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subscribe to beauty blog via RSSDrugstore Discovery Of The Week
May 8, 2009 4:07 pm
I recently had to get a few passport pictures taken, and after finally coming to terms with the fact that there was never going to be a day when I was feeling particularly photogenic, I stopped putting it off and went to the closest place I could find. That place turned out to be a bodega/dollar store/”legally acquired” electronics purveyor near my house, where a Bluetooth-wearing cashier/receptionist/photographer took two (very unfortunate) pictures and then told me to wait 15 minutes while they developed. And so, I occupied myself in the beauty aisle, which was littered with celebrity fragrance offerings from J. Lo and Paris Hilton, as well as older standbys that you can’t find at, um, more legitimate retailers. Among this treasure trove were $1 tins of Nivea—the white cream that served as my gateway moisturizer long before I discovered St. Ives, Lac-hydrin, and later La Mer. It has a ton of paraffin in it, which might be a deal breaker for more green-leaning types, but the German brand was huge in my house in the eighties and remains equally big today, albeit in its upgraded packaging, for its thick, mother-of-all-moisturizers formula. There’s something about the old-school tin, though, with its soft, nostalgic scent, that will forever remind me of my mother slathering it on my chalky legs as I squirmed, telling me that one day, I would care enough about smooth, hydrated skin that I would do it myself (touché, Mom—and Happy Mother’s Day).
tags: La Mer, Lac-hydrin, Nivea, Skincare, St. Ives
