The Magic of Mousse

Once upon a time, Bullwinkle was everybody’s favorite moose. Then came chocolate mousse. Mousse for your hair is still popular, but mousse for your skin is the latest thing--and that includes mousse makeup foundation, mousse blush, mousse sun screen, and--yes, it’s true--mousse perfume.

Why all this muss about mousse? Well, as one young woman says of the mousse foundation and blush: “It’s very light, so much lighter than other makeup. And it’s easy to blend.”

And let’s not forget--it’s fun. “Customers love that light, whipped texture,” says Christina DeCarmen, sales manager in charge of cosmetics at I. Magnin in Sherman Oaks. “You can make designs on your body as you’re putting it on. You can play with it as well as apply it.”

Fun aside, mousse has its practical aspects. It travels well. “Mousse is a lot lighter in your suitcase than a lotion,” says DeCarmen. “Mousse sun screen is good because it’s non-greasy. It doesn’t stain the clothes. It evaporates into the skin and leaves a lightweight protection.”

But mousse does have one drawback--not everyone knows what it is.

“One lady brought the perfume mousse home,” says DeCarmen, “and was foaming it all over her body. Her husband walked in and gave her a really weird look. He said, ‘Why are you putting shaving cream all over your body?’ ”