Luxist

Beauty drinks have gradually been growing in popularity of the last couple of years. The latest is Glowelle which is owned by Nestle and has been making a splash since its launch last year. Glowelle comes in both ready-to-drink bottles and in mixes in two flavors, raspberry-jasmine and pomegranate-lychee. Glowelle says the drink contains high antioxidant nutrients, botanicals and fruit extracts include green tea and goji berries that will beautify the skin. The drink is sweetened with cane juice and has 100 calories for the drink and 50 calories for the powdered formula and it carries a pretty steep price ($112 for a 30-day supply of packets while a similar product, Borba is $100 for 60 packets). The taste is both fruity and floral with a bit of a strange aftertaste. Buy yours through Neiman Marcus and they'll throw in a free tote for purchases over $50.

One California city has stepped in to save its museum. City officials in Fresno will pay off a $15 million debt owed by the Fresno Metropolitan Museum. In return the town will receive the deeds to the museum building and its other real estate around the museum which the city can develop or sell. The city will then lease the building back to the museum. The museum is expected to pay over $2 million back to the city over the course of the next decade in staggered payments that take the current economic picture into account. The museum officials have also agreed to watch their budget more closely, fund raise more and have more family-friendly exhibits. The museum's board of trustees has approved the agreement which is now pending approval by the Fresno City Council.

I don't usually cover homes under $1 million for estate of the day but this one is worth an exception on architecture alone. This home was designed by 2006 Rome prize winner Patrick Tighe and is located in the small town of Wimberley, Texas, 40 minutes outside of Austin. The compound in surrounded by 12 acres and the home was designed work with the rugged landscape. The home's facade is dominated by a swooping cear-lined roof that offers that for the shade for the walls of glass below which are supported by a dance of steel columns. The home rambles over the land and has a master suite on one end and guest rooms on the other with large open common living areas in between. It is listed at $899,000.

Read more →

Concord has recently lost its CEO in a ballsy move where Vincent Perriard jumped ship and left for greener pastures as TechnoMarine. Likely suffering an identity crisis, it remains to be seen where Concord will end up in a year from now. A new release from the Movado Group-owned watch maker is this C1 BiRetrograde watch. It is an amicable attempt to spruce up the quickly aging C1 design (that I was never fond of), but you'd not likely realize it was a new model unless that fact was pointed out to you.

The dial features two retrograde ("BiRetrograde") indicators for the day of the week and the date. The long arms frame the rear of the appropriate day or number of the transparent dials. The effect is nice, but not luxury watch nice. You can see that the entire face is partially transparent with a view to the Concord C101 automatic movement below with some nice Cotes de Geneve engraving on it. Oddly enough, this watch will be offered only in 18k rose gold or platinum (44mm wide case). An odd choice of high-luxury materials for this watch that doesn't have THAT high a luxury character - as the complications are nothing to hold a press conference about. You still have the "generous" amounts of rubber on the case and bezel. Seen above is the C1 BiRetrograde in platinum - and it is attached to the rubber strap. The look of the timepiece will either suit you or not. Regular readers will know that I am less than enthused by the overall Concord C1 design, though this watch isn't the flagrant "look how cool Concord is" timepiece that some in the past have been. The best part of the watch is the simple asymmetric watch dial with applied lume covered hour markers. Look for the watch to be available soon.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Ships are often given the name of a lady but French president Nicolas Sarkozy has used his new jet to declare his love for his wife, Carla Bruni. Sarkozy has ordered several planes including a new Airbus A330-200 plane. The first plane is a Dassault Falcon 7X which has the new name 'Carla One' painted on the side. The French jet has 12 leather seats and teak desks with a red, white and blue details. His Airbus will include a meeting room for 12 people and seating for 60 passengers. Sarkozy is currently meeting with other world leaders at the G8 Summit but his new jet is in a hangar in Villacoublay airbase near Paris.

One of my favorite jewelers, the always elegant Temple St. Clair has, for years, had a series of medallion-like pendants embellished with her three signature granulated beads. Now she's turned her style into a charity effort. The Temple St. Clair's Special Edition Harvest Pendant benefits Services and Food for the Homeless, a non profit organization providing food and assistance to the homeless in New York City. The 18K pendant is available in white or yellow gold and sells for $550. Temple St. Clair's book, Alchemy - A Passion for Jewels, is included with every purchase of this pendant.

Italian jeweler Damiani is pulling out all the stops to get customers buying in this tough economy. National Jeweler reports on a couple of new promotions designed to get people excited to make a purchase. Buy one of Damiani's "Gomitolo" rings shown above, and you can get a one-week vacation in Italy that includes the cost of the flight and hotel stay. The Gomitolo rings feature pave set diamonds and gemstones in ribbon-like patterns with prices ranging from $7,740 to $15,690 and each one represents a different Italian city. A minimum purchase of $6,000 of any combination of Damiani jewelry, nets the buyer a weekend stay at a suite in any Mandarin Oriental hotel in the Americas. For smaller purchases buyers receive treats of lesser value. Any buyer of a Damiani piece will get a gift certificate for a massage at the St. Regis Hotel Spa in New York, the Montage Spa in Beverly Hills, California or the Moana Lani Spa at the Westin in Honolulu. Sounds lovely, but will it be enough incentive to prompt a splurge?

Designer Giorgio Armani showed his latest Armani Prive line in Paris recently but as usual the permatan Italian has multiple irons on the fire. His Armani/Casa division will be responsible for creating the interior of exclusive apartments in Rome in the Cavour220 project. The project will consist of 62 units in a historical block composed of six linked buildings around a central garden along the Via Cavour which leads to the Coliseum.

Owners will be able to customize the units personal tastes on the basis of layouts and finishes proposed by Armani/Casa, admittedly likely a narrow range. Armani is famous for his minimalist style, a look that was shown to great effect in his designs for a Manhattan high-rise. In a statement published by Reuters, Armani said that the ancient buildings will be transformed into a "prestigious, sophisticated, cutting-edge residential complex." The apartments will be ready for occupancy next year.

We've seen some unique marketing stunts from Evian before but nothing like this. The French water brand has partnered with designer brands before but this time their partners are a bunch of special effects babies. The new advertising campaign, called "Live Young" features CGI-enhanced breakdancing and roller-skating babies. The Wall Street Journal reports that the video has already had 2.8 million views on YouTube in the U.S., and another 2.3 million internationally. The computer animation features babies cavorting around doing daredevil antics and skating around bottles of Evian to a remixed version song "Rapper's Delight."

The Wall Street Journal article questions whether or not the dancing babies are cute or creepy. They don't work for me in terms of promoting Evian but many people seem to find them adorable. Check out the video and vote below:

So, what do you suppose fashion houses do when Bravo puts rich kids on TV? They give them free stuff, of course! Kooba has partnered up with Bravo to create a whole line of bags for the new young reality stars.

"NYC Prep" is Bravo's new show about private school kids in New York City who come out with adorably troubling soundbytes like "I have no idea how much I spend ..." Think "Gossip Girl" meets "Laguna Beach."

"Gossip Girl"'s Blake Lively has long been a big fan of Kooba, and now the real girls of "NYC Prep" are getting in on the action with bags made for them. The bags, classic Kooba shapes, come in unique colors just for the show. Pictured is Kelli with her gorgeous, exclusive bag.

To see all four exclusive bags -- and perhaps purchase a $595 "NYC Prep" Kooba yourself -- visit BravoTV.com.