Little House of La Prairie

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When the folks at La Prairie e-mailed and asked us if we'd like to come by their spa at the Beverly Hills Hotel and learn about all their spring 2010 products and new facial through first-hand experience, we said, "Where have you been all our lives?"

We joined other editors in the relaxation lounge of the spa to munch on chocolate covered strawberries and—appropriately—caviar while learning the latest. First off, there's the White Caviar Illuminating Collection, which is pretty much targeted to people who think Creme de la Mer is cheap crap. The White Caviar cream is $450 a jar, and is created to brighten and detox your skin, specifically targeting age and sun spots. And there's also an Illuminating Serum ($450) and Eye Serum ($250), all of which contain actual golden caviar extracts, Vitamin C, and other fancy-schmancy ingredients like white truffles, white honey, white tea and a white flower complex of jasmine, lotus and ginseng. We see a trend here.

We also learned about the new must-have facial from the swanky, crawling-with-celebrities spa. Although the price tag on the creams and products might make you think they come with a little elf that pops out and applies it all for you, the intimate La Prairie spa offers a full menu of treatments ranging from standard fare to extravagant indulgences. This season it's all about the Platinum Rare Facial, a $400 experience that features products from the Platinum Collection and requires two staffers to complete. The whole treatment lasts 90 minutes, with one esthetician performing the facial while a therapist exfoliates and massages your hands and feet.

But if $400 facials and $450 facial creams aren't your wallet's cup of tea, check out La Prairie's surprisingly more affordable makeup. Debuting in May, the spring/summer Whisper Shades Collection contains six lipsticks ($55 each), six lipglosses ($40 each), a face powder ($60) and an eye palette ($70). The lip colors are creamy, firming formulas in shades of pink, rose, coral, and nude. The face powder contains silk powder, soybean oil and aloe leaf juice to illuminate the skin. And the eye palette contains four eye shadows in ivory, lilac, gold and grass green with a black powder that can also be used as a liquid liner. Overall, this is a classy collection with wearable shades and impressive ingredients that's going to easily complement this season's neutral clothes and accessories. And it's got a way lower price tag and faster return value than an expensive facial or moisturizer, which takes 6 to 8 weeks before you can notice a difference.

But if you have $450 lying around, we totally recommend the awesome moisturizer. Or buying us dinner. For a week.
· La Prairie [Official Site]
· Beverly Hills Hotel Spa [Official site]