Celebrity Skin
Not content with simply perfecting the muscle tone of leggy mannequins like Naomi Campbell, Heidi Klum, and James King, the Madison Square Club is now aspiring to perfect their skin. The fitness mecca has just introduced MS2, an all-natural aroma-therapeutic skin-care line, with a signature fragrance of eucalyptus and mint. The handful of products – bath oil ($30), lip balm ($5), and facial moisturizer containing emu oil ($45), all packaged in slick cobalt and bronze jars – will be joined come spring by shampoo, conditioner, hand and body lotion, bath gel, and body wash. No word on whether you’ll get kicked out of the locker room at Crunch if you’ve got them in your gym bag. (Available at Henri Bendel in April or by contacting 212-683-1836 or www.madisonsquareclub.com.)
Herb-an Jungle
If you’ve noticed that those Moonie-like devotees of Chelsea’s new organic megamart Whole Foods have glowing skin and radiant hair, it may not be simply due to all that bulgar wheat they’re consuming. Right next door to Whole Foods is Whole Body, a natural and organic health-and-beauty-products emporium. The wood-paneled and stainless-steel-trimmed aisles are packed with products designed to make you beautiful inside and out, from vitamins and yoga gear to papaya enzyme peels and mint-thyme shower gel. The store will also offer on-site massage and nutritionists and makeup artists. The selection isn’t limited to hard-to-find mom-and-pop lines – Whole Body also stocks popular high-end European products that pass its stringent standards, like Demeter and Dr. Hauschka. (Whole Body; 260 Seventh Avenue, at 25th Street.)
PAIGE HERMAN
Blue Heaven
From the outside, the new blue-and-white-curtained Qiora storefront on Madison Avenue and 54th Street looks like a cross between a Greek isle and a set from a sixties sci-fi flick – and what’s inside is even more cutting-edge. At the front of the store, skin-care and cosmetic products from this Shiseido-owned brand come in bottles meant to resemble trees in a forest or compacts designed to suggest stones in a river. In the back, a limited menu of spa offerings – facials and leg and foot massages – are administered by estheticians dressed in flowing Sleeper-esque robes. The most interesting treatment is the harmonic therapy: Musical tones are delivered through headphones in concert with a vibrational tool applied over the body. “Massage only focuses on soft tissue,” explains one of the store’s therapists. “Harmonic therapy uses the water in our bodies as a conductor through muscle and even bone.” What could be more sci-fi than that? (535 Madison Avenue, at 54th Street; 212-527-9933.)
Editor’s Pick
Opti-Brite Lipsticks
With items like the skin-smoothing Line Up and the lip-plumping Super Duper Lips, Joey New York has earned raves for its user-friendly alternatives to the knives, needles, and toxins that have become the staples of beauty maintenance. Now the company has introduced its first color-cosmetics line, which includes foundation, brow powder, and a combination blush-contour-highlighter compact. Our favorite? Opti-Brite lipsticks. The 22 shades of lip color are infused with “blue botanicals,” including borage, cornflower, and safflower oil, which, the folks at Joey say, brings out the brightness in your teeth – allowing you, at least for a time, to put off those lasers and laminates. (Available at Saks Fifth Avenue, Sephora, and Henri Bendel, or call 800-563-9691.)