If your best friend has been smiling of late, this could be the reason why. On 11 January, Dr Yannis Alexandrides, Harley Street saviour of the stars of the world, introduced his new 111Skin wrinkle-erasing retinol patches. No one else needs to be aware of the lengths one goes to for beauty’s sake. After donning a pair of Derek Rose silk pyjamas, add that finishing touch of retinol patches to do their job as you sleep the night away. Come dawn, you are on your way to reducing eye wrinkles by 23 per cent, and deep wrinkles between the brows by 15 per cent.
In Shanghai, the modernised 1913-vintage Chinese Chamber of Commerce building near the Bund is run by the adjacent Bulgari Hotel Shanghai. Savvy brides can pop into the spa for a Dr Yannis treatment before the Chamber of Commerce festivities.
Image courtesy of Conrad Bora Bora Nui
New smile or not, now’s a great time to start planning a trip, be it a honeymoon or just a getaway. Think Conrad Bora Bora Nui. From Hong Kong, it’s a two-stop journey via Auckland and Papeete, but worth it. Conrad Bora Bora Nui is on a private island. Of the 114 villas, 80 are overwater. Finest of all is the sleep-six 300-square-metre overwater Presidential Villa, which comes with a private infinity pool, three separate terraces, and magnificent Motu To’opua sunsets. Dine on a terrace soaking in those views, enjoying Tahitian ceviche marinated in coconut milk and sipping Billecart-Salmon. The hotel works with conservation initiative Manta Trust, co-founded by National Geographic photographer Thomas Peschak and mobulid specialist Guy Stevens. He’s author of Manta: Secret Life of Devil Rays and Guide to the Manta and Devil Rays of the World.
Speaking of books, many say Taschen in Tai Kwun, Central, is the best bookshop in the whole of Hong Kong. The store recently hosted photographer Steve McCurry for a signing of Animals (this is he who photographed the young Afghan girl with the piercing green eyes). Taschen also has just a few outsized coloured prints left from the book.
There is a notable resurgence, worldwide, of a return to reading proper literary tomes. Tablet reading does not give the same sensual feeling as crisp hitherto-unopened pages of, say, Steven Bartlett’s surprisingly eternal bestseller, The Diary of a CEO: The 33 Laws of Business and Life, based on his podcast of the same name. (Bartlett is quite a go-getter; this 31-year-old Brit is the founder of Thirdweb, Flight Story, and Social Chain, and a regular investment analyst on the BBC’s Dragons’ Den).
Some hotels realise the inestimable worth of words. Those checking into Rosewood Hong Kong might find a brand-new hardback copy of an Assouline tome strategically placed on the rack across the bathtub. But this is a forward-thinking place to stay. It was Rosewood Hong Kong that used a metahuman avatar, conceived by local genius Aaron Lau of Gusto Collective, as an extremely effective key opinion leader during last year’s Art Basel Hong Kong. Will she reappear this year at Art Basel Hong Kong on 28–30 March 2024?
All the arts are vital in today’s luxury world. Ushering in another year, MGM Cotai in Macau premiered composer-conductor Tan Dun’s sensational Buddha Passion. The Western-Oriental opera relays the grandeur of priceless murals, some dating back to the 4th century, in some 500 caves in Dunhuang, China. Performed in the resort’s 28-million-pixel LED-screen theatre, the opera was a breathtaking marriage of symphony and technology. More traditionally, the resort will be offering auspicious lion dance blessings at on 12 February, the third day of the Lunar New Year, celebrating the Year of the Dragon.
Watch TeamLab, the Tokyo-based imagination performance founded by Japanese mathematician Toshiyuki Inoko and four other visual scientists—this is immersive art. Change the colours of the 360-degree light art around you, for instance, via your smartphone. Its first gallery, TeamLab Planets, opened in Tokyo in 2018. Today, it averages 8,000 visitors a day. TeamLab did a Serpenti pop-up at Bulgari in Ginza over the festive season and it will open a second permanent Tokyo gallery, Borderless, in the Mori Digital Art Museum on 9 February. Mandarin Oriental Tokyo is 12 minutes by car from the Mori building and 16 minutes from TeamLab Planets.
