We'll
Supply the Smooth Skin; You Provide the Cleavage
As she unabashedly showed at the Oscars, Sophia
Lauren is still a knockout. She may be getting a little
help from the knife, but perhaps she's also privy to skin-care
secrets from her homeland. Now available in the United States,
Erbe Phytocosmetics from Italy are the apothecary's
answer to dry skin and hair. Employing the principles of herbalism
and phytotherapy (healing with plants), Erbe's products are
truly all-natural. $40 is a lot for face cream, but it'll
be hard to go back to cold cream after trying Erbe's purifying
moisturizer with rosemary, propolis and sage. It restores
glow and gets rid of flakiness, and the cooling mint teases
your face with a tingling sensation, adding scent and acting
as an astringent--just the thing to combat the shine of oily
skin. If you want to check out Erbe products in a store, you'll
have to go to Sephora
in Seattle; otherwise, call (800) 432-3723 for information
and orders. (CM)
We
Don't Need No Stinkin' Limes
After a certain bug-eyed dog hawking fast-food tacos
captured the public's affection last year, it was only a
matter of time before other companies hopped on the south-of-the-border
bandwagon. Following successful test runs in Texas and Mexico,
Anheuser Busch uncapped Tequiza beer ($6.58 for six
12-ounce bottles at Fred Meyer) nationwide in mid-February.
Marketed as a cross between tequila and cerveza,
Tequiza is lager beer mixed with lime and nectar from the
blue agave plant, from which tequila is extracted. Because
there is no actual tequila in it, Tequiza
has only a trace of the hard alcohol's distinctive flavor,
and the beverage can be sold in any store that sells beer.
Noting a 34 percent increase in Mexican beer imports from
1997 to 1998, the folks at A-B have taken all that's good
about Corona with lime and made it one product. Yo quiero
convenience, baby. (MM)
None
of Your Beeswax
A product this hippie-friendly could only come from
Eugene. The Merry
Hempsters are indeed from that crunchy town, and their
Vegan Hemp Balm (around $3 at People's Co-op, 3029
SE 21st Ave., 232-9051; and Awear, 120 SW Ankeny St., 224-6292)
one-ups other hempseed-oil versions. Though there's no beef
tallow in your average lip salve, many kisser conditioners
do contain beeswax, an ingredient frowned upon by true vegans,
who avoid animal-derived products of any kind. (Those bees
didn't volunteer for the job, after all.) But even veal
lovers draped in fur could appreciate the pucker-softening
organic hempseed oil, shea butter and calendula-almond oil
extract in this stuff. The yummy flavors (including cocoa,
mint, peppermint, vanilla, anise and spice) leave menthol-y
Carmex and boring, waxy Chapstick in the dust. The tins
are novel and, of course, recyclable. (LB)
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Willamette Week | originally
published March 31,
1999
|
