Aesop

$ 130 for a basic facial cream. God, that’s some Silver Lake shit, but hey I bet it makes your beards and man buns look and feel really awesome!

I’m extremely loyal to my Downtown Aēsop store, but my first ever visit to the Silver Lake Aēsop boutique — I was just in the neighborhood, Downtown Aēsop, I swear! — showed the same great level of customer service I’m accustomed to at my normal location for expensive Antipodean botanical-​based bath-​and-​body esoterica. Of course, the assistant was one I’d met at the Downtown store, and she was just as lovely in Silver Lake as she ha been on Broadway. And Aēsop is always fantastic in my book. I love the stuff, despite the prices — and I know those prices are painful. But look at the ingredient label of a bottle of Aēsop anything and then look at the ingredients of the «organic» «Earth friendly» anything else. Even Korres, which has a fairly natural, hippyish reputation, reads like an AP Chemistry textbook next to Aēsop. For me to part with $ 50 for a bottle of face cleanser (which I’ve done repeatedly), it better work a damn miracle. Aēsop’s products have helped me with some troublesome skin issues where everything else (including scary prescriptions) has failed. Their products are heavily botanical based (check the labels), with no added fragrance other than the active ingredient botanical oils, and Aēsop isn’t a company masquerading as a chic, bleeding edge brand that’s actually owned by a superconglomerate (see: Le Labo, Frédéric Malle). It’s genuinely independent. I’m a fan, both of Aēsop in general and this store in particular. So go! Buy some $ 27 hand cream! Be fancy! That stuff lasts forever, anyway…

These people really REALLY want to wash your hand!

Stopped by this new shop on my way to the farmer’s market and had a very pleasant experience. I walked in anticipating this place would be similar to LUSH and although it was very different it didn’t disappoint. From what the nice employee explained to me there is a skin care section, body care section, and hair section with all natural products made in Australia. There are a couple of very nice sinks where you are encouraged to test out various products. All the products smell amazing and range from woodsy, floral, to citrus scents. I sampled a body scrub that had pumice in it that smelled heavenly and left my hands feeling so smooth! They also have special wash that can be used on pets! I was super pumped and convinced that I had to walk out of this store with something and although I looked and looked there was not one single price tag in sight which is a great marketing technique, but super annoying in my opinion (minus one star) Anyway I had finally made up my mind that I would either get a hand soap or the dog wash and when I asked the employee what the prices were he said $ 39. Call me a cheap skate but at least not at this point in my life would I consider buying a $ 39 hand soap. (Minus one star) I would rather go to Whole Paycheck and get any equally nice smelling, organic, fair trade, blah, blah blah, etc. hand soap for a fraction of the price. Also, I found it rather odd that a hand soap and a dog wash would be the same price.