ANTICA PROFUMERIA MONALYS – FLORENCE

Beauty comes easy to Florence: a stroll in city center dazzles with an overwhelming dose of sublime art, in form of sculptures, frescoes, bridges, churches or palazzos, crafted during the centuries by local artist, architects and artisans. No wonder that women’s beauty is thought with the same meticulous and creative approach. See the recently opened Antica Profumeria Monalys (www.monalys.it): a new beauty atelier in the heart of the historical center of Florence, the first in the city to offer “tailor-made” cosmetics. Created by Florentine biotechnology expert Stefano Rossi, and hosted in a gorgeous 16th century Palazzo, the boutique offers an initial free consultation, where general lifestyle and the client’s habits are considered; closely followed by a complete skin analysis, realized with a patented and sophisticated computer software. A small line of products (at the moment a face cream, a face serum and an eye cream), packed with potent natural and biotechnological ingredients (such as vitamin A, vitamin E, hyaluronic acid, peptides and plant stem cells), is then immediately formulated according to the findings, and freshly prepared in the adjoining lab. The result is extremely effective and truly unique products, as special and original as a made-to-measure capsule wardrobe: that continue splendidly Florence’s custom-made and artisanal tradition. But quality has a price: while the consultation and skin check-up are complementary, the face cream will set you back from 100 to 280 euro (depending on the ingredients), and both the serum and the eye cream from 100 to180 euro.