Eye wonder

My father, a 70-year-old diabetic with a Martini problem, knows more or less what’s good for him. He knows that sexy 30-year-olds will put him in the doghouse. He knows that Seven jeans fit him well despite the rebellion of his physique against gravity. He knows that saying no to me is futile. So when we were having a decidedly healthy lunch at a local Shabu-Shabu restaurant he decided to cap off his meal with some dessert. He proceeded to order two cups of their green tea ice cream. When my mother protested, he brushed her worries aside by reassuring her that the ice cream wasn’t bad for his sugar-coated organs, after all what could be healthier than tea?

My father’s naivete (I hope he feigned it for his own benefit) of course is founded on a simple fact: tea is good for you. Before the advent of Vicodin, Prozac, Cellies and Xanax, you had the ultimate pleasure brew. Some tasted heavenly, others downright nasty, either way a remedy older than electricity should never be questioned.

Green tea made a splash a few years back as the tea du jour. From colognes, to Ralph Lauren paint chips to creams of every conceivable formula contained the sacred leaf. In matters of pulchritude the anti-oxidant products promised to banish the free radical damage from one’s indulgent and hedonistic complexion. Everyone went crazy, and despite its faddish claims, the inclusion of tea into skin care products (it depends on the brand and handling of course) proved to live up to its hype.

If there’s something about technology that makes up for its incongruously complicating and trivializing everyday life it is its giving us different and better choices. Green tea, still the tea of Samurais and sushi addicts alike, remains a prize catch. However, the empress of the consumer-driven world of beauty bows to the potent charms of white tea.

Origins, Estee Lauder’s all-natural beauty line, has been a hit ever since it started a good two decades or so ago. It was the first skin care line that adhered to the importance of using natural products, making the most of its healing and purifying properties and doing away with the blah granola image and instead presented its products with whimsy. Aside from its genius marketing, the reason why the line has become a fast (and constant) favorite among beauty geniuses and newbies alike, is that the products actually work. The beauty equivalent to a vegetarian molecular biologist figuring out solutions to the ailments of the world in a Zac Posen smock.

That is why the progressive thinking company decided to introduce to its legion of fans Perfect World for Eyes. In a perfect world (at least the one I’d like to live in) they don’t have botox monsters who look like they have condoms wrapped all over their heads. They have faces that glow with expression without the unsightly shadows of wear and tear. The firming and moisturizing formulation enriched with prized white tea guards against oxidation which leads to shadows. The Boswellie extract encourages collagen and cell production ensuring supple and plump skin. Vitamin A makes skin as flexible as lycra and makes sure it stays silky. The yeast extract, contrary to its primal operation which is to inflate, flattens out the area and frees it from bloat. Superficially, mica lightens the area giving the illusion of the good life despite the delilah.

The all-natural rage was perhaps so ‘90s for most of us who chose to nip and tuck. However, it is in the simplest of remedies where these silent warriors prove their strength. Think of this cream as a convenient solution to the tea-bag-over-the-eyes remedy that proves to be convenient in times of trouble and woe. Even my dad with his one-track sugared mind knows that tea is good for you, why shouldn’t you?