Chopard Celebrates with the A-List

Jewelry events thrown by luxury design houses are often the best parties for bauble gawking, and no one does it better than Chopard.

Celebrating 150 years of sparkling style and the launch of their couture collection, Animal World (see an earlier post for details), the Swiss watch and jewelry maker threw a soiree last night at Manhattan's Frick Museum where A-list beauties mingled with high society - all dripping in Chopard diamonds.


Gwyenth Paltrow looked lovely in a long lace Antonio Berrardi gown with Chopard’s fancy shape diamond chandeliers set in platinum (24.2 carats) and a rose cut diamond ring set in platinum (13.3 carats).

Kate Hudson sparkled in a grey Lanvin number with Chopard’s chalcedony, sapphire, diamond and iolite chandeliers, a multicolor pearl (558 carats) and diamond (54 carats) sautoir and south sea pearl, pink and black diamond ring. Stunning.

Christina Ricci worked a vintage Kermit green Galanos gown with Chopard’s fancy shape diamond earrings set in 18kt white gold (33 carats).

And Claire Danes looked lovely in Lanvin with air-shaped diamond chandelier earrings set in platinum (20 carats) and a paraiba tourmaline and diamond bracelet set in 18kt white gold (131 carats).

Finally model, Eugenia Silva, rocked Chopard’s black and white diamond swallow necklace set in 18kt rose gold ( 25 carats) and black and white swallow diamond earrings (13.6 carats) from the 150th Anniversary Collection, Animal World.

Blinded by all the ice? It gets better. The New York Times reported that one lucky socialite had to double up on the diamonds when her husband surprised her by purchasing a 'ram'-inspired Chopard necklace from the Animal World collection for, oh, a mere $250,000 - so she had to throw it over the $700,000 diamond bib number she was (sigh) already wearing.

I'm going to lose a lot of sleep thinking about her predicament. No, really.

Haul: Aveda, Laura Mercier, OPI

My husband didn't change his mind, of course, so I had to return his shirts today. Got that money back - and headed straight for the beauty department. Here is what I got - and I'm keeping everything.

Aveda

I got bath salts called Soothing Aqua Therapy. It's supposed to refresh, hydrate and relax. I've never tried any bath products from Aveda before so this will be interesting. I also got samples (yay!) of their smooth infusion shampoo and conditioner. 

OPI

I got their nail and cuticle replenishing oil. I've been using this on and off for years. Apply to cuticles at night before you go to bed and you will wake up with nicer looking nails. Mine look absolutely terrible at the moment. 

Laura Mercier

I think Laura Mercier does great powders so I picked up a couple of those and a brow definer. 

First, the brow definer. It is a wax/gel in a pot, applied with a brush, that keeps hairs in place. It comes in three colours and I got it in Fair, the lightest colour.

It's not as dark as it looks in the first photo. Here's another pic, taken outside. 

Now for the swatch.  

After taking the picture on the left (below), I thought I was done so I started to rub it off. Then I noticed that I couldn't get it off. It had virtually stained my skin and it only came off with soap. Great for summer. 

The secret brightening powder is a very light powder made specifically to set concealer. This is an incredible powder, it's light, doesn't crease and is supposed to lighten the eye area with its tiny flecks of shimmer. In her book "Make-up Masterclass" (review coming soon) make-up artist Jemma Kidd lists her favourite loose powder as being this one.

It comes in two colours and I actually use #2, an off-white. But I wasn't concentrating (too busy looking at other products) and ended up with #1, which is very white. I can still use this so I won't bother returning it but don't you hate it when that happens? 

Anyway, the white one reminds me of MAC's Prep and Prime transparent finishing powder, except the MAC one is matte and Laura Mercier's is not. 

Secret brightening powder 2 and 1

What else... I got two mineral finishing powders. I won't go into that now. I tested it and wrote about it here.

There will be a separate post on the mineral illuminating powders because they are so amazing. 

Have you tried any of these products? 

Tribeca Film Festival Jewelry Style

Jewelry moments on the red carpet are few and far between now that Awards Season is behind us, but there are still some sparkling showings at events like the Tribeca Film Festival to crow about.

Here are few of my favorite baubles so far:

Statement Makers:

Who said the statement necklace is dead? Oh right. I did. Enter Joan Rivers, who never met a bib necklace she didn't wear with a metallic mumu.

The Celebrity Apprentice winner was there to celebrate the premiere of the documentary based on her life, aptly called A Piece of Work.

Jessica Alba and one other festivalgoer joined Joan in the big necklace brigade.





Diamond Danglers:

Kate Hudson, there to debut her film, The Killer Inside Me (and rumored new breast implants??), sparkled in a concealing Louis Vuitton cape and diamond dangle earrings.


And the always fetching Amanda Peet dangled her diamonds at the Please Give showing.


It's All in the Wrist:

Finally cuffs and bangles continue to trend big with Kristin Bell and Zoe Kravitz in chunky styles at the tony Chanel dinner held last night.


And Nikki Reed shined in some serious wristwear ice for the film, Odine.



What do you think of the Tribeca jewelry style so far? Curious about the movie line up? Click here to see the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival full schedule!

When a Chanel goes missing

There's some bad news... but first always the good news. (Or do you usually prefer to hear the bad news first?)

It was a beautiful, sunny day for sitting outside and sipping a Bellini, my favourite cocktail. I always order a bottle of sparkling water, too. Perrier used to be my mineral water of choice but now I prefer San Pellegrino - the bubbles are 'softer'.

I had a risotto with white asparagus and Parmesan. Hm, *** out of five, I would say. I had to add a bit of salt and pepper. The best risotto I've ever had was in some tiny Italian village which I can't remember the name of. I went there two nights in a row.

Then.

I took my wallet out of my bag. I also looked and looked for my coin purse but could not find it anywhere. (It's not at home, either.) Coin purse - yeah, who cares, at least it wasn't the wallet that I lost, right? Well, not when that coin purse was a CHANEL coin purse! I haven't shed any tears yet but I am a teeny weeny bit... ok, gutted. It was a limited edition thing that matches a handbag (that I still have) so I can't replace it. I probably left it in a supermarket so the odds of finding it are zero-nil-minus.

Sigh.

Then! I went to buy my husband a 'present' (some shirts). I got the extra boring plain white shirt and the boring plain blue shirt. I got a bit excited (can you imagine? in the men's shirt department) when I spotted something slightly different: shirts with subtle blue stitching on the collar. I thought they would make a nice change. Because it must get so boring wearing the same 'look' every day - suit, shirt, tie.

But you know what? My husband does not like them at all. OMG how B-O-R-I-N-G! How ungrateful! I am never, ever buying him anything anymore (even when it's with his money).

I have to return them. But tell me - are they really that bad? 

Travel-friendly massage ball

It's such a pain when flights gets delayed. But once in a while it can be an opportunity in disguise. I was walking around the airport shops, bored, when suddenly I spotted one of these little reflexology balls. It's simply a ball with spikes, small enough to fit in the palm of your hand.

Unlike a lot of other massage props I've tried, this one is relatively hard and doesn't give way too much when you press on it. So the massage is effective, if you want it to be.

I liked it so much that I rushed back to get some more before my flight - another back-up for me and one for my mother.

Do you have any favourite massage products?

Exotic Kit Kat - Did you know?

I had absolutely no idea that Kit Kat (or Nestlé, I suppose) was so creative!

What got me started were these two "different" Japanese Kit Kats: potato of some sort and green tea. You would never think it but the potato one tastes better, I think.

I did some research and checked out their various international websites. Um that was interesting, sometimes just randomly clicking on the links in the hope of finding pictures.

Here it is, a map of regional Kit Kats around Japan! Can you find (my) potato Kit Kat?

From www.breaktown.com

Some other flavours around the world include:

cappuccino

cookies and cream

hazelnut cream

mint

orange

peanut butter 

tiramisu

white (strawberry)

How many of these Kit Kats have you tried?

Hot Trend: Teething Jewelry

New moms, like myself, have reluctantly retired our everyday jewelry box items for a spell until our little ones are no longer apt to drool on the diamonds (or yank them from our necks, as the case may be). But mommy bloggers-turned-entrepreneurs are buzzing about a new jewelry trend that will bring the bling back to our post-baby lives - teething jewelry!

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

Made from stuff that includes letters moms like to see (FDA-approved, BPA-free), teething jewelry replaces your colored gemstones with colorful silicone made into necklace, bracelet and key chain styles.

My favorite hails from Smart Mom Jewelry - a donut-shaped pendant that comes in every color of the rainbow (I'm partial to trendy turquoise for spring - especially with the $19.10 price tag). The 'smart moms' who started this company have a patent pending for the miracle gems and even have a cadre of celebs convinced - from Angela Basset to uber-mom, Tori Spelling.

According to a recent ABC News report, there are many other hot teething jewelry sites on the rise, including:

Sonny and Reed: http://www.sonnyandreed.com/catalog/

Dr. Bloom's Chewable Jewelry: http://www.docbloom.com/

Oh Plah!: http://www.ohplah.com

I smell a Mother's Day gift idea...

What do you guys think? Would you wear teething jewelry while your babes cut their cuspids? Or do you think it only encourages the little tykes to snarf on the real deal? Weigh in!

My favourite for smooth skin: Origins body scrub

As the summer season approaches and we want our skin to look its best, here is a body exfoliator that I would like to recommend.

Origins Calm to Your Senses 

Lavender and Vanilla Body Smoother

It contains white and brown sugars to exfoliate and best of all, it also contains oils to moisturise so your skin doesn't dry out. Even after you get out of the bath/shower and towel off, your skin will be incredibly smooth. You will feel the difference! 

I tested it on my arm for photo purposes. The sugar doesn't dissolve too quickly so you get a really good scrub. It feels fantastic and can you see how my skin is shining in the photo below? That's the oil and it smells absolutely gorgeous.

The only downside is that it can leave your bathtub a bit oily. If you use it in the shower it's not noticeable.

I just bought another one - my third repeat purchase! - and I've also given it to friends and they've loved it.

The scrubs are available in other scents - like ginger, mint/rosemary - or if you like the Lavender and Vanilla they have a bath bar, a body cleanser and bath/body oil in the series. 

Have you ever tried these Origin scrubs? Let me know what you think!

Chelsea Clinton's Engagement Ring Photos

Blurry though they may be, at long last Chelsea Clinton diamond engagement ring photos are making the rounds this week.

The Huffington Post published these shots captured while the uber-offspring was taking in the premiere of Broadway's latest hit, "Promises, Promises". The crutches, while giving us a great gawk at her ring finger, are there to help her nurse a broken heel.


Still no diamond details in terms of cut and carat-count, but by the looks of it her groom-to-be has good taste (and a sizable diamond budget). Would we expect anything less for our Chelsea?

The former first daughter announced her engagement to long-term beau, Marc Mezvinsky, in November. They are expected to wed this summer with details being Washington's best kept secret.

Stay tuned!

Quote: A mouse tickling my bottom

My four-year old cannot sit still. On the one hand, I think it's great that he has so much energy. On the other hand, it's bloody annoying sometimes, having to repeat, "Sit still!", "Don't fidget!", "Calm down!"

So we're having dinner one night and he's fidgeting as usual. He flies the fork in the air like a plane and stands on his Stokke Tripp Trapp chair to make it fly higher.

"Sit down! On your bottom," I have to specify.

And out of nowhere, he gives me an excuse:

"But there was a mouse tickling my bottom!"

Sigh. Ok, at least he has a vivid imagination, I'll give him that much.

Update on t-zone oiliness: Laura Mercier powders

I'm trying to say good-bye to a shiny forehead so I've been testing two Laura Mercier powders that I got at the beginning of the month: the mineral finishing powder 1 and the loose setting powder in translucent.

I've tested two skincare+makeup combinations:

1.

Estée Lauder's Resilience Lift Extreme for dry skin

MAC's Studio Sculpt foundation

Laura Mercier's mineral finishing powder

2. 

Clinique's dramatically different moisturising gel only on the t-zone 

Resilience cream applied to rest of the face

MAC's Studio Sculpt foundation 

Laura Mercier's loose setting powder 

The results have been similar. And very positive. With #1 the shine on the forehead at lunchtime (4-5 hours after initial application) is controlled, I would say. It's definitely not matte, the way I like to have it, but it looks fine. Therefore if I used the oil-free gel and this mineral powder, I would get even better results.

One sunny day last week I was busy all day - doctor's appointment, lunch appointment, shopping - and didn't bother with touch-ups. Eight hours after first applying everything as per #2, I just used an oil-absorbing sheet on my forehead... and didn't even (need to) re-apply powder.

Conclusion

Basically, if I'm going to use a rich face cream all over, I need the mineral finishing powder because this controls sebum production. 

If I use two different skincare products - an oil-free product on the t-zone and a richer cream on the cheeks - then I can stick to the loose setting powder... but the mineral powder will be even more effective.

I like both powders but am undecided as to which one I should get a back-up of (!). You get a lot more for your money with the loose setting powder (29g vs 12g for the mineral powder!) so I am tempted to stick to this one. But the mineral finishing powder is so incredibly silky and fine, it's a dream!

Have you tried either of these powders?