THE BUZZ: AUGUST 2025

VIOLET FLAME CHOCOLATE

Katrina Markoff, the visionary behind Vosges Haut-Chocolat, now embarks on her most intimate undertaking yet—Violet Flame™ Chocolate. After more than two decades of reimagining luxury confections with her boundless creativity, she is raising the bar once more, crafting what she believes to be the finest chocolates in the world. Beyond mere extravagance, each confection is designed to unlock your Super Power via the Cacao Spiritus™ experience. Her aspiration is to summon us back to an era when every repast was a ritual—gathered with intention, prepared with care, and shared with love. In a world of relentless pace, Markoff restores a profound connection between palate and presence, transforming a simple chocolate into a moment of lucid awareness. Violet Flame is her most personal exploration—an alchemy of energetics, sixth-sense resonance, and rarefied cacao. Each piece is born of ingredients chosen for provenance and potency. Through the Cacao Spiritus™ ritual, Markoff invites you to claim 10 minutes each day for sensory immersion. As a single chocolate melts, it leads you into stillness, stirs imagination, and rekindles self-trust. In that brief interlude, mental static recedes and inner clarity blossoms—a creative spark that endures long after the final bittersweet note. “Scientific research confirms that daily rituals enhance decision-making, sharpen focus, and ease anxiety,” Markoff notes. “So, why not enlist chocolate in your self-care practice?” Her craft is exacting—she resurrects Paracelsian methods of infusion, hand-tempers couverture to musical precision, and partners solely with organic, biodynamic farms. violetflamechocolate.com

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FROM HAND TO HOME

Coming this fall from Rizzoli, From Hand to Home is the debut monograph from architect Douglas Wright, celebrating 20 thoughtfully crafted residences that blend classical influence with contemporary ease. Through collaborations with interior designers such as Bunny Williams, Cullman and Kravis, Brian J. McCarthy, Amy Lau, and others, Wright’s work demonstrates his approach to creating sophisticated yet functional spaces.

But what sets this book apart isn’t just the timeless architecture—it’s the way Wright brings each project to life with his own hand-drawn watercolors and sketches. Interwoven with photography, these intimate illustrations reveal the emotional arc of a home before it’s ever built. With the sweep of a brush or the line of a pencil, these drawings capture something a photograph cannot: the emotion of a façade, the rhythm of a roofline, the atmosphere of a room—offering readers a behind-the-scenes look at how his designs evolve from imagination to inhabitation.

In an era of digital renderings, From Hand to Home is a return to the human touch—how a home begins not with a blueprint, but with a brushstroke. rizzoli.com

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GOOD WEATHER SKIN

The newest kid on the block, Good Weather Skin, is a category-defining SPF brand on a mission to create the first mineral sunscreen that feels and performs like luxury skincare. Using the highest quality clean ingredients and scientifically backed actives, the brand delivers everything needed for healthy, glowing skin—plus broad-spectrum mineral sun protection. The One Daily Sun Cream is a mineral sunscreen that applies like a moisturizer, hydrating the skin with squalene and sea buckthorn oil for a dewy, supple finish. It protects with zinc-based, broad-spectrum SPF 30+, offering premium sun care. The formula works beautifully across skin tones with absolutely no white cast. Golden like sunshine. Melty like butter. A mineral sunscreen so easy and enjoyable to apply, you’ll actually look forward to using it every day. goodweatherskin.com