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GLOBAL TRADING: APOTHECARIES

LOTIONS, POTIONS AND FAITH | August 14th 2008

Five stores to make you feel (and look) better ...

From INTELLIGENT LIFE MAGAZINE, Summer 2008

MARIE MASON - LOS ANGELES
Marie Mason's blue-and-cream boutique (above) inspires feverish devotion from her Santa Monica clientele, not least for its "fragrance bar", where customised perfumes and body lotions are prepared from a choice of 100 different scents. Expect a tempting mix of local mainstays (look out for Kate Somerville's skin creams) and lesser-known products, such as Diana B's black-fig body scrub. ~ SARA WILSON

225 26th St, Brentwood, Santa Monica, CA; Tel: +1 (310) 394 5710

PATYKA - PARIS
This tiny, gem-like boutique, a stone's throw from the Pompidou Centre, is a rarity in a city dominated by big-name beauty brands. Everything from its geranium-scented body cream to a luxurious night-repair elixir is created using organic plant extracts and whipped up in Patyka's eco-labs in Lyon, without including even a hint of silicone, petroleum or harmful synthetics. ~ SARAH DALLAS

14 rue Rambuteau, 75003 Paris; Tel: +33 (0)1 40 29 49 49

ROSE & CO - YORKSHIRE
Branwell Brontë and his opium habit may be long gone, but Haworth's village druggists (right), high on the wuthering moors, remains. Since 1987 it has been home to Caroline Rose's range of "ointments and embrocations", all made to original recipes tested on the premises, and sold in traditionally styled tin and glass packaging. Carry home a pot of Rose Petal Salve, soothing enough to take the edges off even the roughest Heathcliff. ~ ISABEL LLOYD

84 Main Street, Haworth, West Yorkshire; Tel: + 44 (0)1535 646830

BERBER PHARMACIES - MARRAKECH
Dotted throughout the noisy souks of Marrakech are these havens of calm, lined with bright jars of coloured powders and liquids, which, according to the pharmacy frontmen, will cure just about any complaint you can name--just add a dose of faith. The all-natural beauty products include a dye made of crushed poppies--the perfect red lipstain--and Moroccan rosewater, a delicious, pungent toner. Back home, multi-coloured, crocheted loofhas make striking accessories stacked in a big glass bowl. ~ MARY FELLOWES

Various locations within the souks north of Jemaa El Fna square, Marrakech

C.O. BIGELOW -  NEW YORK
In a relentlessly changing city, this 168-year-old, family-run apothecary (right)--the 19th-century forebear of a chain of stores that started here, in Manhattan's West Village--boasts an atmosphere charming enough to make Norman Rockwell blush. Its wooden shelves are filled with natural remedies, a city-sized range of eclectic beauty products and Bigelow's own line of treatments: the signature lip balm is a bestseller. ~ EMILY BOBROW

414 Avenue of the Americas, NY 10011; Tel: +1 (212) 533 2700

Images: Gerhard Grech, Almay, Getty Images

(Sarah Dallas, deputy multimedia editor of The Economist, edits Global Trading for Intelligent Life. Her last round-up was of the best flea markets around the world.)