Last Thursday, June 14th, Barney’s teamed up with Harper’s Bazaar to host an event that showcased four up-and-coming lines of beauty products. The event lured ladies (who might otherwise lunch) to the top floor of Barney’s Madison Avenue store for breakfast. It started early- 8:30 AM- and promised expert beauty tips, free gifts, and the newest issue of Harper’s to its early-rising attendees.
The crowd that filled the 9th floor of Barney’s (and kept the skinny-tie clad waiters of Fred’s on their toes) was not disappointed. The panel – all designers behind the new brands at Barney’s; Sunday Riley, Radical Skincare, Arquiste Fragrance, and Claudio Riaz entertained and shared distinct perspectives and expertise on beauty.
Simon Doonan, the celebrity face of the haute retailer, was also in attendance, as was the lovely Glenda Bailey, EIC of Harper’s, who opened by gushing over the style and beauty of her readers in the crowd; a beauty, she noted as remarkably achieved before 9 am.
Things got down to the nitty-gritty, though, during the expert panel.
Sunday Riley shared her prescription to start anti-aging creams in earnest on one’s 21st birthday. She noted that puffy, tired eyes can age the look of “even a three-year-old”. Her own regime is made with botanicals inspired by her Native-American heritage and has become a fast favorite among celebrities and fashion insiders.
Liz and Rachel Eldich, the sister duo behind Radical Skincare, joked about starting their daughters out on anti-aging products at three and a half years old, and spoke candidly about the effects of sun damage.
Claudio Riaz, the internationally sought-after make-up artist with his own line of cult cosmetics, shared his deepest desire to walk down the streets of New York with a “make-up tool belt” and BLEND painted faces.
Before event guests had a chance to crowd the bathroom mirror for an en-masse ill-blended-make-up-and-droopy-eyes-check- the floor turned to Carlos Huber.
The fragrance designer explained how for him the sense of smell overpowered sight. Each of Huber’s perfumes is designed to capture a specific time and place, and not just vaguely. Before designing fragrance, he was as an architect in historic preservation. The inspiration for each Arquiste scent is grounded in detailed research.
The ancient city of Tenochtitlan in August 1400, in the form of little atomizer tucked into the event’s giftbag, awaited each guest at the panel’s end.
This event goer spritzed a little on right away. Just in case, though, amidst being carried away by my scent to an undiscovered Aztec city, someone should notice the effects of stress and smog on my skin, there was a Radical Skincare eye crème and some super lux Claudio Riaz and Sunday Riley make-up tucked away in there, too.
On Wednesday, August 17th, 15 children from 15 countries gathered at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square to compete in the 3rd Annual Franklin Global SpellEvent Championship. The Franklin Global SpellEvent is a competition specifically designed for non-native English speaking students who are learning English as an additional language. Each child was the winner in a local or regional competition in their home country and was awarded an all expense paid trip to NYC (with a guardian) to compete in the finals.
The children arrived with their families on Monday, August 15th and many were both shy and nervous. Tuesday they spent the day together touring NYC and establishing friendships. By Wednesday, the day of the final, they were like any other pack of kids, just excited to be hanging out with friends in the Big Apple and ready to congratulate and console each other after the competition. Competing countries in the event were : Argentina, Mexico, Chile, Russia, China, Senegal, France, South Korea, Germany, Turkey, Italy, UNited Arab Emirates, Brazil, Czech Republic, and Spain.
The Championship began at precisely 1:30pm and ran approximately 2 hours, with 12 year old Yeo Jin Jung, representing South Korea, walking away the grand prize winner with a trophy and a $10,000 scholarship check. The winning word was “repetitious”. In 2nd place was Jiri Fof from Czech Republic and in 3rd place was Julia Harumi Namba from Brazil.
Funnily enough, this is the 2nd consecutive year that South Korea has walked away with the grand prize. Franklin partnered for this event with TESOL International Association (TESOL); the global association of English language educators, and their network of 100 affiliate organizations around the world.
For a complete list of student finalists and winners, or to learn more details about the Global SpellEvent Championship, please visit: www.spellevent.org.
Please see the videos below to catch a glimpse of the competition as well as the top 3 finishers appearingon WPIX NYC.
On Monday night, June 6th, Boston-based restaurant and catering company, Milk Street Cafe, hosted a private press preview event at their NEW New York City location in the Trump Building at 40 Wall Street. The new Milk Street Cafe (opening Thursday, June 23rd) is a 23,000 square foot ‘food hall’ featuring a high-end selection of international gourmet cuisine.
With its 8,000 square foot restaurant space (with seating for 100) and its 15,000 square foot kitchen, all the food at Milk Street Cafe will be freshly prepared on-site daily for each of the various food stations, which will include: a barista station, made-to-order breakfasts, made-from-scratch breads, desserts and pastries, pasta bar, Asian specialties, sushi bar, two create-your-own salad bars (one vegetarian, one not), homemade soups, a grill, a rotisserie and a carving station. The diverse menu is the brainchild of premiere Executive Chef, Steven Mettle (former Executive Chef of AIG).
When it comes to the new restaurant, owner Marc Epstein says that it’s all about the customer experience. Keeping that in mind, the space will introduce all kinds of innovations such as Produce Soak Sinks (they will be the first in NYC to install a sophisticated whirlpool system for cleaning fruits and vegetables), Flat Technology tables (making it the first NYC restaurant to use this new invention from Australia), Line Busters (a hand held checkout system to speed-up the payment process for those using credit cards), and a website that will allow customers to sort by dietary needs (ie: if a customer is vegan, it will automatically eliminate all non-vegan items from the menu).
At Monday nights preview event, guests were treated to guided-tours of the space (with fresh baked cookies when they passed through the kitchen), interviews with the owner, as well as samples based off of the menu including brushetta and risotto, spring rolls and pan fried noodles, fresh sushi and sashimi, and specialty dessert smoothies like strawberry-banana, vanilla bean, and mocha espresso.
On June 23rd, Milk Street Cafe Food Hall will hold a grand opening event for the public from 10am-11am, including the ringing of the “opening bell” and complimentary coffee and cookies.
Take a look at some shots of the space and the preview event:
On Monday, April 11th, Singer/Songwriter Marcus Goldhaber and The Jon Davis Trio will be performing two sets at 7:30pm and 9:00pm presented by GlenGrant Scotch at Opia—a restaurant & lounge in the mezzanine of the Renaissance Hotel.
The event is free of charge and will feature live jazz including both standards and original music by Marcus Goldhaber, as well as complimentary scotch tastings courtesy of GlenGrant throughout the evening.
At the show, Marcus will be joined by The Jon Davis Trio, featuring Tom Hubbard (bass) and Marcello Pellitteri (drums).
Opia is located at 130 East 57th Street at Lexington Avenue (nearest subways: 5, 6, N, R, Q to 59th Street).No cover, no minimum.For reservations, phone 212-688-3939 or email Opia@AMP3pr.com.For more information about Opia, visit www.OpiaRestaurant.com
New York Buzz is a blog all about the latest and greatest that New York City has to offer. It's for New Yorkers who want to hear about cool new happenings in their city (and beyond). Although the blog is run by AMP3 PR, it's not just another one-way PR vehicle aimed at endorsing our clients. Yes, New York Buzz will feature the New York Public Relations Firm's latest news and events, but it’s also about telling the stories of the people and places we connect with.
Anyone who has a cool New York event they want to promote can shoot us an email (via: NYBuzz@AMP3pr.com) and we'll consider featuring it on our blog! We're also always on the lookout for interesting New Yorkers to interview - so if you know of one, send them our way! Thanks for your readership.
