Retail therapy: Superette expands

Superette are opening a boutique in Newmarket in addition to their existing store in Freeman's Bay. Picture / Glenn Jeffrey

Superette, the cool Freeman's Bay fashion store, is expanding. Owners Rickie Dee and James Rigden are opening a boutique in Nuffield St, Newmarket, in August.

The new store will stock some of Superette's most popular labels - Tsubi, Lover, Alice McCall, Des Rusk and Sass & Bide - as well as new labels such as YMC, Swear and Shona Joy.

Superette's house label, Sample Only, is also growing. It is branching out into the lucrative Asian market; picked up by three Japanese stores following a Paris trade show.

Lie back and relax

Feeling stressed? If massages and meditation aren't working, you can always try an Albany health clinic's float sessions.

Popular in the United States, they involve lying in a tank full of concentrated Epsom salt (which enables you to float) in silence and darkness for an hour. Apparently a great stress reliever, the sessions provide a sense of wellness. Peace Produce is opening another clinic in Ponsonby soon.

Weightless relaxation ... ah, we can imagine getting addicted to that. How very ab-fab.

Peace Produce is at 86 Bush Rd, Albany, ph (09) 414 2047.

Stepping out Cellini is known for its handbags, but now the label has stepped out with a footwear range.

The range starts from $159 through to $349, and are available from Briarwood stores and selected boutique and department stores.

Perfect match

Here's a chance to mix our two favourite Viva things - food and fashion. Plus a holiday.

Trelise Cooper's corporate sales manager Jenny Kronfeld is hosting a couture and cuisine tour to Portugal in August for food lovers who fancy a bit of fashion and shopping on the side.

The trip will include presentations by boutiques and fashion houses in Porto and Lisbon. A master chef will give a Portuguese cooking lesson and there will be wine tastings, poolside Portuguese barbecues and visits to markets.

A private dinner will be hosted at the Quinta de Pacheca winery by the Pimental family who have been running it for four generations, and there's a visit to a vineyard near Sintra where vines are grown between sand dunes.

Kronfeld will be on hand for shopping advice. A bonus - August is sales month in Portugal.

Taste of Portugal runs from August 1-12. Prices are $14,699 twinshare or $19,939 single.

For more information visit Viaggio vacations.

Saving face

If you don't want plastic surgery, try a Couture Facial from London's Beautiful Body Co. This $1350 treatment combines $9-a-gram serums from France's Filogra Laboratories with pulsed red and blue lights - like a good-for-you sunbed - to eliminate everything from acne to red veins and signs of ageing. Glycolic peels and messo masks whisk off dead layers gently, leaving skin dewy new. Photo rejuvenation is said to rebuild collagen levels in the face.

Owner Esther Fieldgrass, a reiki master and intuitive healer who has studios in Hong Kong, America and Paris, takes into account exercise and diet as well as dermatological regimes. Botox is so yesterday.

Own store for de Pont

Designer Doris de Pont has opened a signature store in Ponsonby, stocking her women's collection as well as some menswear, including jeans and pieces featuring each season's signature print. De Pont, who works with artists on her collections, will also feature artwork in the 2a Williamson Ave store.

It marks a return to strip retail for De Pont who had a distinctive store in the High St district from 1985-1989. She has sold clothing from her Newton workroom for 12 years.