Shiseido opened the flagship of its lower-priced, mind-and-body experience store in New York City's SoHo earlier this year. With an emphasis on experimentation, the five senses and color therapy, 5S seeks to celebrate every woman's freedom to express herself any way she pleases. Nearly every product costs between $5-$20, putting Shiseido-quality products within everyone's reach.

The store is airy, well-lit and well-stocked. Each time I've been there, the young sales associates have been very sweet and helpful, never pushy or rude. The setup of the store encourages experimentation - there's a big island in the middle with lots of tester products, cotton swabs, mirrors, makeup removers, etc., where anyone can sit and try stuff on, wipe it off and start over. Last time I visited, they even had free tea to drink while you shopped!

5S carries facial care products, bath and body care treatments, brushes/applicators, cosmetic bags and color cosmetics. There are foundations, blushes and shadows, and mascaras, but most were unremarkable, and I found the foundation shades to be very limited. The other color cosmetics, which are available in a staggering range of 135 shades altogether -- from light to medium to deep to vivid -- come in two forms: crayon/pencil and a multi-use makeup-type formula. Both types -- which come in sheer, matte, pearly and creamy consistencies -- are meant to be used anywhere on the face and come in many shades of red, pink, nude, brown, plum and also a bunch of less traditional colors, like green, blue, yellow and orange. There's something for everyone among all these colors.

The bath and body products all looked and smelled great, too - energizing, purifying, calming and adoring "senses" let you buy skin and bath treatments -- including facial foaming cleanser, gel face wash, body powder and soap -- according to what your inner spirit needs.

These are the items I purchased at 5S and what I thought about them:

5S Pore Peel (1.7 oz., $12): This deep-cleansing nose mask, touted by the store as a customer favorite, is kind of like Biore Pore Perfect Strips in a tube. It has the consistency and smell of Elmer's Glue and doesn't harden like a nose strip, it just kind of dries and rubberizes. The results I got with this were about the same as a Biore strip -- no better, no worse. It does seem to tighten up pores and remove some blackheads, but it's no miracle product. I definitely would not recommend using this anywhere else but on your nose, and maybe not even then if you have very sensitive skin. It may take some loose or peeling skin off along with your blackheads. Ouch! All in all, a so-so product.

5S Oil Controller 1 oz., $12): A mattifying, oil-absorbing gel with witch hazel extract meant to be used under makeup. I found this gel to be fairly effective at keeping oil production in check, especially on my nose. It's also non-drying, which is nice for those of us with combination skin. I would buy this again.

5S Makeup Eraser (2 fl.oz., $8): This is a nice makeup remover that does the job well -- better than many drugstore brands I've tried. It didn't sting my eyes or irritate my skin, it takes off makeup well and at $8 a bottle, it won't break the bank.

5S Stick Color in #410, a "subtle" shade ($12): Smells like candy! That was my first impression - really. This particular shade of stick color is a sheer, warm red with a label that says "lips only" on the bottom of it. I plucked this out of a display labeled "customer favorites" and bought it because it was a natural-looking, "lip-color" shade, and I was not disappointed. It's very moisturizing and lends a nice sheer wash of color to my lips. Nothing to write home about as far as color or consistency, but I could stand along the wall and swatch my hand for hours with all the shades of this stuff that I liked. Too bad I couldn't buy them all.

Where to Buy 5S

Online ordering is not available as of August 1998, but there is a web site at http://www.five-s.com where you can peruse the products and read about the store's philosophy. 5S is located at 98 Prince Street in New York City. Call 1-877-PHONE-5S for more information.