Luxury skincare brand La Prairie took a different tack when it recently introduced its Skin Caviar Remastered collection. Instead of the usual cocktail launch, it tapped chef and restaurateur Margarita Forés to come up with a three-course luncheon menu that incorporated or highlighted caviar as the star ingredient.
Aside from whipping up several appetizers that were passed around before lunch, Forés prepared an orange bisque flavored with the crushed heads of sweet river prawns from Bulacan, and topped with caviar.
This was followed by US Wagyu with sides of mushrooms and palm heart, and Oscietra Imperial caviar.
Dessert was a salted egg mascarpone sphere with a pillowy charcoal “sea sponge.”
Exclusive menus
“We’ve also done something similar in other countries in the region for the launch of Skin Caviar Remastered,” said Niki Yuri Ng, La Prairie’s general manager of distributor markets in Asia. “We worked with prominent chefs who came up with exclusive menus for a selected group of lifestyle media.”
Forés described creating her menu as a challenge. “Caviar is one of my most favorite ingredients to work with,” she said.
A series of private dinners to mark the launch of Skin Remastered is scheduled to be held till November in Beverly Hills, San Francisco, Vancouver, Houston, Boston, Toronto, New York, Washington, D.C., and Atlanta.
Since 1987, when it debuted its first product, Skin Caviar Dermo Beads, La Prairie has been using caviar extracted from sustainably farmed Siberian sturgeon. The product range has since been expanded to include body cream and a cushion compact foundation.
The three hero products are Skin Caviar Luxe Cream, Skin Caviar Luxe Cream Sheer, and Skin Caviar Luxe Sleep Mask —each 50-ml jar is P22,400 for the sleep mask or P29,400 for either cream.
In a statement, Dr. Daniel Stangl, La Prairie’s director of innovation noted that the company’s 30 years of research have shown that caviar extract has “firming, lifting, volumizing benefits, and gives back elasticity to the skin.”
Customers are also paying for the decades of research involved to make the creams feel the way they feel on the skin—indulgent and luxurious.
La Prairie is exclusively sold at Rustan’s The Beauty Source.
Maritess Tantoco Enriquez, Rustan’s divisionmanager for key brands’ April Marquez