Fujfilm is launching a range of anti-ageing skin products that promise youthful looking skin that ‘reveals its inner light’. (Cheers Amy)

Astalift, which has been on the market in Japan and China for several years, will go on sale in the UK next month. The anti-ageing skincare range was developed using cutting edge core film technologies accumulated over many years of research into photosensitised materials. The range name is similar to Astia, one of Fujifilm’s best-known film products (known for its ‘excellent skin tone reproduction’). The product line is an interesting twist for a brand from a non-related industry.

Via. http://www.clikpic.com/?utm_source=BJPonline&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=BJP

Hot dog stands are usually a dime-a-dozen – unless you’re in downtown Vancouver, that is. The city is home to Japadog, a small chain of hot dog stands with a unique Japanese twist. (Thanks to Amelia for spotting this one on her travels).

Japadog was launched by a Tokyo couple who dreamed of opening a sidewalk crêpe stand, only to be foiled by civic bylaws limiting Vancouver street vendors to soft drinks and hot dogs. To set themselves apart from the city’s 100-plus sausage sellers, they developed a menu of Japanese-style hot dogs garnished with grated daikon, soy sauce, seaweed and bonito flakes.

Japadog’s mission is ‘to make the world happy and alive through hot dogs.’ Today, Japadog has grown to several carts around Vancouver and a new store location in downtown New York City.

Via. http://www.japadog.com/index.html

Shopwell is a free iOS app that helps you keep a healthy diet by rating your food and suggesting alternatives.

Based on your profile, the app rates a wide range of food items with a colour-coded number out of 100 – the higher the number, the better for you. You can either scan or search for items and each product page includes ingredients and nutrition facts. Healthier alternatives are listed at the bottom, each with a number rating.

Via. http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39-57358186-285/how-to-food-shop-well-with-shopwell/

French 3D printing firm Sculpteo has created an app that converts smartphone photos into 3D images, which can be transformed into ceramic objects like bowls, plates and figurines.

The app’s interface lets users change the size, dimensions and colour of their personalised object, as well as select a material. Then Sculpteo gives a quote, which can be ordered. The company says: ‘this is the first app ever to transform human data into a 3D-printed object via a smartphone. It enables people to have a personalised object that they have created themselves.’

Via. https://www.lsnglobal.com/seed/view/5056

The economic climate has brought back layaway. For the uninitiated, layaway lets cash-strapped people put a purchase on hold and pay it off in instalments. When the balance is paid, the customer gets to take their item home. US retailers like Walmart, Kmart and Toys R’ Us started promoting their layaway programs long before the 2011 holiday shopping season. According to BIGInsight’s Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, more than one in 10 consumers planned to use layaway for Christmas 2011. (Cheers Joe)

Since retailers account for the sale when the customer actually takes the item home, the real economic effect on layaway’s Christmas comeback won’t be seen until Q4 earnings announcements.
Via. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2012/01/11/investopedia70864.DTL

While smoking pot is legal in the Netherlands, some coffee shops are seedy enough to make it look illegal.

Hi/Lo, the first new coffeeshop in Utrecht in 20 years, offers patrons a high-end alternative. Its bright and airy main floor is bedecked with a glossy white reception, matching tables, colourful Foscarini Tropico lamps and black Spiderwoman chairs from Hay. You could almost mistake it for a hip hotel lobby, if not for the pervasive scent of Purple Haze in the air.

Via. http://www.fastcodesign.com/1665446/a-weed-shop-so-classy-you-could-take-your-mom-there-and-zoolander

Tiffany & Co. have joined forces with fashion blogger couple Scott Schuman and Garance Doré to create True Love in Pictures, a campaign documenting real couples in love in Paris and New York.

People can upload their own moments of romance using the Tiffany & Co. downloadable Instagram filter. The gallery of romantic shots is an extension of WhatMakesLoveTrue.com, a website highlighting user-generated stories, sounds and places of romance.
Via. http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2JT13M/www.psfk.com/2012/01/tiffany-co-the-satorialist-instagram-love.html

IKEA Australia has put its flat-packs to good use in a direct marketing campaign to target potential recruits. In addition to the usual assembly instructions, IKEA put “career instructions” to “assemble your future” inside flat-pack products, reaching fans of IKEA without having to pay for postage or media. The campaign reached a huge audience, attracting 4,285 job applications and resulting in the recruitment of 280 new staff.

Via. http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2bnxpI/www.psfk.com/2012/01/ikea-uses-its-product-instructions-as-a-hiring-mechanism.html

The new Circus shop in Brixton Village is made entirely from recycled cardboard, glue and string. (A big thanks to Amy G.)

To complete the look, shop proprietor Binki Taylor has created an apron skirt with a digital print of the cardboard on organic cotton.

Via. http://www.packagingnews.co.uk/news/cardboard-log-cabin-shop-unveiled-in-brixton/

BrewDog Camden is the first English outpost of the Scottish craft beer company. The bar features 18 daily changing taps and hundreds of bottles, featuring BrewDog regulars like Hops Kill Nazis, plus rarities like the whiskey cask-aged Paradox and their world’s-strongest 41% quadruple IPA, Sink the Bismarck.

The bar also sells other craft beers from around the world, plus a menu of gourmet burgers and pizza, compliments of MasterChef winner, Tim Anderson.
Via. http://admin.thrillist.com/bars/london/nw1-0ag/camden/brewdog-camden_bar-food_bars_cheap-drinks_dive-bars_great-beer-selection_brewpub