En-Wraptured With Nature

A new year inspired a new direction for jewelry designer Tamara Beardsley. The Costa Mesa artist has toned down the glam of rhinestones and mirrored gems for semi-precious rocks and translucent glass baubles. She’s forgone plastic molding for natural twine. The signature wire wrapping continues, but the once shiny metal is now flat. Opting for a simpler aesthetic, she would like to see it “paired with minimalistic clothes. It’s a wonderful accent.”

Toss the Tweezers

Attention women: Aesthetician Joey Marie says stop plucking. While hormonal changes can sprout coarse hair on chins and other areas, “over time, waxing or tweezing distorts the follicle, making it much harder to remove through electrolysis,” says Marie, owner of Unique Impressions Skin Care and Electrolysis in Dana Point. The longer you tweeze, the more the distortion to the follicle and the longer it will take to have it permanently removed through electrolysis.

Creative Overhead

Why hang it when it can protect you from harsh weather? Artful umbrellas depicting well-known works of Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet, Salvador Dali, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (pictured) and others are at the Laguna Art Museum’s boutique and its South Coast Plaza satellite store. Montreal artist Marie Villeneuve brushes the masterpiece reproductions onto cotton canvas with acrylic paint, then waterproofs them. The $300 umbrella (also a handy parasol in sunnier times) is “a way to show your art appreciation in public,” says museum spokeswoman Karen Drum. Stay tuned: Villeneuve will soon start hand-painting shower curtains.

Umbilical Hook

When supermodel Christy Turlington bared her newly pierced navel in Harper Bazaar last month, Aimee Echo expected a reaction--but not the rash of requests that would become 90% of her business. Echo, who offers body-piercing services five days a week at Electric Chair in Huntington Beach, says wearily that it goes on all day long, mostly among girls 16 to 24. She did nine navels in one day. Though it’s not illegal to pierce minors, Echo cards many clients and requires anyone under 18 to have a parent present. Besides Turlington’s influence, the rush comes because summer is approaching, Echo says. Skin takes about three months to heal. Navel piercing runs $25, with jewelry starting at $20.