TRENDS
Happy Earth Day To You
THE BUZZ
Introducing our newest column, a roundup of our favorite shopping picks
for women, men, the home, kids and more. This month, we go green.
By Lynne Konstantin
MILK AND TEA
Kids can serve up a spot of tea (organic,
of course) in Green Toys Tea Set ($27.99),
made in the USA from 100-percent re-
cycled milk jugs, BPA- and phthalates-free
— even boxed in earth-friendly packaging.
Toyology West Bloomfield, toyologywb.com ;
(248) 562-7524. Also, Warren Prescriptions,
Farmington Hills, warrenprescriptionstoys.
corn; (248) 855-1177.
EARTHY KIT
Tarte cosmetics, born of a belief that glamour can be good for you, has
joined forces with the Beauty Department (thebeautydepartment.com ), a
beauty site created by Lauren Conrad, makeup artist Amy Nadine and hair
stylist Kristin Ess, to round up a kit of their four favorite must-have Tarte
products. The Down to Earth kit ($49), available only during the month of
April, includes LipSurgence lip tint, Amazonian Clay Smart Mascara, Ama-
zonian Clay 12-Hour Blush and MultiplEYE Lash Enhancing Liquid Liner,
packaged in an eco-friendly quilted bag. For every Earth Day kit sold, Tarte
will donate 20 percent of proceeds to winetowater.org , which provides
clean drinking water to countries all over the world. Tartecosmetics.com .
THE GIVING TREE
Inspired by the original sitting stool — a
tree stump — the Stump chair ($85) is cut
from the green wood of a tree trunk so the
surface splits as it ages, then handcrafted of
100-percent raw FSC-certified ash or maple
(depending on availability) by Kalon Studios
in Gardner, Mass., formerly known as the
"Chair Capital of the World." Branchhome.com;
(877) 626-1012.
HERE AND NOW
Detroit in miniature ...
and celebrate Earth Day
with eco-chic beauty.
ties) is $10 (adults and infants under 12 months are
free).
Detroit Kid City, 29115 Greenfield Road, Southfield.
(248) 854-4464; detroitkidcity.com.
New local businesses, boutiques
and brands you may not know —
but should.
By Lynne Konstantin
CITY SLICKERS
Just in time to cure spring-break doldrums,
Detroit Kid City opened its doors last month to
bring a bit of Detroit to the 'burbs.The custom-de-
signed mini Detroit play city lets kids run the town as
their imaginations run wild at the hands-on automo-
tive factory, bank, barber shop, post office, pizzeria,
music studio, art center, schoolhouse and Up North
Story Time Center.
Husband-and-wife team Garrett and Laura Dixon,
both 27 and the parents of three boys ages 3, 5 and
7, have run a successful daycare in their Southfield
home for the past seven years, yet they still craved a
bit more kid-time.
"We love the interaction with all the families,
and we're bringing a lot of our philosophies over
to our new business," says Garrett Dixon. Among
them: healthy local organic foods and lots of space
for imaginative play, free of electronics and other
30 April 2012 I
HD MAD
modern-day distractions. "We love seeing parents
play with their children and have old-fashioned fun
together, playing together, and we're thrilled to cre-
ate a place where parents can enjoy watching their
child's imagination run free:'
To emphasize the way things used to be, De-
troit Kid City has been themed to resemble what a
miniature kid-sized Detroit looked like in the 1930s
and '40s, bringing in bits of local history like old-
fashioned lampposts, an antique typewriter and
pedal cars, and a 1931 Detroit newspaper displaying
original articles and ads throughout the facility"so
the kids can understand what our Detroit community
was built on," says Dixon.
Need a little pick-me-up to keep up with the kids?
The Dixons have parents covered, too: The cafe offers
local Great Lakes Roasting Company coffee, fresh-
fruit and wheat-grass smoothies, salads and more
organic and vegan-friendly options. Daily admission
(except Sundays, when they're closed for private par-
BOTANICAL BEAUTY
Red Flower is about simple, fresh and pure beauty,
inside and out. We hear this often, but Yael Alkalay
takes getting the most out of life, every day, very seri-
ously.The founder of the part-bohemian yet clearly
modern bath and body line — which launched in
1999 with a handful of petal-topped candles and
flower teas at Barneys New York and now has its own
LEEDS-certified boutique in Soho — can trace her
Sephardic Jewish family's history all the way to the
15th century, when they fled Spain, through eight
generations of grand rabbis in Turkey, to Kiev musi-
cians and farmers from the pampas of Argentina.
Her grandfather, the first dermatologist in Bulgaria,
came to Israel in the 1950s, and Alkalay herself grew
up in New Bedford, Mass., before serving three years
in Tokyo as the creative director for Shiseido Interna-
tional.
Acutely aware of her cultural heritage, traveling
extensively to maintain family ties and traditions,
Alkalay learned from an early age how to use flowers,
herbs and oils in everything from the preparation of
violet liquors and rose jams to the boiling of tinctures
to brighten the eyes and warm the lips. Perpetuat-
ing the medical, spiritual and agricultural roots she
www.redthreadmagazine.com