4VOO press room:   Xtra!  November 13, 2003

4VOO beats out  Jean-Paul Gautier, L’Oreal
and Mechanics For Men/Body Shop

Here comes the grooming
Real men do wear eyeliner

4VOO
Ma Zone (473 Church St) carries the Toronto-based 4VOO line of premium skin-care products for men launched in Canada last summer. It was previously only available in New York and from www.4VOO.com, and includes the usual suspects of cleanser, scrub and aftershave balm, but, like our Pal Gaultier, pushes the envelope with items like a lift treatment for the skin, under-eye gel, energizing mask, shine reduction powder and confidence corrector. It’s high end, with products ranging from $36 to $68.

HOW THEY’RE PUSHING IT.
At these price points, seductive packaging is everything; here 4VOO fails, at lease externally. The boxes-featuring a grinning groomed guy over posing-don’t speak to me. But inside the box, 4VOO’s jars and bottles in brushed metal are beautiful-and masculine. 4VOO pushes the metrosexual thing to the hilt, using the term in liberal doses in the marketing and urging us to “Break the rules, have fun, be sexy, and appreciate luxury.” And here I thought I was just washing mah face.

THE NOSE KNOWS. 
This is where 4VOO scores big. Their line contains botanical extracts and essential oils throughout and smells so fucking good I find myself procrastinating the rinsing of product off my face, washing and washing and washing and washing just to keep smelling it. This is exactly how a man’s line should smell and I think I’m gonna come.

HOW IT WORKED FOR ME.
Yep, $50 is a lot to pay for a small jar of facial mask, but you do get what you pay for, as the expensive hustler once told me while he scraped me off the ceiling. 

This mask, scrub, cleanser and moisturizer are all noticeably superior to much of what is on the market, especially and most importantly when it comes to the end result: skin that actually looks great. 

Still, methinks its gonna take time before guys are going to gobble up other products in the 4VOO line like shine reduction powder, which is akin to a woman’s compact.