International apothecary brand Kiehl’s opens its doors at the Phoenix MarketCity mall 

The moment you step into this 350 sq ft skincare store, you don’t know whether to call it a botanical world or a chemistry lab. From Mr Bones, a skeleton wearing a lab coat and nerd glasses showcased at the entrance to a floral mural on the brick walls, the interior decor is completely science-themed. This New York-based apothecary brand which has been there since 1851, has opened its first store in the city, couple of weeks back. While you will be well attended to by white lab-coat clad helpers, browsers can also look through the Art of Instruction, a book by Katrien Van Der Schueren near the billing counter, get some know-how about the ingredients that go into making the products. 
Further adding to the design elements are a weighing balance, sample product packets arranged in numerical drawers resembling a pharmaceutical set up and magnifying glasses. “We have a shelf in every store at the entrance displaying our customer’s favourite 10 products. And all of these are available at the store,” says Santosh Kumar, brand head of Keihl’s, India. 

Skin solution
We learn that their choices are spread across concentrated serum, midnight oil, sunscreen lotions and corrective creams. All of these are extracted either from flowers or barks of trees such as musk, turmeric, cranberry, olive and lavender. “We have complimentary skin care consultation and sample products that are offered to the customers,” says Delhi-based Santosh. While you sit down, one of the helpers at the store gives a sample to try on, after testing your skin. For oily skin, he gives us an exfoliator, toner, a facial cream and a sunscreen as a package. As you apply them on to your skin, you can see the petals of calendula and also the refreshing fragrance that comes along with it. The samples are packed and given to you for a two-day trial.

A balanced equation
To make the whole concept familiar, every shelf is arranged with products based on a particular skin problem and the ingredient behind it displayed inside a glass beaker. Like in other cities, the Chennai outlet, the 11th in the country, also has plans of conducting sessions with a dermatologist at the store. The journey of Kiehl’s in India dates back to 2010 when their first store was opened in New Delhi. Now they supply over 250 stores globally. “We plan to re-launch one of our products — Powerful Strength Line Reducing Concentrate,” he concludes.

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Lip butter starts from `800.