Glory Days

There is something magically and frustratingly chic about Britain. Brits always seem to have a cool streetwise sense of beauty and fashion that simply doesn't transfer over to the US. Maybe it's a lingering sense of inferiority as a former colony, feeling related to a country yet not able to participate fully in their sense of patriotism.

Whatever. I'm a mutt of Eastern European immigrants who came over in 1900. I can't exactly cry "Don't tread on me" with much authenticity.

All the same, there is something about the stuff they have there that just seems better than it is here. Case in point...they totally stole the Bliss lady!!

Marcia Kilgore started Bliss spas in the 1990s and it quickly blossomed into THE spa to visit. Without all the fussy trappings of older spas, it appealed instantly to a younger set and the cheeky (like the witty british slang?) titles of spa treatments and products bolster the hip image.

While Bliss took off, offering a fab catalogue with tons of products and opening spas all over the country, Marcia Kilgore faded into the background of the brand. But recently I read an article about how she was thriving in London and creating a new line of beauty products called Soap & Glory.

Designed to look like tabloid headlines, the names of the products are a riot (i.e. Sexy Mother Pucker Lip Gloss, The Righteous Butter Lotion, and Clean On Me Shower Gel) and it comes in the hottest pink packaging. I got those "new beauty product jitters" for about three seconds until I read that the line would be offered exclusively at Harvey Nichols and Boots stores in the UK and Ireland.

Bollocks.

On my weekly stroll around Georgetown today, I nearly spewed my double tall skim latte all over the Barney's Co-Op. And those salespeople would have been royally pissed about that, major sticks you-know-where on those people. There were those sleek pink tubes! Soap & Glory! In the US of A!

I thought the best thing about the products, besides the hot-ass packaging, was the light scents. I took some big heady whiffs and none of the products made me gag. Sweet. Also, the hand cream was excellent. Perhaps not as intensive as my normal Kiehl's, but it dried completely on contact without any greasiness. Seriously, my next stop was Barnes and Noble and I was able to hold the door open for someone else!

According to the website, Soap & Glory is only being offered in Barney's Co-Op stores here in the States. But check out the merch on the Boots.com website and drool over all the other stuff we can't get over here.

photo courtesy of boots.com.

And yes, I chose a Springsteen title for a reason.