it's elemental; Sapphires, citrines, diamonds, and gold will certainly make a woman smile, but can they erase wrinkles and energize your cells, too.

Tucked between the southwestern tip of Sicily and the sprawling African coast, the tiny volcanic island of Pantelleria, known as the Black Pearl of the Mediterranean, is quite literally a hotbed of (mineral) activity. From miles above, those who arrive by private jet-the designer Giorgio Armani, who spends each summer lounging at his oceanside dammuso, and visitors like Julia Roberts, Madonna, and the ballerina Alessandra Ferri-may wonder at the lush vineyards and citrus groves that cover the island's glossy black surface. This rich, ink-colored rock, called obsidian pantelleria (a form of petrified lava made from quick-cooling magma chambers), is famously rich in restorative, therapeutic minerals and elements. So when Mr. Armani wanted to dive into luxury skin care, he didn't have to look far, dispatching a team of researchers guided by famed volcanologist Giovanni Orsi to crack the skin-nourishing code of the island's unique thermal waters, mud, and rock. The resulting cream-a buttery water-in-oil emulsion-dissolves upon contact with the skin, releasing microscopic ampoules of skin-firming silicon, moisture-balancing potassium and sodium, and energy-boosting iron. Called Crema Nera, it comes in a suitably elegant, Armaniesque black pot, along with a polished stone applicator- a piece of obsidian.

Ever since La Mer arrived with a $155 price tag and a secret ingredient cryptically called Miracle Broth, women have been screaming for supercreams. We've seen decadent caviar-bead-blends and designer molecules culled from the depths of the most remote oceans, the icy tips of glaciers, and the parched (yet somehow thriving) plants of the Australian desert. This year's new crop of megacreams springs from even more glamorous origins: gemstones, minerals and precious metals mined from deep below ground.

Italian jeweler Bulgari is known for its bright, colorful stones, so perhaps it was only a matter of time before the company looked to its archives and wondered if such exquisite gems could brighten more than earlobes, wrists, and necklines-complexions, for instance? It took a task force of scientists five years to answer the question. After screening dozens of glittering stones, they settled on malachite, sapphire, citrine, and tourmaline-gemstones naturally rich in skin-essential minerals and elements like copper, zinc, magnesium, iron, and silicon-which they cocktailed into a patent-pending blend, Gem Essence. While little research outside Bulgari's has been done on the ability of these minerals (normally obtained through a well-rounded diet and used by cells for everything from tissue repair to lipid synthesis) to penetrate the skin's surface, products like the company's Creme Precieuse and Emulsion de Lumiere promise to help improve hydration (with zinc), regulate the production of melanin (with magnesium), and fight free ...