It all began with 1,000 bars of triple-milled, vegetable-based, single-note-scented soaps that were handcrafted in southern France.
Alix Strauss
Brushwork
Makeup brushes have long been underappreciated. Often used incorrectly, the brush has an ongoing relationship with its makeup counterparts and the faces they inhabit.
Camera-Ready Cosmetics
Snap. An image is captured—whether you wanted it to be or not. These days, it seems almost impossible to take a breath without someone photographing it, uploading it, and sharing it with others across the cyber-abyss.
Bite Beauty
“I’ve always had a great lipstick. My first was a classic Dior—it was a beautiful matte red,” says Susanne Langmuir, founder and CEO of Toronto-based lipstick company Bite Beauty. Headquartered on Geary Avenue in Toronto, the two-and-a-half-year-old company’s focus is lips—healthy ones.
La Prairie
If a drop is all it takes to discover La Prairie’s best-kept secret, then one glance is all you need to recognize the highly coveted collection of caviar products housed within the signature silver and cobalt packaging. The world-renowned Swiss beauty brand is a true pioneer in studying the way we age and trying to cease that process.
Moroccanoil Magic
Carmen Tal enters effortlessly through the swinging doors of her midtown New York office at 57th Street and Lexington Avenue—sleek decor in white, sand, and earthy tones—with her shiny, healthy, chestnut-brown hair swinging behind her. One almost expects to see a camera crew appear next, or perhaps you’d think she’s on the set of a hair commercial, and in many ways she is.
The Institute Spa in Manhattan
Hungarian-born Dr. Erno Laszlo was a medical doctor of many firsts—the first celebrity dermatologist, the first doctor to create his own medically based skin-care line, and the first to cater to the who’s who of old Hollywood.
Nars Andy Warhol Collection
If, as iconic pop artist Andy Warhol said, everyone is famous for 15 minutes, then he’d be pleased to know that the makeup line François Nars has created to honour the 25th anniversary of his death will last longer than that.
David Rockwell
Renowned architect and designer David Rockwell is a man of many, many talents. With projects ranging from restaurants, Broadway shows, and hotels to airport terminals and museums, he has an uncanny ability to create immersive and compelling spaces that are as dynamic as his personality.
The Pure Life of Costa Rica
Over the last few years, Costa Rica, in particular Papagayo, has become one of the most talked-about places to visit in Central and Latin America. Hotels like the Four Seasons, the Ritz-Carlton and the Mandarin Oriental—not to mention a handful of other high-enders, plus condos, residential villas and smaller hotels—just can’t be built quickly enough.
Island Shopping
FROM THE ARCHIVE: Perhaps it was Marlon Brando who popularized the notion of owning an island when he purchased one after filming Mutiny on the Bounty in the 1960s. And in 1963, Aristotle Onassis bought a private island, Skorpios, in the Ionian Sea.
Viggo Mortensen on His Acting Career and Foray Into Publishing
FROM THE ARCHIVE: Tom Kundig’s palette tends toward raw concrete and shaped metal plate, not the woodsy, post-and-beamy version of “Northwest architecture.”
