And I’m aware that the glamorous women around me all have a radiant glow . . . and that’s before I drink the champers.
By the time I’m on the couch in a luxurious treatment room, I’m über-relaxed. Miriam explains the procedure as she expertly cleanses, applies a grapefruit peel, toner, moisturiser and then the tour de force . . . caviar serum.
At the thought of fish eggs on my face, I have a strong urge to leap off the couch and exit stage right . . . but Miriam gently massages my hands, part of the therapy, and explains the highly concentrated caviar oils and proteins fill, firm, lift, plump and help restore skin’s density.
“They work on the skin’s extracellular matrix, helping to strengthen the skin barrier and encourage cells to better interact with each other, all of which contribute to younger-looking skin,” she says.
Then she dazzles me with the technical stuff.
Through pressing and centrifugation, caviar’s lipids and proteins are isolated and then re-combined. Designed to increase skin volume and firmness, they deliver rich nutrients and moisture to the skin and stimulate collagen formation. Blended with brown algae and peony root extracts, the formula helps smooth the skin’s texture and increase elasticity.
And they are not just ordinary fish eggs — La Prairie’s caviar is extracted from the roe of Baerii sturgeon grown on aquaculture farms in France.
Miriam can’t tell me too much more other than to say, La Prairie uses three rare ingredients in its Exclusive Cellular Complex — gold, platinum and caviar — and they take extreme measures to protect their formula. La Prairie has three separate labs to ensure the complex remains a secret — one lab for the yeast fermentation process, one for the micro-organism fermentation process, and a third in which the various components are blended together. No single technician or chemist knows the exact recipe.
I also learn that Dr Paul Niehans, head doctor at the Clinique La Prairie in Montreux when it opened 86 years ago was summoned to Rome in 1953 to the bedside of the dying Pope Pius XII. After receiving a course of the doctor’s ground-breaking cellular therapy, the Pope evidently recovered. In gratitude, he granted Dr Niehans a membership to the Papal Academy of Sciences.
Among other notables who have entrusted themselves to La Prairie are Charles de Gaulle, Emperor Hirohito, members of the British Royal Family, Sir Winston Churchill, Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, Marilyn Monroe and Pablo Picasso.
It’s all part of the mystique, the allure, the legend of the brand which is exquisitely packaged using the Matterhorn as a symbol.
“OK, I’ll stay then, as long as I don’t leave smelling like a fish market.”
Miriam laughs.
I depart an hour later walking on clouds in my white robe and matching slippers. My skin has a distinctive glow that lasts several days, and no hint of a fishy smell. There’s a catch of course . . . I would need to keep visiting Miriam to maintain the radiant look or buy the product and apply it myself, which costs about the same amount as an airfare to Switzerland.
But if you want to spoil yourself big time, or impress someone with a gift, there’s nothing quite like La Prairie.
