Celebrity Brands :: Fashion, Beauty, Cosmetics, Lifestyle
Archive for May, 2007
May 30, 2007 · Filed under General, Shopping / Online
Recently, I happened to read report this on cnn.com:
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) May 14, 2007– As more American consumers forego crowded malls for the convenience of online shopping, total Internet-related sales are forecast to jump 19.1 percent to $174.5 billion in 2007, excluding travel, according to a new industry report Monday.
That sure set me thinking. Online marketing has carved a niche for itself as a major player in the global marketplace. With the development of extremely user-friendly ecommerce, shopping cart and processing software, selling online is no longer confined to the specialists and the know-it-alls.
And this facet of online shopping acquires a major status when it comes to celebrity brands. The market infrastructure allows for highly competitive rates in direct marketing as no middleman is involved in profit sharing. But how does a layman go about selling online?
I did some research and discovered Ashop Commerce. Ashop Commerce has a number of shopping cart software options offered as turn-key ecommerce software. That just means a hosted store building system for setting up your online business, and no software to install.
With Ashop Commerce you can build and manage an online store from any computer anywhere in the world, accept credit cards online, complete real-time shipping processes and even rank high in the search engines.
Expertise Needed?
One of the coolest features of Ashop Commerce online stores is the only experience you needed is to browse the web, and you control its functionality and design. There is no HTML or programming knowledge required so an absolute beginner can run the most professional shopping cart. Tutorial movies, user manuals and a knowledge base as well as live chat technical support are all provided should you run into any doubts.
Set Up?
The initial sign-up itself allows you to create your store (10-minute average store setup time) and immediately email you the account and access details. Once you receive your fully customisable shopping cart admin panel, you just go about setting the store settings - currency, unit of weight, shipping origin, post codes, taxes if any, payment and shipping methods. Enter all brands used within your store to categorize your products with brands, categories and sub-categories, including layouts. The header and footer editors let you insert your own logo messages. There are also theme editors with custom graphics and colours, fonts and background images.
Free Trial Offer
Ashop Commerce provides a 10 Day Free trial for you to evaluate the system, which includes a fully functional online store excluding payment functionality.
In admin demo, you have full control over the shopping cart software and can customise your storefront–alter themes, site wide settings of text and layout etc. In shop front demo, you can see the customer’s perspective what your store will look like. Browse through the store and view the complete store and experience the process of purchasing products.
Ashop Commerce is the most intuitive shopping cart and ecommerce software in the world, having helped set up 1000’s of successful merchants, providing all the expertise you need to start or advance your online business.
May 30, 2007 · Filed under Beauty, Fashion & Makeup, General
Raven-haired Miss Japan, Riyo Mori, was crowned Miss Universe 2007 on Monday as 600 million people viewed the emotional moment.
The 20-year-old dancer gasped in surprise as her name was read out at the Mexico ceremony as the 10,000-strong crowd cheered when a diamond-and-pearl-studded tiara worth a quarter of a million dollars was placed on her head by last year’s winner Zuleyka Rivera of Puerto Rico. Riyo Mori pipped Miss Brazil to the tiara, wearing a stunning black, red and purple Japanese gown.
It is only the second time Japan has won the contest since 1959 when Akiko Kojima became the first Miss Universe to come from Asia. The daughter of a dance school teacher, the new Miss Universe comes from a small town at the foot of Mount Fuji
“She’s an amazing champion, an amazing woman,” says the pageant’s co-owner, business tycoon Donald Trump.
A lifelong ballet dancer from a village near Mount Fuji, Mori wore a striking black gown with colored lapels for the final.
“My mind went blank,” she said of the winning moment. The win comes after months of hard preparation for Akiko, who was trained in France on how to handle interviews.
As winner of the contest, Akiko - who hopes to open an international dance school in Tokyo - will travel the world for a year, performing charity work and duties for pageant sponsors. “I’m really excited about what I’m going to be able to do… to benefit society,” she said, after beating 77 contestants to the title.
Miss Brazil, Natalia Guimaraes, came second while Miss Venezuela, Ly Jonaitis, took third place.
May 27, 2007 · Filed under Fragrances, Fragrances - Female, Fragrances - Male
Tom Ford knows style, and he knows perfumes. He has launched his new ‘Private Blend’ fragrance at Harvey Nichols London.
The ex- Gucci designer showcased the 12 individual and unusual fragrances, among which are tobacco, vanilla and Tuscan leather, and are sold in old-fashioned, chemist-like bottles and can be mixed with one another, depending on the individual’s taste.
“The concept behind my scents is similar to the one behind my new line of men’s clothing,” Ford told Vogue TV. “I wanted to create absolutely unique and exclusive products, unlike some of my previous projects.”
Tom Ford’s previous fragrance Black Orchid is already a bestseller, and his new scent looks set to do the same, with twelve unisex fragrances packaged into one bottle design. Private Blend. Private Blend is bespoke beauty, which is an extension of his luxury menswear line that was recently launched in New York.
Since leaving the Italian fashion house in 2004, Ford has been working on several projects including a line of sunglasses and a cosmetic line for American giant Estee Lauder.
About his long awaited collection for women, he said: “It is on the cards. I can’t promise when, but I can promise I’m thinking about it.”
May 26, 2007 · Filed under Cosmetics, Fashion & Makeup, General, Skin 'n' Nails
Three days ago I made a post about some statistics of plastic/cosmetic surgeries undergone by celebrities of yonder years as well as some of the contemporary ones. This inspired me to compile a short listing of arguably the latest news in cosmetic surgery among celebrities:
- Rumer Willis had plastic surgery to improve her large chin
- Larry Birkhead had a nose job
- Courtney Love denies plastic surgery claims
- Britney Spears undergoes lipodissolve
- Madonna admits she had a facelift
- Heidi Montag gets breast implants
- Gene Simmons gets a facelift
- Shannon Tweed gets facelift surgery
- Kylie Minogue has had bad plastic surgery?
- George Clooney admits he had eyelid surgery
- Katie Couric got Botox
- Doctors confirm Jessica Simpson’s facial plastic surgery
- Rhinoplasty For Cameron Diaz
- Sharon Osbourne Reveals Sex Secrets
- Demi Moore’s Plastic Surgery Journey
- Lindsay Denies Boob Job
- Tara Reid Turns To Oxygen Treatments To Heal Scars
- Did Scarlett Johansson Get A Nose Job?
- Britney just had a tummy tuck?
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Come of think of it, cosmetic surgery is here to stay, not just for celebrities, but also for businesspersons, hoswewives, students and anyone who works in a public relations environment.
Fortunately, in the US, there are a number of facilities which offer expertise in various procedures. The one name I recall is the the Glas Glasgold, a cosmetic surgery New Jersey Group, which limit the scope of their practice, concentrating on just a few of the myriad of proven plastic surgery procedures available today.
May 26, 2007 · Filed under Fashion & Makeup, Skin 'n' Nails
Famous Brazilian actress Ana Paula Arosio was chosen last night as launching star to communicate style and sophistication of the new Avon Make-Up Line.
Attentive to the women of its time Avon has adapted its concepts for the main company’s make-up line and has announced to market professionals and opinion shapers, in the launch of Avon New Make-Up line, the first products line aligned to the new company’s look and positioning presented to the market last month – A Better Tomorrow.
“Avon New Make-Up Line reflects the new look of our company. We believe that a better tomorrow for the women starts today and to offer to them products even more innovative, that attends to their longings and contributes for their self-confidence is part of the construction of this better tomorrow”, said Luis Felipe Miranda, Brazilian Avon president.
In all, nearly 130 products were launched to enable women of all social classes to create and try new styles, with prices around $7.5 and only 4 of them around $ 12.8.
The New Avon Make-Up Line, however, is sophisticated, with packaging in black with details such as Avon logo printed in low relief in every packaging and on the lipstick interior pack. The finishing is on anodized aluminum. 
Na in order the consumers identifies their preferred lipstick, Avon has preserved the main colors of the old lipsticks on the internal part and on the superior plaque.
“More than beautiful, Ana Paula Arosio is a woman of attitude, daring and with own style. We are sure that she will inspire the women to dare and try new colors and styles” claimed Silvana Cassol, Avon Brazil Maketing VP.
The campaign will be presented in a 30-second film on the main national TV, main female magazines, merchandising on soap opera, besides the 2 millions folders of 19 designs that will bring the actress on the cover.
May 26, 2007 · Filed under Uncategorized
A couple days ago I posted what my friend Buck had to say about the nightlife in San Diego. He is also a great connoisseur of gourmet cooking, and he talked at length about some of the finest La Jolla restaurants, also frequented by Hollywood icons.
Obviously La Jolla is one of the major gastronomic centers in San Diego and is a haven for several restaurants that have established themselves as elite dining experiences. One of them is Trattoria Acqua’s Gourmet Italian Cooking nestled in the quaint village, while its Mediterranean feel is reminiscent of the Italian coastline.
Rated by USA Today as one of the Top-Ten Italian Restaurants in the United States, Trattoria Acqua is a place to mark in San Diego–which, I think, is a shade simpler than flying 12 hours to Italy for authentic Italian cuisine.
Just my 2 cents, thanks to Buck.
May 25, 2007 · Filed under Fragrances - Male
Coty Prestige has signed an agreement with actor Josh Holloway to be the new face of the Davidoff Cool Water fragrance (worldwide except North America).
For the southern charmer, the sexy James “Sawyer” Ford on Emmy award-winning show “Lost”, marks the first time crossing over into the fragrance market. Davidoff Cool Water, a major emblematic cologne, has long symbolized the energy, sensuality and the cool attitude that characterize Josh Holloway.
“I love Cool Water because it is simple, powerful and timeless. To me, the Cool water man is not someone who is trying to be cool, he is someone who is comfortable with his masculinity,” said Josh Holloway.
“Davidoff Cool Water is a legendary fragrance, a unique worldwide success since 1988. As an icon of masculinity and powerful character, Josh truly embodies the values of Davidoff Cool Water. Both share authenticity and originality, both are the first and the best and in this sense are unique,” said Françoise Mariez, SVP, Coty Prestige.
It is a rather well-know fact that Holloway deives his energy from Nature and the sun. The sea is his world. Holloway, 37, currently resides in Hawaii with wife Yessica. He is also into extreme sports like paragliding and snowboarding.
If you’re living anywhere except North America (so unfair!), expect to see the sexy, cool, fashionable star in the first TV commercial and print ads for the fragrance in July 2007.
May 25, 2007 · Filed under General
Body art–or tattoos and other forms of body ‘enhancement’, such as piercing–have had a rich and colourful history in the western popular culture scene for more than two centuries. One would wonder the fascination is really all about.
Is it about delivering a message, or as a means of showing solidarity with some group (read ‘cult’), or just being different (read ‘rebel’) or expressing a pain or plainly as a means to display the body itself? It’d be rather impossible to find a universal explanation–the concept finds acceptance in a wide cross section–from truck drivers and scientists to bartenders movie stars and politicians.
Tattoos have evolved significantly in the last two decades–you find form and creativity, depth and design. You also find the well known examples from Tahiti to the rare Chinese tattoos, from the Ice Maiden to modern day Western tattoos.
Despite the fact that there’s a tendency to associate tattoos with the ‘not-so-honorable’ sort of folks, Christian tattoos are immensely popular. This is even better illustrated than by a number of modern day celebrities who sport cross tattoos.
The versatility and the symbolism cross tattoos range from the Celtic Cross, the Gothic Cross, ank or tau, swastika or Thor’s Hammer, crux ansata or cross with a handle, denoting power over material nature. What’s your ‘brand’?
____________________________
******** PROMOTIONS ********
Gone are the good old Chinese lamp days. This is the era of overhead and underground lights. We now have choices in aquarium lighting as well as old conventional paper lantern varieties.
May 23, 2007 · Filed under Apparel, Athletic Gear, Fashion Line
Contemporary sportswear designer Jill Stuart has announced Lindsay Lohan will be the face of its print ad campaign, which will hit August magazines and run through November. The campaign marks the first time Jill Stuart has chosen a celebrity for her ads.
“I can’t say enough fantastic things about Lindsay,” Stuart said of her choice to go with the starlet rather than a model. “She is sexy and smart, exactly what the Jill Stuart woman embodies.”
The campaign, which was shot in Tokyo by Mario Sorrenti, highlights Lohan in a series of B&W photographs modeling the entire Jill Stuart assortment from the higher-end Jill Stuart line, the Jill by Jill Stuart collection and the handbags, which will launch in top department and specialty stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdale’s and Nordstromnext month.
The ads showcase Lohan in a sensual state, where she’s in a bed, hugging the Emelle tote in black patent leather and wearing nothing much more than a sequin miniskirt.
“Lindsay resonates with the contemporary consumer on many levels,” said Tim Schifter, chairman and CEO of Schifter & Partners, the accessories firm that holds the license for Jill Stuart handbags and small leather goods. “Mario’s photographs capture Lindsay’s sensual beauty and Jill’s modern fashion, and his choice of black and white adds glamour and intrigue to the images.”
Related post: Lindsay On a Roll
May 23, 2007 · Filed under Uncategorized
American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery reports an increase o 34% in facial cosmetic surgical, cosmetic non-surgical, and reconstructive procedures per surgeon in 2006 over the previous year. Of course it’s not just the celebrities, but in a world of galmor and beauty, celebrities have often resorted to facial pastic surgeries over the years in an attempt to check the passage of time.
Even as far back as nearly a half century, Elizabeth Taylor took the aid of cosmetic surgery for her porcelain skin and and uniqueness of the eyes and lips. In the ’70’s, celebrities like Farrah Fawcett and Robert Redford underwent plastic surgery to alter the look of their nose and chin as well as to broaden the eyebrows.
More recently, many famous personalities such as Christies Brinkley, Michelle Pfeiffer, Mel Gibson and Harrison Ford have pursued plastic surgery of one kind or the other. Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, legendary bachelor George Clooney and supermodel Cindy Crawford have undergone nose and lip plastic surgery. The celebrity list goes on to include Catherine Zeta-Jones and Hugh Jackman with Charlize Theron and Lucy Liu.
Facial plastic surgery is as much an art as it is a science. You can only trust your face to a specialist. At the Center for Facial Cosmetic Surgery in Florida, Dr. Ross Clevens, MD, FACS, specializes in facial plastic surgery. The Melbourne plastic surgeon is uniquely recognized for his meticulous attention to detail and to provide you with the latest techniques in facial plastic surgery.
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