C.O. Bigelow, land of wonders

So this past weekend I went to C.O. Bigelow for the first time ever. It's located in the Copley Place mall, which is convenient to the Copley T Stop and attached to the Prudential Center mall by skywalk. Which feels so incredibly sciency every time I go through it.

Apparently this is also the location of recent nefarious events. Boston Luxury Hotel...they mean the Westin Copley, right?

Oy, anyway, C.O. Bigelow is a lovely apothecary themed chain owned by Limited Brands, and according to its Wikipedia Page it currently has 10 locations open, plus products in numerous nation wide chain stores.

Now, I had encountered products by this brand before at places like Bath and Body Works. The item that immediately comes to mind is the mint rose lip balm which comes in an old school tin and immediately stands out as having the wholesome, traditional, holistic appeal of a 19th century secret apothecary formula. And apparently Bigelow is the oldest apothecary in America still running, so it very well may be.

Anyway, the Boston store is magnificent, not to mention huge. Rooms and rooms of goodies stacked on shelves from floor to ceiling. Fragrances popping out from every which way - the body lotions, the salt scrubs, actual perfumes, reed diffusers, and a host of products you wouldn't immediately think to look for. I walked in to a store relatively devoid of other shoppers, which gave me the two highly knowledgeable sales associates all to myself. I took advantage, demanding that they show me the items they feel are most unique to their store. Something I wouldn't be able to get anywhere else.

The results of my demands were given: a sake bubble bath made of 50% real sake packaged in an authentic sake bottle - at a whopping $80, and Lippman brand nail polish that just won't chip, with music inspired names like "Dark Side of the Moon." I was offended that nothing had been named "Space Oddity."

C.O. Bigelow carries both its store brand, which tends to fall in the higher end of the affordable category. The rest of the brands fell more into splurge territory. But let me tell you - the store brand products are more than luxurious enough to satisfy good ol' Emily, and that's saying something.

The following are two products I have since tried and highly recommend:

Kose - Seikisho Exfoliating Massage Gel


I asked the sales lady for something that would suck the gunk out of my pores like a vacuum. She threw a sample of this stuff in my bag. Holy crap. Kose boasts that its product is filled with Japanese and Chinese herbal extracts and let me tell you, I have become a believer. This stuff is pretty gross when you get it out of the tube - it's like a sticky black tar that you have to rub onto your face - kind of like the squid ink that comes on risotto or pasta. It feels like you're getting a spa treatment just by nature of how freakin' weird this crap feels. This is not your typical face cream.

But it smells pretty nice. And when you get it on and start to rub it in, it heats itself up and gets smoother and smoother. When it turns gray you're done. Rinse.

This stuff made my pores half the size. I highly recommend it. You won't find anything else like it.


Bigelow Chapped Hands Remedy
The reason I went into C.O. Bigelow in the first place, this came highly recommended by a friend. Being a current Boston resident, winter had made my hands dry, cracked, chapped, itchy, red, and ouchied. My friend said I had to get this stuff - 40% glycerin. I did. And boy was she right. A little expensive for hand lotion, but you only need a tiny little squeeze once a day.

My hands went from cracked, chapped and friggin' awful to silky smooth in ONE DAY. They're softer than my face now which is actually kind of disconcerting. But while I had been slathering on giant dollop after giant dollop of regular hand lotion just the tiniest little smidgen of this stuff has operated like a magic potion. In the long run it will probably cut my lotion budget significantly. I have moved on to include it in my regimen for elbows and feet as well.



I also picked up some of the C.O. Bigelow brand shaving cream, which comes in an over sized green toothpaste tube in the men's shaving section. I like it well enough, and it's certainly fun because it's so old school, but I'm not as impressed with it as I am with the other products - though it's certainly not bad. But the two above products have absolutely blown me away whereas this one has just left me satisfied. Bigelow also sells those old school shaving lather brushy doodads, the ones made with real rabbit or badger fur, and this cream is sold more with a good, traditional facial shave in mind. I did not pick up such a brush - they're not cheap - though I was tempted, and have been using my hands to lather my legs in the shower. The stuff is extraordinarily light and airy for a shave gel - not in the way that a moussey gel is light and airy because it isn't aerated like the other stuff. Literally just a cream being squeezed out of a tube - and yet it is strangely reminiscent of marshmallow fluff (DO NOT EAT). A good gift for Dad, I think IF you pick up the brush to go with it.