Blossoming Beauty

RED FLOWER DELIVERS A HEALTHY GLOW

Yael Alkalay prefers to leave the skin-deep part to other beauty companies. Red Flower, her five-year-old line, focuses on generating the kind of glow that can come only from within. Her range of floral candles, body-care products, and teas combine great packaging with great intentions, the headily scented result of the 36-year-old Columbia Business School grad's years in product development for Calvin Klein and Shiseido and her quest for quiescence, "the state of quiet mindfulness and devotion to oneself, to life." Every item has both a sense of place (the flowers she uses are named for their place of origin, from Egyptian chamomile to North American lilac) and generosity (candles are topped with dried flowers that can be sprinkled in the tub, and round soaps, shaped to stimulate circulation, come with porcelain dishes). Even her store, in Nolita, is designed as a hangout spot rather than another sleek boutique, a place to sip mate tea and leave your mark on the postmodern totem pole. Her newest offering is Hammam, an athome, detoxifying bathing ritual based on historic Middle Eastern treatments. The Golden Door, in Boulder, and Cameros, in Napa Valley, will also offer the treatments. "Being connected to real things that are true and lasting is a unique feeling," Alkalay says of her perspiration inspiration. "You can't invent a thousand years of experience."

CHRISTINE MUHLKE