Few things are as awesomely entertaining to me as a pharmacy in a different country: I love the brands I've never heard of; I love the secret products I never knew my favorite brands made (in France, Nivea makes a purple mascara named "EXTREME RESIST!" Who knew?); I love the funhouse-yet-oddly-logical names (want a muscle-ache ointment in India? Try "MOOV") ... except of course, I haven't been to a foreign land for quite some time now (I refuse to use the term "staycation," but yeah, that's basically what's going down). And so, in addition to giving a great deal of attention to our international city guides, I have been spending quite a bit of time on smallflower.com—a site Cat Marnell turned me onto, which has tens of thousands of beauty oddities from pharmacies the world over. You can search for products by brand, by scent, by category, and—most crucially—by COUNTRY. Current favorite: a Swedish "Elf Soap" (whether for them or by them, I can't say) carved with the words "BE NICE." Runner-up: a German bestseller, the stomach- and nerves-soothing Klosterfrau herbal tonic (I assumed the translation was "a cluster of fraus," but no—it means "cloister ladies," as the original formula was created by Sister Maria Clementine Martin 150 years ago). As it's $44, I haven't decided yet if I'll purchase it—for now, I think I'll just gaze at it dreamily and imagine drinking it in Dusseldorf.
—Cristina Mueller, senior beauty editor
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