Tag: women

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Beauty Business Featured Health

Downtown Q&A: Celine Kaplan and Amy Focazio

Photo by Stephane Baunach

Meet the fierce duo taking the NYC public relations world by storm. Celine Kaplan is a PR pioneer and founder of her own luxury boutique agency, CKPR. By her side is her managing partner, Amy Focazio; a maven in her own right. Focazio has over 20 years of public relations experience, 16 years at Estee Lauder, and 12 at M.A.C. Cosmetics.

CKPR has had to evolve with the times, modernizing and rebranding to better suit today’s climate. For instance, they partner with influencers, an important facet of the public relations world. The agency’s current clients include Ladurée, Orveda, Clinique La Prairie, and Le Bon Marche Rive Gauche, to name a few (no biggie). 

These two close friends and business partners might have different approaches to business. However, get a glimpse of their synergy, and you might find that these two great minds think alike.

Meet Celine

Downtown: What brought you to the US?
Celine Kaplan: As A French woman – it was a love story of course… then I fell in love with NY…

DT: How did you get started in your industry?
CK: I started in the art world arriving in NY — then realized I needed to pay bills and worked at AIR FRANCE for the Terminal One project in public relations- that is when I realized the power of the press.

My passion was beauty and fashion so I was able to start working for Bourjois and Eres (part of the Chanel Company Limited). [This] lead me to open my own boutique agency with Eres, Laduree, and The Webster…to name a few.

DT: What is the most difficult thing to accomplish in public relations when you have a new client?
CK: TRUST. PR is a long-term investment and clients need to know that you will absolutely do what is right for the brand but it takes time… Even if it is saying NO to certain opportunities.

DT: Do you find it more difficult to get products covered in print than online?
CK: Print for sure… the print publications have a limited amount of pages, that’s all.

DT: Do most brands prefer online advertising?
CK: Brands LOVE both and always want it all. Our clients are luxury so print is still major.

DT: What industry is most prominent for the brands that you work with at your agency?
CK: At the moment, beauty and lifestyle. Fashion post-COVID has been more challenging.

DT: What is it like to work with a partner? Furthermore, what strength differentiates you from your partner, and vice versa?
CK: It’s the best tool and weapon…to ideate, to share, to negotiate… Amy and I have been friends for over 20 years. We have the same taste and understanding for luxury but very different strengths.

Amy is Type A so everything needs to be perfect. She comes from a corporate background and is methodical, strategic, laser-focused on the details, a natural leader…. and she has a wicked sense of humor! I will let her answer about my strengths.

DT: What do you look for in new clients?
CK: I always say if I already bought your product I can do a good job… I guess it’s called Sex appeal.

DT: Who inspires you most?
CK: Women in general – collectively… wives, mothers, lovers, businesswomen all at once. It’s impressive.

DT: What do you hope to achieve by this interview with Downtown Magazine?
CK: World fame and recognition… kidding. New business leads would be great of course.

DT: What is your favorite place in Lower Manhattan?
CK: Laduree, The RealReal, Bode, the Frankie Shop, The Brant Foundation, The Swiss Institute, The Whitney… not in that order.

DT: Where do you go to relax in NYC? Downtown?
CK: Well, I am lucky enough to have one of my close friends who is a chef founder, and owner of Left Bank and rotisserie chicken Poulet Sans Tete in the West Village… and it is my home away from home.

Biking, running, walking near the Hudson is always calming and relaxing. [As for] Uptown, I love The Mandarin Hotel spa and The MET.

Photo by Stephane Baunach

Meet Amy

Downtown: How did you get started in your industry?
Amy Focazio: I have always loved fashion and beauty. When I was 13 I had a pipedream and wanted to be a model…. I’m 5’4 mind you. Let’s just say that didn’t work out! Right out of college my sister kicked off her career in Fashion Public Relations. As soon as I was handed my diploma I beelined it for NYC and interned at her PR agency. The rest is history.

DT: Where did you go to university?
AF: Ithaca college. I grew up in New Canaan and love nature. Ithaca is beautiful, but the winters are brutal.

DT: What is the most difficult thing to accomplish in public relations when you have a new client?
AF: We have launched a lot of new brands and it takes time to build awareness. Managing expectations is the first thing that comes to mind, but when the brand finally takes off there’s nothing more satisfying for us. It’s the best feeling. Also, PR really needs to be a long-term relationship, not a one-off.

DT: Do you find it more difficult to get products covered in print than online?
AF: Yes, but having longstanding relationships with the press certainly helps.

DT: Do most brands prefer online?
AF: That would be a yes. For luxury brands, seeing their product in the glossy pages of a magazine is still important.

DT: What industry is most prominent for the brands that you work with at your agency?
AF: So many… Beauty, Fashion, Home, Hospitality, Travel.

DT: What is it like to work with a partner? Furthermore, what strength differentiates you from your partner, and vice versa?
AF: Celine and I are polar opposites. Her head is in the sky. She’s very creative and impulsive, imaginative, a master networker. Organization is not her strength but it all gets done… Her sense of humor is through the roof. We laugh all day long.

DT: What do you look for in new clients?
AF: Celine and I share the same philosophy…. We have to love the brand, [and] want to buy it. We can’t promote a brand to the press and consumers if we don’t believe in it. It’s also important that they are cognizant [of] the issues we face today. It’s important to consumers that brands are responsible.

DT: Who inspires you most?
AF: People that are not afraid to speak out about important issues. Who use their voice for the greater good. It’s beyond inspiring.

DT: What do hope to achieve by this interview with Downtown Magazine?
AF: Fame, fortune, and glory…. All joking aside, I love Downtown Magazine and I’m excited that we’re doing this. Of course, new business opportunities would be great.

DT: What is your favorite place in Lower Manhattan?
AF: Of course Ladurée. I’m a vegetarian and the vegan eggs and croissants are to die for. My husband is French and Lucien always makes him happy. The Warm Store in Nolita and New Museum is always a go-to for me.

DT: Where do you go to relax in NYC? Downtown?
AF: I lived in Tribeca for a long time and my sanctuary was going to the Hudson River. I love to be near water… it’s calming. As Celine and I have been friends for 20 years we share a lot of the same friends. Our friend who is the owner and chef of Left Bank restaurant in the West Village is like family. We go regularly … it has a great vibe. ★

For more Downtown Q&A, click here.

Categories
Beauty Featured Lifestyle

Stay at Home Beauty and Grooming Routines

Stay at Home Beauty and Grooming Routines
Pexels

The great news about staying home, we’ve been able to have a little extra time for our team to sample self-care brands

 

 

Veronique Gabai has an attachment to the culture, the refinement, the sense of aesthetics, and the pure beauty of France. Born in the Cote d’Azur, in Antibes. Mediterranean by heart, by birth, by origins.

We had the pleasure of sampling her body lotion and delectable travel perfume and case.

 

 

“La Crème” is a magnificent lotion, fast applied, fast absorbed, incredibly moisturizing with hydrating properties. Highly concentrated in fragrance and enriched with rose water, it is another way to scent your skin.

 

 

I’m in love with this travel case. It’s small enough to fit in any purse. A gorgeous piece looks like a piece of jewelry. Just slip in your favorite scent and go!

 

 

Menja’s leading men’s skincare company has received overwhelming queries during the quarantine. Men are using this stay at home time as a positive to stay healthy and ramp up their grooming regimen. Due to this demand, MËNAJI created the @Home Men’s, Grooming Kit. Our COO enjoyed this cooling eye gel after long days of cycling.

 

 

 

Nothing like have a great scrub after a long hot summer day, men, be sure to take care of your skin. Beauty and treatments are not just for women!


Shaving is both a pleasure and a chore, but having a good quality razor and shaving cream can make this daily grooming a pleasure.

 

Bottega Organica oil + water mist is made from cold-pressed olive oil infused with plants and fruits combined with hydrosols that are collected by steam-distillation of spring water through plant material. When shaken and sprayed, this combination rejuvenates the skin with the dual action of nourishing and moisturizing.

 

 

 

 

Fables Neroli & Frankincense Hydrating Facial Mist is a dual-action hydrosol and toner; combining the healing and antimicrobial power of Frankincense Oil with the rejuvenating, regenerating powers of Neroli Oil. This mist contains a wealth of beneficial ingredients specifically chosen for their ability to transform the skin into its most radiant self. Aloe Vera and Rose Water open the heart and hydrate your face, while Witch Hazel helps to clear congested pores and balance oil production. This formula is free of alcohol and is pH balanced, ensuring that even the most sensitive skin will benefit from this product.

 

 

 

Nothing like finishing a long day at work, or coming back from a hard workout, after a shower, we enjoyed sampling the neroli and frankincense hydrating mist. It feels cool and refreshing, gives that little pick me up, needed.

 

Fables Sea Clay & Goats Milk face mask is perfect for oily or acne-prone skin. Sea Clay, which is rich in magnesium, potassium, sulfates, and calcium helps absorb skin impurities and tighten dull weathered skin. Goats milk helps to balance the skin’s PH while infusing trace minerals, omegas, and fatty acids. The perfect solution for combination, or troubled skin. Our editor loved their sea clay and goat’s milk mask, it made her skin felt smooth and moisturized.

 

At first, we were not sure about this facial cleanser, never using a charcoal cleanser, after our first use we were hooked. We are looking forward to seeing the slow down in cellular damage. We’ll keep you posted!

Fables Turmeric Charcoal & Copaiba Facial Cleanser is a high vibrational powerhouse. Activated Coconut Charcoal deeply detoxifies the skin while Turmeric (the Golden Goddess of medicinal herbs) reduces inflammation with antioxidants and slows down cellular damage. Lastly, this cleanser is infused with Copaiba Essential Oil, known for its intense anti-inflammatory and hormonal balancing abilities.

 

Categories
Fashion Featured

Get The Best Marcelo Burlon Clothing Items From TheDoubleF

The brainchild of Marcelo Burlon, Marcelo Burlon County of Milan, is a combination of its creator’s influence of styling, art direction, and photography.

Founded in 2012, Marcelo Burlon County of Milan started with just a line of graphic studded t-shirts. But today, it has grown to be a street culture-inspired and genderless style that has emerged as a new kind of fashion. A fashion that engulfs you as a part of a group yet projects your personality as an individual. Here we have a list of the top Marcelo Burlon clothing items from TheDoubleF that you must have a look at:

 

Marcelo Burlon Clothing Items From TheDoubleF

Jackets

Marcelo Burlon County of Milan is famous for its hip style of comfortable streetwear that is casual and fashionable. Bestsellers from the County of Milan collections have always been the jackets. Meant to suit all genders, the jackets in the County of Milan collection represents the hip and street culture and borrows touches from the 80s while walking along with the current trends. Items such as the Black cropped Denim Jacket and the Light-blue cropped Denim Jackets set the example.  

Sweatshirts

Staying true to its original style, County of Milan

sweatshirts give’s a casual and sporty feel with a dash of the splendor of fashion. Bringing in the comfort of a sweatshirt and switching it up a notch with crazy graphical illustrations, the County of Milan sweatshirt collections make looking fashionable easy. Items of clothing, such as the Black Blazier Wings Sweatshirt and the Cropped Block Color Sweatshirt, with their oversized fit, graphical elements (for the former), and block colors (for the latter), brings out the true sporty fashion. 

 

Marcelo Burlon Clothing Items From TheDoubleF

 

Hoodies

Hoodies are one of the few clothing items that are liked by the larger population of the mass.

And rightly so, because of the comfort they provide. But hoodies are also a big part of the street-culture, which is why they are a colossal part of the County of Milan collection. The Pink Wings Hoodie gives the signature graphical look of Marcelo Burlon, entwining, once again, casual and eccentric. The Black Paillettes Hoodie, on the other hand, brings sequins back from the 1960s with a touch of modern culture. The bell-shaped sleeves, the red string, and the overall black sequin mix sporty, glamour, and street in a harmonious combination. 

 

Marcelo Burlon Clothing Items From TheDoubleF

 

There are more clothing items that the County of Milan has to offer –

such as T-shirts, like the Black open back t-shirt, or the Squared wings series, skirts like the Black Paillettes Mini Skirt and the Buttoned Mini Skirt, dresses, jeans, and many more. To get more of the best items of clothing from the designer Marcelo Burlon, visit TheDoubleF and step up on your street style.

 

Categories
Design Featured Lifestyle NYC

Divine Design

Devine Design

BEFORE SOHO BECAME ONE OF THE PRICIEST –

retail and residential neighborhoods in New York, the large, cast-iron buildings housed factories on the top floors that were used for light manufacturing of household items, lighting, textiles, and fashion accessories. Those goods were then sold in the ground floor retail spaces.

 

In the 1960’s manufacturing started to give way to artists, who moved into the gigantic lofts because of the tremendous light, and the minimal rents. Though much of SoHo is now more reminiscent of a large, open-air mall, there are still pockets on the outer edges that recall those early days. It is in one of those pockets that Michele Varian has her eponymous design shop.

 

“I started my business from my loft in SoHo,” says Varian. “I worked as a fashion designer so I wanted to do something that I could self-finance.” Since Varian had fashion experience she had an understanding of textiles and she started with a business that was primarily wholesale. “I started doing these installation-type pieces. I was helping a friend who was getting married in their loft so I made massive cutout scrims that looked like trees and enormous mobiles with transparent and frosted plexiglass discs that reflected the light. I sold those in my first store, but I was mainly doing wholesale business.” Then after September 11, she decided to buck the current trend and open a retail store on “sleepy Crosby Street.”

 

Divine Design
Image by Ryan Liu

 

“I was one of the first retailers on Crosby Street.

I made all of the pillows in the back of the shop, and I hired all of the seamstresses I had worked with in fashion.” Though she had a shop, Varian was mostly still selling her merchandise wholesale to stores like Barney’s, Nieman Marcus, and ABC Carpet & Home. Then the 2008 recession happened and things changed. “My showroom reps in Texas were doing tremendous business for me, and in the beginning of 2008 they abruptly shuttered. They had started to feel the pain from the recession before it happened here.”

In the meantime, ABC asked her to do a pop-up shop, and they placed her in a great location on the ground floor. “Up until 2008, wholesale carried the business, and I was a neighborhood store with regulars, a place where people stopped in to take a break. After 2008, my retail business took off, primarily because I have always had accessible as well as aspirational design. I never wanted to be one of those snobby SoHo shops where the staff glares at customers who don’t have enough money. We always had a neighborhood kind of vibe here.”

 

Curated Collection –

Michele Varian in her Howard Street shop (Above). Below, leather-clad mirrors and tableware by DBO Home, in front of wallpaper designed by Varian and printed by Chambord in Hoboken New Jersey.

 

Curated CoLLeCtion Michele Varian
Image by Ryan Liu

 

Today, Varian’s Howard Street shop features an extensive, and colorful pillow library in the basement. She also manufactures her own lighting line in the shop and has a line of wallpaper that she designs, which is manufactured in Hoboken, New Jersey. She just started working with Two Trees in Brooklyn to create a furniture line, and designs jewelry and objets d’art, as well.

The shop also holds a beautifully curated selection of items from other artisanal makers like Bloomist, and DBO Home, which is arranged through Guesst, a system of “pop shares” that she created with fellow Detroit native Jay Norris. The system allows existing retailers and small, artisanal brands to connect. “Even doing a pop-up can be wildly expensive for a small brand.

 

Divine Design
Image by Ryan Liu

We are hoping that Guesst will help brick-and-mortar stores to survive and still evolve with the changing times.” DT

Editor’s Note: Michele Varian has moved to 400 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11217. At the present time, the physical store is closed due to COVID-19, however online ordering is available.

As seen in Downtown Fall 2019 

Categories
Lifestyle Uncategorized

3 Things Boyfriend Should Not Know to Strengthen Relations

3 Things Boyfriend Should Not Know to Strengthen Relations

Many couples say they have no secrets from each other and most likely they’re lying. However, there are still some things that should be kept under a hat. Some psychologists ask their clients: “Imagine that your whole life, from the beginning till this moment, was filmed on videotape. Do you agree to show it to your boyfriend?” The answer depends on what we mean by frankness in relations. According to American psychologists, couples where partners hide information from each other that can hurt their soul mate are stronger and happier. So, what does your partner should not know?

  1. He is not the best lover in your life

You have probably had some breathtaking sex adventures in your previous life. So what? Many online brides from Ladadate will prove: it is so rarely happened that sexy machos are good husbands and fathers. Those women who are well aware of this finally choose simply good guys as partners. So you did, right?

You should never tell your boyfriend about your ex-es, especially talk about them with admiration. You should never tell that the ex-boyfriend was more caring or attentive. If a woman compares her man with her ex, it will create a lack of confidence between you. Indeed, good sex can be achieved if both of you want it.

2. Your mother thinks you deserve better

Your mother dreams of her son-in-law to have a yacht and family castle. So what? Is it necessarily mean that you will be happy with such a man? Your parents probably love your boyfriend, especially if they see that you are happy with him.

On the contrary, it does not worth discussing his relatives with him — he did not choose them. Therefore, you should be patient and keep your mouth shut. If relatives are unpleasant in communication, you can try to meet them less often. Tell about it very delicately, so as not to create the impression that you are pushing him against his relatives.

3. You have extra expenditures

Of course, the family budget is a hot topic and you should discuss all the huge expenditures together. However, if you worked hard and saved some money for a brand autumn coat don’t tell your BF about this in detail. Let him be happy for you without thinking of extra-hours you took at the office or money you saved on lunches. Thus, you emphasize he is not able to earn money to meet his girlfriend`s expectations. It will make him less confident and more disappointed.

Loving, sincere, warm relationships and the desire to tell your soulmate every single thing are two different sides of the coin. Before you say anything, make a balanced decision, and let your words be followed by love, tact, and delicacy.

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Lifestyle Uncategorized

Are You Concerned Your Partner May Be Cheating?

Are You Concerned Your Partner May Be Cheating?

Being in a loving relationship is something that can make a big difference to your life. However, there are lots of people who believe they are in this type of secure relationship only to then find that their partner has been unfaithful. If you are concerned that your partner may be cheating, it is only natural to want to find out one way or another – but how can you do this?

Well, there are various ways in which you can find out more about whether your partner is likely to be cheating or not. If you have suspicions, but you aren’t completely sure, going in and accusing them outright may not be the right step, as it will simply destroy the trust in your relationship. What you can do, however, is to look out for certain signs that indicate if your suspicions are founded. In this article, we will look at some of the indicators to check out.

What You Should Look Out For

So, what signs should you look for when it comes to whether or not your partner may be cheating? One of them is a sudden increase in the number of calls your partner receives or makes. If your partner starts to receive a lot of calls and is cagey about who has been calling, this could be cause for concern. You can find tools that will enable you to determine who was actually calling, such as phone number search tools. If your partner told you it was someone else calling, you may then know that they have lied to you.

Another thing that often changes when someone is cheating is their social media usage and habits. You may have found that, in the past, your partner was very open about using social media sites like Facebook in full view of you, but that suddenly they have started to hide the screen. Or they use devices out of your line of sight. You may also find that they are spending far more time on social media, and you may hear private messages coming in. Another thing you may find is that your partner suddenly turns off the phone screen or shuts the laptop if you walk into the room.

You may also notice a difference when it comes to your partner’s social life and appearance if they are cheating on you. Perhaps your partner was always very casual with their appearance before but has now started to make a real effort. Maybe they have started going out a lot more and are not inviting you along. They may even start doing a lot of late nights at the office – or at least saying there are. All of these things are possible indicators that something may be going on.

Of course, you also need to be mindful that these things do not mean your partner is definitely cheating on you. However, by looking for signs like this, coupled with your gut feeling, you will certainly get a far better idea.