Jump to: Reviews | History of Beauty Product Sampling

Track down that bottle of magic blue potion you regret not buying during your vacation to Paris and get it with today's Groupon: $10 for $30 worth of international health and beauty products at Thompson Chemists. The SoHo mom-and-pop store, located at 137 Thompson St., stocks all sorts of obscure European balms and salves.

Thompson Chemists is owned by a pharmacist and his penta-lingual globetrotting wife who scours world markets in search of rare and exquisite skincare products, cosmetic creams, shampoos, and colognes for girls and guys. The neighborhood joint carries mangrove hair conditioner, Parisian hair care products from J.F. Lazartigue, cream soda Buddha Balm lipbalm, and the German cologne 4711. Stock up on Nivea deodorants and shower gels or Vichy sunscreens. If they don't stock that long-lost, beloved blue bottle, the attentive staff will special order it for you. This Groupon is good for walk-ins only and it won't get you discounted prescriptions at Thompson Chemists—use your insurance or blackmail for that.

Reviews

Yelpers give Thompson Chemists 4.5 stars and one Citysearcher gives it a perfect five:

• It is a small independent pharmacy that has everything you may be looking for. They also carry european products that I can only find when I'm on vacation! The staff is very helpful and friendly compared to other places. – Jaz S., Yelp
• thompson chemists is AMAZING. the staff is super friendly...plus they have soo many amazing things you can't find anywhere. two thumbs up! – essy s., Yelp
• I have gone into Thompson Chemists several times looking for very specific items... they carry mostly everything, but if there is something they don't have on hand, they order it for you that same day...Prices are very affordable. – kristinkateri, Citysearch

History of Beauty Product Sampling

Before perfume was sold at brick-and-mortar locations, sampling perfume to discover one's ideal scent was a difficult process. The earliest recorded method involved perfume-peddlers taking an 18-month aviator's program, obtaining an aviator's license, learning how to build an airplane, building an airplane, installing a crop-duster in the airplane, and flying the airplane around neighborhoods while dusting a particular scent. Residents poured into the streets and gave the perfume-pilot a thumbs-up if they were interested in purchasing the perfume.

After a Venn diagram concluded that the airplane technique was inefficient, perfume-sellers retooled and built stores to make all their scents easily accessible. You don't even want to know how balms and salves were distributed before balms and salves warehouses emerged.