Italian Beauty Discoveries

Bongiorno! I’ve been on an Italian beauty kick since my trip to the spa there last month. France gets all the love in this department but there’s something about the Old Country that speaks to me. Here beauty is the ultimate therapy, a daily ritual not an occasional luxury. No Italian brand does it better than Perlier, who for over 80 years has been creating products derived from the active ingredients of medicinal plants. It’s a timeless approach, looking to nature for what our skin and body needs, but one that many modern beauty companies have tried to replicate with synthetic ingredients. That might be cheaper, but fast beauty doesn’t do nearly as much for your skin or your soul.



In my quest for a good shea cream, I discovered Perlier’s. The benefits of shea butter are astounding for anyone with dry, irritated or aging skin (so, pretty much everyone). I’ve seen shea soothe wind burn and chapped skin, calm redness almost instantly, and restore moisture to dry, flakey skin that hadn’t responded to anything else. Rich in Vitamin A, it’s a natural form of retinol that smoothes fine lines and refines skin tone without any irritation. A game changer. Unfortunately, most so-called shea creams on the market only contain five percent actual shea. They might feel nice but they aren’t concentrated enough to offer much else (seriously, this drives me nuts!). Perlier Shea Butter, however, contains a whopping 99-percent pure shea and is free of parabens. I could practically eat the almond-scented version with a spoon.



Perlier is also known for incorporating honey in its treatments. A natural humectant, honey is wildly hydrating and dewifying. It also smells out of this world. The Imperial Honey Nourishing Body Butter is so silky and nourishing, not greasy at all. Plus, you know I can’t resist that gold packaging! So regal. I also can’t stop reaching for the Honey Lip & Contour Ant-Wrinkle Plumping Serum. The delicate cream is like a mini-facial for lips that leaves them supersoft and rosy without any weird tingling. It’s also an awesome lipstick primer.