The Left Lane
Shea butter arrives
Those who have discovered the moisturizing benefits of shea butter no longer need to go online to find the shea-butter-rich products of L'Occitane.
L'Occitane is now available at McQuaid's Fine Living, an elegant bed-and-bath boutique in the Waikiki Landmark Building at Kalakaua Avenue and Ala Wai. L'Occitane, a progressive company based in Provence, France, helps support the women of Burkina Faso by purchasing the African nut extract for use in lip balms, soaps, creams, lotions, and a sun care line with SPFs ranging from 8 to 30. There also is a reparative after-sun balm that's ideal for Hawai'i.
Another interesting note: L'Occitane has added Braille labeling to nearly all of its line. Company founder Olivier Baussan got the idea from cabs and elevators in New York.
— Paula Rath, Advertiser staff writer
Children's fable
M. Scott Peck has taken a road he long refused to travel: writing a book for children. The author of the mega-bestselling spiritual quest book "The Road Less Traveled" was inspired by a stray snowflake that cheered him as it fell outside the window of his hotel room during a business trip.
"The Friendly Snowflake, a Fable of Faith, Love, and Family" (Andrews McMeel, $9.95) is a way of illustrating how children can learn about spirituality — and teach others about it, too. It's the story of a little girl in a scientific family who just knows that the facts aren't enough, but is smart enough to use those facts to show her pesky brother how much he doesn't know.
The dialogue is a bit stiff, but the fable will appeal to those who share Peck's "great circle of life" philosophy. The book, he writes, is for "young people with old souls and older people with young souls."
— Wanda A. Adams, Advertiser books editor
