New meaning to the phrase "wearing your jewels"

How do you wear your jewels? On your ears? Around your neck? On your fingers?

How about on your skin?

That's right. An article in the New York Times, "New Hope at the Beauty Counter: Bling in a Jar," describes several skin products that are using pulverized jewels – such as diamonds, rubies, pearls, etc— inside their facial and body creams.

Why the luxurious ingredients? Whatever happened to Ponds or Oil of Olay? Well, "manufacturers claim that, when pulverized, distilled or blended with oils, precious metals and stones can tighten, clarify and reverse the signs of age." Ahh… so beauty does come at a price – a pretty high price if you use these creams. For instance, La Prairie’s Cellular Radiance Concentrate Pure Gold (which contains 24 karat gold flecks) runs about $525 for a 1oz bottle.

However, do these really work? Should you run out and buy a bottle or two?

According to Dr. Vincent DeLeo, chairman of the dermatology department at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital and Beth Israel Medical Centers in New York, "if you can see [precious metals used in creams] after you use it, it's not doing anything but sitting on a dead layer of skin."

Would you buy a cream with diamonds, pearls, rubies, other precious metal and jewels? Tell us, we’d like to know.