Retail Therapy: Auckland's new stockroom

OFF wax and brow bar. Photo / Supplied

Adorno has recently opened a sister store, The Stockroom - Adorno Recycle. Situated next door to the Ponsonby Rad boutique (in the space previously occupied by Texas Rose), the "shop with a difference" features pre-loved and not so current clothing from Adorno. At the moment they have several Henry Beguelin handbags in store at a fraction of the original price, as well as other fashionable goodies.

Shoot to win
The Sony Alpha D-SLR Photography Competition is on once again, giving up-and-coming fashion photographers the chance to show off their talent at Air New Zealand Fashion Week in September. The competition is open to photographers studying photography related subjects at university or those planning to undertake study in 2010, with 15 photographers being given the chance to shoot the action at ANZFW. Each finalist is given an all-access pass and a Sony Alpha A380Y digital SLR camera for use during the week. The winner receives a Sony Alpha camera package worth more than $2500 and a scholarship for tertiary tuition fees of up to $3000, for a course relating to fine arts, design or photography in 2010.

Entry forms and more information can be downloaded from www.sony.co.nz or www.nzfashionweek.com, entries close on Monday 31 August.

Expo-se yourself
If you want to find out about all the latest advances in the beauty industry, then this year you get a chance to see what the professionals do, with the opening to the public of a limited session of the New Zealand Beauty Expo. It's being held at Hall 2 of the ASB Showgrounds, Greenlane, Auckland, this weekend, and you can check it out from 3pm to 5pm on the Sunday only only. Admission is $10. See the latest products, services and techniques for everything from skincare, makeup, nails and tanning to weight loss, laser and IPL.

Arch angels
OFF wax and brow bar has opened a second and larger outlet on the North Shore, following the success of its year-old Newmarket beauty bar. Owner Nicky Shore promises expert attention without beauty salon palaver. Their creed is no white coats, no whale music, no serenity water fountains. "It's a place where you know you're going to get a really great wax from top-to-toe and where brows are not just 'tidied' but shaped professionally," she says. There's barber-style chairs for the brow bar and private treatment rooms for waxing, fitted with lights that let clients show therapists when they're ready for them to come in. Take-home brow grooming products and Smashbox cosmetics are in stock. You'll find OFF set back from the street, at 99 Hurstmere Rd, Takapuna, Ph: 09 486 3741, or email www.offwaxbar.co.nz for information or online booking.

Carbon credentials
Snowberry skincare has become the first New Zealand beauty company to gain carboNZero certification for each of its luxury anti-ageing products. The company believes it may be the first beauty brand in the world to become carbon neutral across its whole range. The certification, administered by Landcare Research, measures a company's greenhouse emissions and helps devise a plan to reduce emissions as much as possible. An exact number of carbon credits must then be cancelled to offset the remaining unavoidable emissions.

Snowberry sources carbon credits through a New Zealand wind farm, one of the eligible projects under the Government's Projects to Reduce Emissions scheme. Native trees are also planted at Snowberry's own bio-diversity plantation.

Win with Viva
You've probably already seen their faces - and bodies - on billboards around town or in the pages of your favourite women's magazine. Dan Carter and his hockey-playing partner Honor Dillon are featuring in the new Jockey ad campaign, called "Get Ready". To celebrate the sexy new campaign, we have a pair of Jockey signature men's trunks and a pair of Jockey women's "parisienne" black singlet and briefs to give away. To enter, write your name, address and phone number on the back of an envelope and send it to Jockey Competition, NZ Herald, Viva, PO Box 3290, Auckland. Entries close August 19, winner announced August 26.