Samurai Shopper | The Year of the Dragon
23.05.12
The Dragon has long represented mighty juju, signifying wealth and power. In the East, bronze sculptures of dragons predate the written word. In the West, dragons are Satanic beasts who must be slayed by saints. Bruce Lee was born a Dragon. So was Joan of Arc, Freud and most significantly, Fats Domino. The koi, a coldwater carp that swims upstream, turns into a Golden Dragon in popular Japanese myth; it’s also an adorable tattoo swimming on Charlize Theron’s ankle.
The Samurai Shopper is thinking about Rooney Mara during her visit to Rising Dragon tattoos, 51 West 14th Street, to price an ornate, half-sleeve dragon tattoo. Apparently that takes 10–20 hours of labor depending on the complexity, at $180–$200 per hour. So I summoned those hazy Biblical injunctions and opted for an excellent laser-free, resurfacing serum and moisturizer from Peter Thomas Roth with dragon’s blood as its mainstay. The viscous cherry-pie red “blood” comes from the croton lechleri tree, grown in South America and used in traditional medicine. No dragons were harmed in the making of these products — and neither was I.
Source: New York Times (blog)