via Eucerin I have in my life one of those cruel O. Henry ironies: I am crazily obsessed with protecting my skin from the sun's damaging rays, but I'm also cursed with the most sensitive skin on the planet. I currently have on my arms and legs the most beautiful case of bright red itchy hives due to the fact that I just took a chance and borrowed someone's sunscreen at a pool party over the weekend. It was a brand that worked for me, but not the same formula ("Sport" rather than "For Babies") wherein lies the tragedy. The worst part is that I had just gotten rid of a raging case of hives on my arms, due to another time when I tried a new sunscreen, one purported to be just the ticket for people with skin issues. It's like a giant kick in the pants, because a sunburn would no longer hurt after a week (although the skin damage would still be lurking beneath the surface), but right now I'm still scratching at my wounds until they bleed and also suffering from super dry patches caused by the subsequent anti-itch hydro cortisone cream. My face, however, is perfect and that's because Eucerin's Every Day Face Protection SPF 30 has never let me down.
SKIN TRADE
08.27.2008
BY PRODUCTFIEND.COM
 Image via Clean & Clear
 Image via Splash Like many of us, I've been trying to keep up with this historic Democratic National Convention, and the ladies are really shining through this year. Michelle Obama's speech was rousing, as was Hillary Clinton's, who proved that her skills as a speech maker and even her ability to endear herself to an audience has grown by leaps and bounds during the course of this campaign. But I also noticed something else: As annoying as comments about how Clinton doesn't seem "maternal" enough and such are, what's even worse is that we are still blatantly scrutinizing the women of Washington on a squirm-inducingly physical level. For example, today on the blogosphere there's as much bodysnarking and chatter about Hillary's--gasp--orange pantsuit as there is commentary on the words she spoke. Last night when she took the podium, my boyfriend, possibly the least sexist man I know, cracked, "Nice highlights!" and I kicked him, but I was ashamed to admit that I found myself noticing how good her skin looked from time to time (Botox? partial lift?). Another object of superficial speculation surrounds her daughter, Chelsea, today--"Doesn't she look so much better?" being the common refrain. That's sweet and all, but honestly, why do we even have to go there? Certainly, no one's talking about Joe Biden's hairdo or Montana governor Brian Schweitzer's bolo tie today.
 Image via Nordstrom The news on the beauty street is that high-end skincare product manufacturer La Prairie is all pleased as punch with themselves because they managed to produce a cream that costs more than the average American makes in a week. For $1,000, a 1.7-ounce jar of their new Cellular Cream Platinum Rare (pre-order here!) is the most expensive skincare offering on the market per ounce, most closely rivaled by La Mer's $1,350 bucket of cream--16.5 ounces--which somehow looks oddly economical by comparison. La Prairie is happy to wax philosophic about how colloidal platinum water mixed with antioxidants (malachite, for one), peptides and moisturizers create a superior age-fighting hydration package, even though some derms claim that precious metal in nano form simply can't be that effective. And speaking of effective, if you're fortunate enough to afford devoting such a large chunk of your budget on skin vanity, wouldn't you want to spend that cash on a likely far more efficacious medi-spa treatment?
You're more than happy to be a bridesmaid. Again. Then the bride asks you to get botox. What would you do? Ellie Rountree gets the skin care scoop. 
 Image via VedaPure I am always a sucker for something that re-creates the effects of a week of juice fasting and yoga, except instantly and without all the effort and stomach growling. That's why I'm living for this VedaPure Detoxifying Body Cream. Here's why it's brilliant. The essential oil blend of green tea, jojoba, witch hazel (!), evening primrose and rosemary extract blend can be applied on both your face and body at night, then rinsed off in the morning shower, supposedly taking the accumulated impurities with it. Oh and I almost forgot the best part: These products, based on Ayurvedic principles and formulated by Johns Hopkins pedigreed pediatrician Natalie Geary, are also all natural, paraben and harsh chemical free. Delish.
DRUGSTORE COWGIRL
08.26.2008
BY WENDY
 Image via Udderly Smooth Despite my cosmopolitan leanings, I actually grew up on a rural farm in the flyover states. I cleaned out stalls and fed livestock and wore boy's boots and had my own horse. I've even had my tiny little arm inside a cow's uterus to turn a calf. As such, I have stored in my little brain the various pharmacology for bovine ailments and can explain to you the process by which you sanitize a cow's teat with an alcohol solution and then plop on the milking machine, a device that looks not unlike a four-pronged penis pump. And I was very happy to transition into high heels, pavement and a lifestyle that does not involve the word "manure." So you must understand that when Udderly SMOOth Udder Cream passed over my desk, I balked at the merging of my past and present, but then persevered in the name of science.
 Image via DianeBrill.com Somehow I missed the phenom that is Dianne Brill. I guess I was too little to notice her back when she was a Warhol "It Girl" about town and mega-fashion muse to Thierry Mugler's '80s couture, but the Brill is kind of a modern-day Mae West. She has a makeup line that's well, um, all about looking sexy (duh), and apparently it's doing so well that she's now expanding into the skincare arena. I haven't tried her new stuff yet--we hear the new Still and Fill line incorporates snake venom to combat irritation (huh?)--but I did manage to dig up this recent video of her swapping beauty spit and wait'll you hear her description of how to kiss. Big whoa, after the jump...
 Image via DDF I went to the beach this weekend with friends, and when we got there, we realized--horror of horrors!!!--we forgot the sunscreen. As hard as it can be to enjoy the glorious surf and sand knowing you're exposing your skin to the baddest of baddies, we managed to have a good time anyway. Still, there are times in this crazy old life when you're not always going to be prepped with sun protection, I get that. Enter DDF's new Discoloration Reversal Pods. The National Cancer Institute is interested in its active ingredient, Pro-NAD (which makes me think of go-NADS, ha), because it contains a form of niacin that may reverse UV damage. This specific formulation contains an exfoliating agent, which helps the good stuff to penetrate more deeply and target hyperpigmentation caused from sun damage. We say, well, it's that time of year when we're starting to regret some of the fun exposure we had this summer.  Image via MichaelJackson.com I really haven't a freakin clue if MJ actually has this or not (my guess is yes, he really does--check out this video), but I do recognize that sometimes it takes a confrontation with a more serious skin issue to put all our bitching and moaning and aging anxiety into perspective. Elana Kelly wears makeup everyday--since she was a small child, in fact--to cover up the lack of pigment caused by her vitiligo, which appears as two white circles around her eyes. And despite the fact that she went so far as to camouflage the areas even as a teenager at slumber parties, she's courageously sharing her story with hundreds of thousands of people in a new Vitiligo Society campaign to raise awareness about the condition.
 Image via Lisa Hoffman
 Image via Saks That's it society, we've officially gone too far. It's sad enough that half of the western world feels the need to plump and re-sculpt, but please, let's not project this onto our purses. Super high-end handbag company Zagliani justifies its crazy high prices by injecting their goods with silicone. Lest you think this is some kind of joke, you can see for yourself in the product descriptions of the bags that are currently being sold at Saks Fifth Avenue. For example, this sporty little Crocodile Puffy Satchel number priced at a demure $11, 800 (why, that's more than I said I'd pay to get rid of my adult acne!) is described thusly: Gentle pleating adds textural interest to this generously sized frame bag, exquisitely crafted of exotic crocodile. Designed by dermatologist Mauro Orietti-Carella, the snakeskin has been injected with silicone for the most buttery-soft, luxurious feel.--Saks
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Product Fiend is a collective of shallow, well-informed freaks who
really believe happiness is found in a jar (or a tube, or an
ampoule...).
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