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There are no desert islands, dirty outhouses, or bug eating contests involved in this amazing race. Try chauffeur-driven cars, champagne and a glittering jewelry creation for a grand prize. Now that’s a scavenger hunt.
The occasion? Luxury jewelry label, Boucheron, is celebrating their 150th anniversary by hosting a treasure hunt throughout the streets of London. Teams will be made up of the U.K’s top editors-in-chiefs, celebrities and the label’s top twenty VIP customers. Each team will have an hour and half to complete the hunt and will bring their results back to a judging panel consisting of Gucci Group CEO Robert Polet, Boucheron CEO Jean-Christophe Bedos and a mystery celebrity judge.
The pricey grand prize will be a glittering jewelry statement created by a mystery designer and is rumored to be worth close to $180,000. That’s a lot of mystery. Another tidbit being tossed around the rumor mill is that famous designer, Alexander McQueen, and one Sir Elton John are joining the well-heeled scavengers. Sir EJ might not win an arm wrestling contest, but he is as passionate about jewelry as he is about long-tailed suits and big sunglasses. Look out, people.
As the October 2008 Marie Claire magazine puts it, there are no dark nights this season. Sparkles rock! Luxe handbags and shoes are in direct competition with jewelry for a woman’s accessories expenditures, to be sure, but this season’s accessories put gemstones on every woman’s mind. Gemstones lavishly adorn tempting if not irresistible evening bags and shoes.
For all but the most affluent, the stones on those fashion accessories are faux, but how can a bag or shoes dazzling with colorful stones help but make one want coordinating gemstones on one’s fingers, ears, bodice, wrists or neck? Blue strass translates easily into sapphires. A bit of bright green and pink glass may encourage the exploration of emeralds and pink or watermelon tourmaline. White rhinestones make their perennial appearance on accessories as well, but the bright sparkling saturated hues are especially eye-catching this season.
And the love of color is not forgotten with daytime accessories. The recommendation of Marie Claire for weekends is “velvet-soft suede in rich harvest colors.” How beautifully these bags would work with amethysts, topaz, citrine . . . .
Yes, you read that right, covers. As in, $60,000 of diamonds that clip onto a standard issue pair of iPod earphones. If the economic hard times are really hitting you hard, you can also opt for a $4,500 set encrusted with black or white diamonds, or even a set covered with the ever-popular multi-colored Swarovski crystals — a veritable bargain at just $110
WhiteFlash.com featured in Entrepreneur Magazine
Buying a diamond is typically an interactive, hands-on experience. So $15 million Whiteflash.com, an online diamond jewelry retailer, has sought out ways to make its website seem more neighborly to upscale customers hailing from Singapore to Russia.
Whiteflash.com has achieved this by using live online chat to extend support beyond traditional U.S. retail hours and by getting chummy with bloggers who can keep its name well-represented in search engines.
In the process, the Houston-based company has grown organic visitor traffic to its site generated by the top three search engines by 411 percent since 2006, to an average of 10,000 visitors per month. Revenue, meanwhile, has grown by 15 percent, says CEO Debra Wexler, 49, who founded the business.
By working with internet search agency Web.com, Wexler has orchestrated a social marketing campaign over the past two years that stokes dialogue on fashion and gossip blogs by sending bloggers pictures of celebrities wearing Whiteflash.com designs. The partners collaborate with Web.com to publish 10 to 20 articles per month on its own website related to fashion and style. Earlier this year, the company also extended its Facebook presence with a fan page where customers can share stories and photos.
Wexler estimates they spend about $10,000 per month on social marketing activities. “Anything you touch has the potential to touch 50 other people,” she says. “This is where we’re going with marketing. You have to get people talking about you.”
To keep people engaged while on the Whiteflash.com website, Wexler plans to add live chat features using technology from LivePerson.com in early 2009. This serves a dual purpose: It helps provide prospective customers with quicker answers to their questions, and it gives the staff valuable customer metrics that can be used to guide future product choices. Says Wexler, “We can better understand where they are coming from and where they are going.”
Visit Entrepreneur.com to read more!
- Bride Wars
In the upcoming Bride Wars, out in January, Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson play BFFs since childhood who loved playing Here Comes the Bride in their attics as little girls, planning every detail of their respective weddings – including being married at NYC’s ultimate bridal destination, The Plaza. Now in their mid 20s, they’re both getting married at The Plaza until a clerical scheduling error puts their weddings in competition, creating a war of the weddings.
Stunning jewelry from WhiteFlash.com
Bad behavior aside, the both make for beautiful Bridezillas right down to their taste in jewelry, like this handmade 3.2 carat diamond cuff, vintage-looking emerald-cut ring, and 1 carat braided bezel-set earrings - all available at WhiteFlash.com where if they don’t have what you want, they’ll help you custom-design something from their stock of 50,000 stones.
Here are a few of Inside Weddings favorite things from Inside Wedding’s Rebecca Varma a Brilliant Idea – a sparkling collection of favorite diamond jewelry. 18K Gold and Diamonds ‘Embrace’ pendant designed by Whiteflash.com.
Style Power, skirts, dresses and jewelry for work or play. When it comes to precious stones and other lavish goodies, too much in gemstone rings and amethyst earrings is never enough!
In the body – Opulent Gold, Elegant Bracelets and Exotic Gemstones this season, It’s all about Shine and Brilliance. Review gorgeous amethyst button earrings and 6 carat Peridot diamond halo ring. Whiteflash.com shows off the color in this month’s Latina issue featuring Rosario Dawson.
Whiteflash’s conscious kids collection, Awear, introduced this year as a way to wear fun jewelry charms while donating to a charity that builds a school for children impacted in war torn areas around the world.
Sold exclusively at WhiteFlash.com, the AWEAR line of trendy and classic diamond charm pendants retail from $250 to $1,500, making them ideal gifts for a birthday, graduation, Bat Mitzvah, first communion, confirmation or any other meaningful occasion when a child first learns that the future belongs to her… and that you hope she’ll take care of what challenges life brings for her and the world around her.
Miley chose to wear a stunning and edgy diamond cuff bracelet from WhiteFlash.com’s custom line while introducing singer Pink’s performance. The bold 18K white gold 9-row diamond bracelet with 9.23ct of diamonds rang in at an impressive $14,675. The piece inlcuded Whiteflash’s top of the line diamonds, ‘A Cut Above‘ and accentuated what was a big night for Cyrus because she was nominated for her first VMA.
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