After a successful year where Lily Cole promoted the Body Shop through her channels, the ethical beauty retailer has announced that Leona Lewis will be its new ‘brand activist’, to use the company’s term.
   It’s not altogether inaccurate: instead of simply posing in photo shoots for the brand, the Body Shop expects that its activists will use their own networks to promote the company’s initiatives.
   Lewis is no exception: she will help the Body Shop and Cruelty Free International in their global campaign to end animal testing in the cosmetics’ industry, building on the EU ban that comes into effect on March 11.
   She will also hold an exclusive gig for fans, to be streamed on March 26.
   As with Cole, Lewis will put her name to a cruelty-free make-up and fragrance collection, which uses 100 per cent vegetarian cosmetics. The Limited Edition Collection by Leona Lewis features a floral deer motif on its packaging, highlighting that the Body Shop uses man-made musk, not musk derived from deer.
   Lewis said in a release, ‘I’m passionate about beauty and I’m all about animal rights. As a result, I’m really conscious of where the products that I use come from. The Body Shop sells cruelty-free, ethical products containing amazing Community Fair Trade ingredients. The collaboration is a natural fit!’
   Lewis says she is an animal lover and life-long vegetarian. She has netted 20 million album sales since winning The X Factor’s third season in 2006.

Paula Sweet

The area around Palm Springs, California has made a gradual transformation in recent history from retirement community to trendy retreat. Known internationally for its film festival, music festival, as a tennis and golf paradise, gay destination, and popular health tourism mecca, the desert community has a new aspect that goes beyond simple cosmetic surgery. Call it over-the-top medicine.
   Executive Foresight, a bespoke medical practice catering to the ultra-wealthy and luxury traveller, now quietly offers the most extensive and exclusive physical examination available anywhere on planet earth. According to the company’s website, ‘… members receive first-class, personalized, bespoke healthcare in a luxurious environment modeled after top-tier five-star hotels. The cornerstone of the practice is a comprehensive health evaluation which delivers a composite picture whose resulting data enables … specific recommendations which can optimize and improve your overall health and decrease the risk of illness and disease.’ Executive Foresight refers to itself as a very private practice, where members experience unrestricted access to a world-class medical team, 24–7–365. The clinic also has anti-ageing and weight-loss programmes, and other related services including medical evacuation and dedicated physician care anywhere in the world.
   The service does not come cheap. No Medicare or insurance accepted, and it’s US$100,000 for the first year. But low-profile, high-net-worth individuals are lining up for the practice, which scrupulously protects your privacy and will not share records without your consent. Dr David H. Tang, an internationally known ER physician who is also SWAT-certified, serves as Executive Medical Director. While the client list can’t be disclosed, suffice it to say these are individuals accustomed to the utmost discretion, names you would recognize but which cannot be spoken.
   On another therapeutic front, many talk but few act to show appreciation for returning veterans from foreign wars. Hacienda Inn and Spa of Desert Hot Springs (above), about whom I have previously written, won’t openly publicize its offers to returning vets in need of a zone of rest and healing waters, but a phone call to GM Karl is the way to find out the latest. It won’t be advertised—word of mouth only.—Stanley Moss, Travel Editor

Stanley Moss is travel editor of Lucire. His novel, The Hacker, is now available in Kindle (via Amazon) and print (via Uread) formats.

These smell fantastic and fruity—and their formula contains vitamins E and B5, and Community Fair Trade organic virgin coconut oil. The Body Shop’s latest lip glosses are released in nine new shades in flavours (this is not an understatement—you should see how this office smells) of plum, peach, strawberry, mango, lychee, coconut and watermelon, among others. The formula is non-sticky and lightweight. Each retails for NZ$23.
   Meanwhile, the Body Shop has also released its Rainforest Coconut Hair Oil, which contains coconut oil and pracaxi oil, giving a softer shine and nourishment. The coconut oil is sourced from Samoa’s Women in Business Development Initiative, a Community Fair Trade provider. The Body Shop reminds us that Samoa has had two centuries’ experience in coconut oil extraction, and purchasing the oil (retail NZ$28·50) helps the people there, something that’s particularly poignant after the severe storm their country has had.
   The hair oil works as an overnight leave-in, a pre-wash treatment or as a scalp massage.

The British media have been going all out in the last day covering the pregnancy of the Duchess of Cambridge, the former Kate Middleton, with news that she has been admitted to King Edward VII Hospital with acute morning sickness.
   Journalists, photographers and TV camera operators were stationed outside the Hospital to catch a glimpse of the Duke of Cambridge leaving wearing a grey sweater.
   ITN supplied this footage without its trade-mark commentary, on the expectation it would get viewed regardless, thanks to the fascination with William and Kate.
   The Duchess will remain at hospital for a few days to get extra liquids and nutrients before being discharged home to rest.

Summer Rayne Oakes’s environmental short art film, Extinction (or eXtinction to give the official title), has just gone live at Vimeo and YouTube.
   Summer Rayne, who appears in the 2013 Pirelli calendar shot by Steve McCurry, made Extinction in 2011, when it did the circuit at various film festivals across the world.
   The film, directed by Clayton Haskell, is particularly beautiful and powerful, telling a story about our greatest environmental challenges. It briefly featured at Lucire last year as a teaser.
   ‘It reveals that the most pressing environmental issues are not happening thousands of years from now, but are in fact happening within our lifetime—and specifically, on the timeline of one young woman’s life, from birth to death,’ according to its description.
   The main link, at Vimeo, is https://vimeo.com/26854560; the YouTube version can be viewed at http://youtu.be/4IxFQGrzL4w.
   Extinction has also been released with Spanish and Portuguese subtitles, with German, Italian and French in the coming month.—Jack Yan, Publisher

eXtinction film featuring Summer Rayne Oakes from SUMMER RAYNE OAKES on Vimeo

Dusk VFX/© Project Born Ltd.

Kerp Photography/© Project Born Ltd.

Having attended the first Project Born, I thought I would have been prepared for what the cast and crew would do, but the slickness of this year’s presentation was at a higher level. It took the team a full two years to conceive this year’s show, and it paid off as there was more drama, theatrics and hijinks to entertain, delight and send a message of hope. The whole show is dedicated to raising awareness for the work of the Neonatal Trust.
   Project Born is a lingerie show with a difference. Combining the worlds of fashion, art, acrobatics, dance, theatre and the wonderful imagination of Sir Richard Taylor and his Weta Workshop crew, you have a show that is described by Sir Richard himself as a Victoria Secret runway show crossed with Cirque du Soleil.
   This year’s outing was dedicated to the memory of three beautiful children, Willsher, Jackson and Lillie Weekes, the two-year-old triplets who recently graduated from the Neonatal Unit here in Wellington, whose lives were cut short by a fire that broke out in a shopping mall in Doha.
   Opening with dancing witchdoctors and fully body-painted voodoo doll models with corn heads and giant button eyes, the show took you on a journey to the world of the undead as models in Emma Highfield and Milkman Underwear paraded on the catwalk. The Emma Highfield label showed gorgeous lace and silk bra and underwear sets embellished with bows and tassels, which came in seductive black, highlighted with accents of chartreuse and sea blues. Milkman, meanwhile, showed that men’s underwear need not be boring: colours of the rainbow were showcased and in styles that were cut to shape, hold and support.
   This year’s show also showcased sleepwear from one of our favourite new discoveries, For Every Minute, designed by Faye Lowe and ex-Lucire staffer Kenzy Cheeseman. Their gorgeous range of silk pyjamas, robes, negligées and camis provided some sensual and sass appeal, showing the appeal of sleepwear as loungewear. It was definitely on trend with the whole pyjamas-as-daywear look.
   The mini-acts were a metaphor of the critical stages through which a neonatal baby goes, and the support that the Neonatal Trust offers. There was everything from beautiful orchids with LED light stamens, a horny bumble bee trying to pollinate, musical human instruments, sci-fi droids with ropes of lights connected to their bodies, muscular silk acrobatics, to a fully pregnant model who was then covered in hand prints (the symbol of the Neonatal Trust).
   Hosted once again by Buffy and Bimbo, the finalé of the opening night even saw Sir Richard Taylor dance on stage to Psy’s ‘Gangnam Style’. A never-to-be-repeated performance.
   The Neonatal Trust was established in 2009 and supports the parents of the country’s smallest and sickest babies. About 6,000 sick or premature babies are born every year, and the number is steadily increasing. The aim of the Trust is to help guide families and babies through this traumatic time and lend a helping hand.—Sopheak Seng, Fashion and Beauty Editor

Kerp Photography/© Project Born Ltd.

Dusk VFX/© Project Born Ltd.

Kerp Photography/© Project Born Ltd.

Dusk VFX/© Project Born Ltd.

Kerp Photography/© Project Born Ltd.

Dusk VFX/© Project Born Ltd.

Creative Director: Sir Richard Taylor
Director: Leo Gene Peters
Co-director: Fingal Pollock
Producer: James O’Connell-Cooper
Co-producer: Eleanor Cooke
Weta Production Manager: Cathrine Mitchell
Character Design: Dan Falconer
Model Hair Design: Craig Stinson
Model Make-up Design: Amber Hill

I’m really impressed with Margaret Hema’s new rooms at Courtenay Place, Wellington, New Zealand, which one visits strictly by appointment. Hema, whom I first interviewed for Lucire in the mid-2000s, is the renowned æstheticienne and facialist, known not only for her unequalled treatment skills but for a small range of premium organic skin care products that have found favour internationally. Her clientèle remains exclusive and she has the enviable position of indulging her passion for beauty and skin care over a long career.
   She has developed her classic range very slowly, increasing her offerings from seven to eight in the last year. The development time for her latest organic day crème was 12 years, as Hema found the right formulation and suppliers—her approach is to find real solutions, rather than be swayed by beauty fads. She was creating organic products decades before they became trendy. Like an Oscar-winning composer, she can walk the street without being recognized except by her fans.
   Hema is critical of products which are largely water, since the skin fails to absorb them: a glance down the ingredients’ list of the SPF 12 crème reveals organic avocado oil, borage, olive and flaxseed oils, and organic totarol, among others. The 30 ml in each airtight container contains active ingredients, and the crème itself feels and smells nice.
   Hema moved into a salon in 1988 in Brandon Street, but with the building now needed for other purposes, she moved earlier this year into a heritage building on the first floor at 49 Courtenay Place. There are no signs downstairs: discretion remains part of the Hema brand, ensuring its exclusivity. It ties in perfectly with the quality of the products: you truly have to be an initié to know them well.
   I had visited her old rooms before and felt that they were part of her identity, too—her clients had become used to taking the lift to the old premises. But the new salon retains the Hema feeling: it is brighter, thanks to more natural sunlight; soothing violin music occasionally comes through from a neighbouring business; and one feels instantly relaxed and at ease inside. The new location feels fresher, more affirming, and lighter, while Hema’s certificates as you enter the salon and the sight of the eight-product range bring instant familiarity and a feeling of an ongoing tradition, that this is a positive step on the Hema journey. It feels like “home” to the Margaret Hema experience; it’s as though she was always meant to be here.—Jack Yan, Publisher

Grown’s Anti-Ageing Contour Sculpting White Tea & Phyto Moisturizer is the result of extensive research into the healing constituents within plants. The result is a natural, organic anti-ageing moisturizer, which eliminates the synthetics and petrochemicals found in many of its competitors.
   Its rich formulation can be used day or night, and is formulated to restore youthful cellular structure. It has achieved anti-ageing results for all skin types that require a lightweight moisturizer, says Grown.
   The key bioactive ingredients are: potent polyphenols, which are from white tea and contain fighting antioxidants that improve elasticity, diminishing the appearances of fine lines and wrinkles; phyto-amino acid peptides, which give a more evenly structured appearance; asta-xanthin antioxidant derived from cranberries, a rich source of vitamin E, and leaves your completion looking radiant; and hyaluronic acid, which balances hydration, and establishes visibly youthful features and tangible smoothness to the skin’s surface.
   Grown Facial Moisturizer (RRP NZ$75·95) can be found at Smith & Caughey’s and in selected pharmacies nationwide. Further information can be found at www.grown.com.—Brea Pothan