Links

• Aedes de Venustas - A site based on the Greenwich Village based shop in New York. Selections are for fragrances (for the home, too) as well as for body, bath and skin care. Brands carried are Jurlique, Diptyque, L'Artisan Parfumeur, Côté Bastide, Creed, Etro, Napa Valley Fragrances, Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier, Parfum de Rosine, Ligne St. Barth, Christian Tortu and a number of others. There are other lines that you must call about (such as Aesop and Czech & Speake from the printed catalog) rather than order from the site. Again, from the printed catalog there are, among others, Bois Ciré and Teck & Tonka potpurri in attractive shapes and forms, paper sachets and burning sticks. It's enough to make me want to visit my old home town, walk into the shop and just inhale.
• BeautyHabit - A site with a fairly esoteric selection of products from Germany, France, Japan, England, the Caribbean, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal and Italy as well as the US. We've ordered a number of their products, including the Turquerie wsh mitts (quite a departure from other washcloths!), a solid perfume and baby products for our grandchildren.
  
• Beauty and Scents - Generally, this site carries a more esoteric line of make ups: Alexandra de Markoff, Darphin, Valmont, Orlane and Lancaster are among their list of suppliers. But the familiar are there, too: 4711, Annick Goutal, Cartier, Chanel, Creed, Guerlain, Houbigant, Marilyn Miglin, Worth, Roger and Gallet. Alexander Perfumes is based in La Jolla, California.
  
• BeautyCafe.com - One body product brand on this site contains some useful information about baby care: cornstarch (used in body powders in lieu of talc) can encourage yeast and diaper rash, "tearless shampoos contain numbing agents tearless shampoos contain numbing agents, most baby oil is mineral oil, which can leach moisture, and some baby lotions have been found to contain formaldehydes." All this information was available with a brand carried here called Little Botanicals, which has specially formulated treatments for baby's cradle cap. Some of the fragrances are quite unique, violettes de toulouse for one, Zents for another and my personal favorite, L'Artisan Parfumeur.
  
• Bell'occhio - A San Francisco store that we would visit whenever in that city...now we live nearby and can drop in whenever we want. Mainly stocked with finds from France, the store specializes in beautiful ribbons, candies, teas paper products and other delights. In addition to being one of the few outlets to carry the Officina Profumo Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella line, the shop was one of the first to carry T. LeClerc as well as their own line of body milks and gels: Bell'occhio Beauté. The shop itself evokes a feeling of a separate and yes, very feminine, world.
  
• C.O. Bigelow Chemists Apothecaries - "During the 1977 blackout, recalls my aunt Minna, Bigelow's was one of the only light sources in town. Having fueled up its gas lamps, the store's employees sated passersby, dishing out its supply of rapidly melting ice cream under the hazy glow. Declared an interior landmark by the city that same year, the shop is still outfitted with its original 1838 wood shelving, tiles, and lamps. And the rich and special offerings here are beyond compare like Bigelow's in-house line of perfumed oils, its own Alchemy line of makeup, imported toiletry products from around the world." So reads one of the reviews of this apothecary ... an InStyle review cites the celebrities who visit, but then again, all of us have to shop somewhere, don't we?
  
• BlissWorld - Not only a website but a catalog and NYC stores.
   
• The Body Shop - The familiar beauty and bath products originated by Anita Roddick with a social activist philosophy.
  
• BlueMercury.com - A choice selection of perfume, makeup, skin and hair care products which are, at times, hard to find if you've developed a preference for them: Molton Brown, Eve Lom, Creed, Acqua, Nars, Tocca, Fresh, Red Flower and Paula Dorf, soaps, Diptyque Candles, L'Artisan Parfumeur's candles and travel sizes of many of the products. Bluemercury operates two retail stores under the name of EFX in Washington, DC. 
  
• Caswell-Massey - The original chemists from 1752 with quite marvelous skin and beauty products are on-line in an understated way. In addition to their well known products (cucumber-elder flower cold cream is a favorite of mine) there are some interesting historic 'secrets worth knowing'. 
  
• Caswell-Wood - Londons is a Charlottesville, VA retail store located near Monticello. Products consist of: Gentle Nature, Roger & Gallet, Caswell-Massey, Crabtree & Evelyn, Lotil Cream, Shaving Soaps & Creams, Molton Brown, Molinard, Nickel for Men, Hedgehog Garden Candles, Geo F Trumper and Floris.
  
• ClassyPerfumes - I found this Los Angeles-based site while looking for one of my favorite perfumes (Heliotrope by Etro) and found an enormous number of scents offered here. Prices are discounted (or sale priced) and the choices are too numerous to even begin listing. Originally, the site featured only perfumes but they've added body, skin, makeup and hair care for both men and women. The selections are staggering ... be prepared to spend quite a while here while making your choices. There's a category for men's and women's hard to find fragrances, a miniature collection and testers.
  
• Cherie Boutique Française carries, at least in the fragrance section, a selection of products we've used over the years and returned to. However, we must admit that we hadn't seen the Lip Lingerie line which is packaged and titled just as appealingly as the name suggests. Fragonard, L'Artisan, E. Coudray, L'Occitane, Parfums de Rosine and T. LeClerc are some of the familiar brands carried. This Wayzata, Minnesota boutique also carries many lines not on the website that can be referenced by calling in.
  
• FYI: From Consumers Union Guide to Environmental Labels -"According to the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD), fragrance is the number one cause of allergic reactions in cosmetics. There are over 5000 basic fragrances used in various cosmetic products including perfumes, colognes, skin care products, soaps, shampoos, lipsticks, sunscreens, and lotions. Products labeled as "unscented" can also contain fragrances that are used to cover up the chemical smell of the other ingredients in the product. Preservatives are another example of a common trigger for allergic reactions in cosmetics products. Since manufacturers are allowed to consider fragrances as trade secrets, they are not required to list specific fragrance ingredients on the product. As a result, consumers may not be able to identify the specific cause of an allergic reaction from a cosmetic product."
  
• CosmeticsBusiness - A unified list of cosmetic companies on the web... just that. For Instance, Biersdorf owns both Nivea and la prarie and there are links to those companies on their site.
  
• eBubbles - As its name implies, this site mainly stocks soaps and personal cleaning products from US and international sources. Since I'm long overdue for a spa experience, products such as Body Coffee (which I've enumerated to my husband, a caffeine addict), a Get Fresh Mineral Bath Treatment that has "high concentrations of Dead Sea minerals, salts and clay, blended with lush moisturizing oils of jojoba, kukui nut, and macadamia nut." In case you're not in the mood for the Dead Sea, other soaks include Wild Yam and Primrose which is formulated for "symptoms associated with PMS and menopause."
  
• Kiehl's - Founded in 1851, Kiehls has now found its way into department stores and opened other stand-alone branches in the US and abroad. The original Kiehl Pharmacy, a historical, family-founded company, is located in New York City at the famous "Pear Tree Corner" at 13th Street and 3rd Avenue. Kiehl's has resided in this same location for over 150 years.
  
• L'Occitane - This firm has added lavender-scented products to its line, as have many others, but the founder has an association with the lavender growing area of Provence to perhaps make their addition more authoritative. Olive oil and verbena , fruit and spice fragrances, a Shea butter collection and a skin care line for both men and women are included.
  
• Lush.com - You might think that the most memorable part of using bath products with names like “Back for Breakfast,” ”Blue Skies and Fluffy White Clouds” or “All That Jasmine” would be the names themselves. But what you’ll probably remember about Lush products is their smells. The sweet smell of Honey I Washed the Kids Soap, the spicy smell of Skinny Dip Shower Gel (and the smooth feeling of the cocoa butter and white chocolate in it) or the rose and orange scent of a Bon Bain Bonnard Bath Ballistic. Lush products are handmade with natural ingredients and as few preservatives as possible. Some perishable products can only be purchased in the stores, but nearly everything else is available by mail or online.
  
• Make Me Up - A non-profit Canadian based (but international) site with cosmetic product reviews by volunteer panelists, a system of makeovers and beauty articles (i.e., a day visit to a salon at the Barneys Beverly Hills branch), chat boards etc.  Makeup artist and site co-founder Nancy Wasley: "Make Me Up does not promote any one particular brand all the time. We just state our opinions about certain things, and try to be a very good source for viewers looking for  particular products or sites concerning cosmetics and/or beauty."
  
• Penhaligon's - One of England's most famous toiletries houses began supplying perfumes, toilet waters and pomades to the aristocracy in 1870. One of the scents was Blenheim Bouquet, created for the Duke of Marlborough, and to become a particular favorite of another famous son of that family, Winston Churchill.
  
• RubberDucky.vu - This Miami Beach- based site carries some lines that I haven't tried — like CowGirl — but then I'm not generally seen on a horse; sample or gift packs are one way to try those less familiar products. There's a full line of Burt's Bees men's products, brushes and appealing decorative soaps and that almost forgotten useful implement: the natural sponge. (I can remember ad pages for bathrooms that always had one on the side of the tub.) Burt's Bees is one of the few lines I recall that makes note of "mature skin" in its carrot cremes and we use their cremes for our granddaughter's bottoms. The pedicure and manicure implements are a good idea for those of us who don't have a spa in our future anytime soon.
  
• Sephora - A flagship store for this French firm,  part of a large fashion and beauty conglomerate, is located in Rockefeller Center, NYC.  The site features research products, beauty news, gifts, the ability to book regular "replenishments" of favorite beauty items. Read their articles and receive beauty advice and tips from experts. A large selection of different manufacturers is stocked, some familiar, some not, as well as their own line of products.
  

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