Retail therapy: Pop-up design

NVEY eco-cosmetics. Photo / Supplied

Pop-up design
Pop-up stores are popping up everywhere, with the trend for temporary trading spreading out to the North Shore. Style Direct, late of Ponsonby Rd, has taken a lease in Mairangi Bay for a six-week clearance of homewares. The range isn't huge, but there's good buying to be had from wholesalers looking to shift goods. Here's a sampling: colourful gumboots for just $10, blue and white ceramic sundials for $20, lamps, decorative items and bath and body care. The Style Direct team is planning to reopen a retail home at some stage and do more with restored retro furniture. Their temporary home is on the corner of Beach Rd and Montrose Tce, in the main shopping strip.

Flick it
Poor old Farrah Fawcett, her death on the same day as Michael Jackson's saw her given the flick pretty quickly in the news stakes, but here at Viva we're happy to remember a woman who influenced the haircuts of a generation in the 1970s. We admit, it did take a cheeky PR company to nudge us into memoriam with a cunning list of products for how to recreate the Farrah look. With big hair back, maybe it's only a matter of time before the world's favourite Charlie's Angel becomes a role model again. (For Farrah-licious hair, we're told the secret is lots of tools and product, rollers and spray particularly - PPS was recommended to us.)

Fashion award
A soon to be launched Italian beer is celebrating its release with a fashion competition for local new generation designers, called the Lighter Side of Italian Style. Peroni Leggera (a "low carbohydrate low alcohol Italian beer") will give up-and-coming designers over the age of 20 the chance to win $10,000 worth of sponsorship. Designers are asked to enter a sketch and drawings of a design "inspired by the Peroni Leggera colour palette and the concept of Lighter Side of Italian Style". Five finalists will be asked to turn their sketch into a real garment, and will be flown to Auckland to present their designs in late August. For more information on how to enter, visit leggerafashion.co.nz.

Organic extras
The choice of organic cosmetics, skin and haircare is evergrowing. Of note lately is the arrival of NVEY eco-cosmetics from Australia, using plant and mineral ingredients to yield a full range of eye, lip and base products. New Zealand's Pacifica Organics has expanded its facial skincare into retail, after formerly supplying exclusively to Air New Zealand's Premium passengers. New Zealand botanicals are used in the range, including harekeke, cited as the local answer to aloe vera. NVEY is distributed in 27 countries and is the best-selling organic make-up brand in the United States and Europe. It was named US Elle magazine's Best Natural Foundation last year. NVEY exclusive to Glamorpuss Newmarket and Albany, Pacifica at Life pharmacies and selected gift stores.

Tiny dancer
The Royal New Zealand Ballet has teamed up with accessories designer Tamsin Cooper, who has designed a capsule range of accessories specifically for the RNZB. The feminine collection, available to buy from theatres where the ballet is performing as well as Tamsin Cooper's online store, features brooches, shoulder bags, compact mirrors and more in a dance inspired colour palette of black, reds and pinks.

Sun sense
You may be shivering, but don't forget the sunblock; crisp, clear days have plenty of UV bouncing about. If a standalone sunblock seems silly outside of summer, then make sure it's included in your daily moisturiser. We like Elizabeth Arden's new Eight Hour Cream sun range. It combines the legendary skincare product with sunscreen for the first time. There's also tinted lip balms, as good for skiing as the beach. Meanwhile, a leading cancer surgeon has reminded us New Zealanders are remiss in winter suncare and should keep a better eye out for troublesome moles. "It tends to be out of sight out of mind. People need to be aware skin cancers don't happen overnight, they are a build-up over years of UV radiation exposure," says Isaac Cranshaw.

Skin cancer affects around 60,000 Kiwis a year with around 250 dying from the disease annually. A recent survey commissioned by the Skin Institute found that many New Zealanders lapsed in their skincare over winter. It also found that just over half of respondents had never had a mole checked, yet nearly a quarter (24 per cent) of New Zealanders have had a mole removed because of concerns about skin cancer. Mr Cranshaw says this is simply not good enough as early detection of problems offered excellent treatment results.