Beauty at Douglas Cosmetics

Parfümerie Douglas is Germany's largest chain of beauty stores. In addition, Douglas has several stores in the U.S. I recently visited the Douglas store at Union Station in Washington, DC.

Douglas used to carry the German brands ARTDECO and BeYu. Even though I found nothing from ARTDECO and BeYu that appealed to me, it was fun to look because these brands aren't readily found in the U.S. Douglas has stopped carrying both brands: in the case of ARTDECO, it was on account of use of certain ingredients. No, the Germans don't always make good stuff! :-)

At Union Station, Douglas has discontinued carrying Universal Colors and blackUp Paris, two lines created for "women of color": odd, given the demographic.

Now Douglas carries only stalwart brands such as Clinique and Estee Lauder. Boring, boring.

So, what's worth checking out at Douglas? Its accessories and implements. It carries its own line of professional cosmetic brushes called Da Vinci, including several brush sets: Classic Look, Nude Look, and Smokey Eyes. I particularly like the flat headed eyeshadow brush in the Smokey Eyes kit: it works better than flat lay-on eyeshadow brushes or fluffy eyeshadow brushes to apply eyeshadow all over or on the lid.

One product that I hadn't seen before is this soap to wash brushes:

It's a gentle soap that doesn't strip oils from natural hair brushes.