New fashions, home furnishings, beauty products and great gifts are trickling into local shops, promising a veritable flood of style in the coming months. This is just the beginning of what promises to be a very fashionable fall.
LOCAL TALENT
Local boutiques have a hard time keeping Amy Tavern's jewelry in-store, and it's easy to see why — her sleekly modern sterling-silver earrings and necklaces go with everything, from jeans and a T-shirt to a sexy dinner dress. Tavern started designing jewelry last year after graduating with a degree in metal design from the University of Washington. (She originally studied in New York state to be an opera singer.)
The designer's creative fire is fueled in part by her fascination with astronomy. Her newest line of earrings features concentric circles with tiny dots soldered onto them, much like the planet Earth's path circling the sun, and she likens her textured "Diskis" earrings to the surface of the moon. "I love the highs and lows, dark and light, and shadows on them." She's also inspired by Scandinavian design and Japanese pop culture: "You might not see it directly in my work, but that's what drives me." Tavern's jewelry is available at Fancy [1], Vain [2], m:pulse [3], Velouria [4] and Sweetie [5], $22-$110.
If you're free on Thursday, Sept. 2, 6-9 p.m., stop by Tavern's studio at Vain [6] (third floor, number 14). She'll be there every first Thursday showing new designs.
FIVE GREAT THINGS IN-STORE
Crinkle sake set and cups: I love the way this smooth, white porcelain sake set by Dandelion looks like crumpled paper — there's something very Zen about it. The set includes a 7-ounce carafe and two 1-ounce cups. For hot tea or cold drinks, the set of four 8-ounce cups is perfect. Exclusively at Les Cadeaux Gourmets. Sake set with two cups, $45; four crinkle cups, $55.
Orla Kiely handbags: You'll perk up your fall wardrobe instantly with one of Orla Kiely's richly colored leather handbags. Various styles come in luscious red, emerald green and teal. My favorite is this classic pocket handbag lined in a pretty white and green geometric print. The perfect-length strap slides easily over the shoulder. Available at Ped [7], $318.
Egyptian Magic All-Purpose Healing Skin Cream: Sanctioned by celebrities and beauty buffs, this miracle cream is comforting to have on hand. Suggested uses include as a skin and hair cream, as well as everything from treating burns, chicken pox, chapped lips and skin blemishes. I especially like the natural ingredients: olive oil, bee's wax, royal jelly and "Love." Available at Olivine Atelier [8] and www.egyptianmagic.com [9], $26.
Zuzupop T-shirts: Designer Tes de Luna describes this T as her "va-va-va voom" shirt. Curvy and formfitting, the chocolate shirt is silk-screened with a swirly Mucha-style floral design in baby blue, judiciously sprinkled with sequins. Perfect with jeans or skirts, they also come in pink and brown, and fuchsia and green. De Luna's shirts are available at Velouria [10], her Ballard boutique, for $36.
WHAT'S NEW
Miss Madison's Tanning Salon & Boutique [11]: Need a flawless tan for that final summer fling or outdoor wedding? Try Miss Madison's, the new tanning boutique in Madison Valley opened by former financial analyst Kari Ambrose. She offers a bronzed body without those nasty UV rays in under a minute for just $30. Step into the "Magic Tan" spray booth and 36 nozzles will disperse a fine mist of instant color into all of those hard-to-reach nooks and crannies (providing you assume the right position).
Gorgeously golden herself, Ambrose says she can keep her color for a week using one of her own tan extenders (conveniently available for purchase in the boutique). If you like the effect and want to have that sun-kissed-vacationing-on-Fiji-in-December look, buy the five-tan package for $135 or 10-tan package for $250.
In addition to a perfect tan, you'll find gifts and girl goodies in the cozy boutique, including intimate apparel, cosmetics, custom scented body butters, self-tanning solutions and cute vinyl dog collars in floral prints made by Ambrose.
COMING UP
Spa Noir [12] last-Tuesday specials: Can you think of anything better to do on the last Tuesday of each month than go to this sexy Belltown spa for a glass of champagne and special spa deals? I can't. Treat your feet, hands, scalp and skin or try the Eye Bright treatment and brow shaping for $20 (regularly $30). Owner Jessica Norton shapes your brows paying careful attention to their little individual nuances — "They're sisters, not twins," says the knowing Norton.
Kathy Schultz is a free-lance writer who lives in Seattle and loves to shop. Her column updates every Friday on NWsource. If you have a shop, sale, event or great product tip you'd like to share, e-mail her.
Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company
Copyright © 2010 The Seattle Times Company
