From Dead Sea to skin restoration.

(From Philippine Daily Inquirer)

Byline: Cheche V. Moral

PERHAPS there's no poster girl for beauty formulations from the Dead Sea more famous than Egypt's Cleopatra, who was said to have asked her lover, Mark Antony, to conquer the Dead Sea so that she would never run out of beauty supplies.

Dead Sea Premier does not have Cleopatra as its model, but it is quick to proclaim its difference from other skin-care manufacturers. The Israeli company is the maker of Premier cosmetics, which was introduced here last March by Cruise Control Inc. (CCI). Premier boasts of the Dead Sea's natural minerals as its main ingredient.

For 3,000 years, says Haim Katzav of CCI, people have attested to the astonishing effects of the Dead Sea's minerals on the skin. "We think we [in Israel] invented the spa," he adds, "and the Dead Sea is the ancient spa... Those who go to the Dead Sea [and cover their bodies with the mud] feel a difference on their skin instantly," he says. "[It's] very powerful."

Though the minerals found in the Dead Sea can be found in other places, they are not in similar concentrations as in Israel, Katzav says.

Dead Sea Premier's brochure claims the minerals assist the skin's "natural ability to renew itself by stimulating the epidermal cells and restructuring the skin's balance."