Dubai - Rose oil, snail creams part of organic products expo.
Published: Tue 3 Nov 2015, 11:00 PM
Last updated: Wed 4 Nov 2015, 3:09 PM
The UAE's posh cosmetic boutiques will soon sport a moisturiser that contains 24-karat gold. Mention of this glittering, supposedly miraculous product was a highlight of the 13th Middle East Natural and Organic Products Expo (Menope) at the Dubai World Trade Centre that ended on Tuesday.
Ron Williams, co-founder and CEO of Lariese, an Australian brand that calls itself 'purely organic', said a 50ml bottle of the Lariese gold moisturiser will cost $1,500 (Dh5,509).
One of the other ingredients in this indulgent face food is rose and geranium oil that costs $14,000 per kg. Other ingredients in the formula are a trade secret.
Care for snail on your face?While no demos of live snail facials were spotted at the venue, some traders extolled the virtues of snail creams - the excretions of escargots are supposed to be great for your skin.
"No, the cream is not entirely composed of snail excretions," said Christo Dramov.
The sample pack listed, among other ingredients, urea, 'flower extract' and Parfum. Since this was the company's first time at Menope, a distributor for the UAE hadn't yet been found.
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Interestingly, according to Williams, "60 per cent of what you put on your skin goes into your blood stream."
We'll know only next year though how quickly the gold cream flies off the shelves in the UAE's markets.
Rose market
Bulgarian rose oil is the other stand out at Menope.
Christo Dramov, general manager of Bulgarian company Victoria Beauty, said, "Bulgarian Rose Oil, the genuine one, costs $8,000-$10,000 per kilo."
Bulgaria produces over 80 per cent of the world's rose oil. The rose valley in Bulgaria has been cultivating roses for a few centuries.
At the expo this year, over 125 companies from more than 26 countries were present. The expo was sponsored by the UAE Ministry of Environment and Water, and they got other regional and international government organisations to participate. Besides the Dubai Municipality, there was the Department of Agriculture, Philippines; Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry, Malaysia; and Ministry of Ayush, India.
Organic India, a Lucknow-based company known best for the variety of Tulsi and green teas, came to the UAE just last year, and now has 45 outlets for Organic India tea varieties in Dubai, through Bin Hadher trading. The teas can also be found at Al Adil Trading Company, a spokesperson at the counter said.
Rose- and gold-based cosmetics apart, Menope had on display natural remedies - green teas and bitter gourd supplements, wheat grass juice, aloe vera juice, rain forest honey from Ghana, and a host of other organic and natural produce.
nivriti@khaleejtimes.com
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