Couple of weeks ago I visited Cindy Riera. Her beauty salon in Helsinki, Kalevankatu, is really worth visiting. Not just because of the interesting selection of cosmetics & skin care, or the comprehensive menu of beauty treatments, but the sunny attitude and customer service combined with proficiency. Cindy also has an FB-page.

Käväisin pari viikkoa sitten Cindy Rieran hoitolassa Kalevankadulla. Hänen tuotevalikoimaansa kuuluvat mm. Kure Bazaar Paris’n kysilakat. Nämä kynsilakat ovat niin ekologisia kuin lakka voi olla, eli 85% raaka-aineista on peräisin luonnosta. Kynsilakkojen hamstraus on nyt sitten uusi lempilajini. Olen siinä hyvä.

Anton & Anton, a Dean & Deluca -like deli and a grocery store opened in Museokatu, Helsinki, a week ago. Conveniently, I live just around the corner.

Anton & Anton was packed couple of hours ago. It really seems to be the hot topic of the neighborhood at the moment. People are thrilled to be able to visit a good old fashioned brick & mortar store in the middle of the city. As an aesthete, I really enjoy the very beautiful interior of the store. That really makes the experience.

Anton & Anton provides a wide selection of meat, fish, seafood, organic goods, bread, vegetables, you name it. Their philosophy is well introduced in the stylish website (in finnish/swedish). Not to mention that there are +2500 “likers” in their Facebook group.

I will definitely support this business and recommend everybody to do the same. Well, we just bought apple juice, organic yoghurt and some wild boar. Good shopping. And good weekend.

In my opinion, that’s easy since there isn’t too many brands utilizing the shop windows… Ok, I admit I know at least one, since I wrote about it earlier. The photos above are from Louis Vuitton shop on Bond Street, London. About the display: every now and then an egg cracks up and reveals an LV-product. I like this a lot.

On one Sunday during the summer holiday, we wondered through the Bleecker Street in NYC. It’s a really amusing street with a lots of cafes, shops, delis and what ever you can imagine.

Hot and sunny day with no schedule at all. The agenda of the day was basically something like “eat breakfast and do what ever”. Well, mission was accomplished. An impeccable snack not to skip is a cupcake. The one above was bought from The Magnolia Bakery. We really stood in a line (!?) to get those cupcakes, the place is extremely popular. Because of that not-to-be-mentioned tv series with the four ladies. Ok, the thing is that the site of the Magnolia Bakery has been in the “new website coming soon” status for ages… looking forward to see the new one.

Another cool sweet thingy, about a year ago, was what the French tea salon Laduree created with the famous shoe brand Christian Louboutin. Beautiful gift boxes for macarones.

Earlier, macarones became a hit because of Sofia Coppola’s movie Marie Antoinette. Oh my.

I visited Los Angeles on my summer holiday. First time in California, liked it a lot. Couple of hours was of course spent checking out Rodeo Drive. We walked through the whole thing. And the winner is… the Missoni store! It was by far the most beautiful fashion store experience, perfection in it’s every tiny detail. Starting from the structure of the walls: it totally stood out from the rest – and you sure can find all the fanciest fashion brands on that particular street – not an easy job to be different from the others. The Missoni store looked and felt more like an art gallery than a store. It was not allowed to take photos inside the store (damn), but luckily the collection is throughly introduced on their website: missoni.com. The site has been rebuilt just awhile ago, as they’ve been freshening up the Missoni brand in all areas. The design, PR (Angela Missoni and her daughter Margherita Maccapani Missoni often seen), advertising, everything.

To be honest, my personal store favorite (and a holy place) still is Prada flagship store in SoHo, NYC, designed by Rem Koolhaas. He also designed the Prada store on Rodeo Drive. But that’s a different story, now just enjoy Missoni.