A couple of years ago, La Prairie went ahead and stirred the ultra rare precious metal platinum into its anti-aging potion called Cellular Cream Platinum Rare, thus creating the then most expensive face cream on earth. $1,000 are a steep price to pay even if you consider that platinum really is the most precious of metals and that the package is the prettiest elegant handcrafted and swarovski-adorned little jar.

Its launch raised more than a few eyebrows. And the question "Is it really worth it?" made the rounds.

To me, the question is rather: "Did it fly? -- Did La Prairie make a great enough case for its product, talked to those who were meant to buy it and love it with a persuasive and seductive enough voice, promised them what they needed to hear so the cream would indeed fly -- into the shopping bags and onto the cosmetics shelves?"

After hearing at last week's HBA (the New York beauty convention) that La Prairie is going to introduce yet another cream with a $1,000-tag, I have to applaud La Prairie. I heard from quite a few cosmetics companies that are letting go of their prestige markets, loweing their price points, and entering the world of Target (pronounce, kindly: Tar-geé) and Co. -- La Prairie on the other hand takes the attempt at affordability out of the equation completely and focusses on what it does best: luxury skincare aimed at the select few and those who'd like to belong to them. And it seems to work -- and sell.

Cle de Peau Beaute is following the lead and brought its own $1,000 cream to the women of this world. It's called Synactif Intensive Cream and boasts a "patent-pending, exclusive ingredient called MACC that's meant to stregthen the lymphatic channel so the skin's purifying properties can be strengthened. -- I'm excited to see how this product will fare. Aren't you?

I wonder if the $1,000 cream will become something of a micro trend. -- Forget $199, $650, $795. If it doesn't cost a grand, it's not worth my time.

(Image taken from the Neiman Marcus website where both products are available for purchase.)