LUXURY: What’s Your Weakness?

“Because I’m worth it.”

Who could argue with the French beauty giant L’Oreal for creating that neat little catch phrase and giving us the best reason in the world to splurge on ourselves?

Guilty pleasures are luxuries because they are both irresistible and unnecessary. Those splurges are typically not grand enough to lead to bankruptcy, but they would constitute an unnecessary expenditure to any cost cutting accountant worth his salt.

Guilty pleasures are uniquely yours and most importantly, they are completely reliable.  Anytime you visit this personal pleasure trough you are rewarded with the guaranteed gift of happiness.

Sarah Jessica Parker’s shoe obsessed character in the television series Sex and the City admitted to spending $40,000 on shoes even though she couldn’t pay her rent. “But I needed those,” said her character, Carrie Bradshaw. Bradshaw helped shoe designer Manolo Blahnik catapult to fame by wearing his pricey slippers on the show and justified her own shoe fixation by describing it as a“substance abuse problem.” An anonymous author clearly understood the powerful pull of this phenomena when he or she stated, “A pair of shoes can change your life. Just ask Cinderella.” One Bermuda fashionista who shall remain nameless but who is instantly recognizable by her fabulous footwear spent a fortune on two pairs of spectacular designer stiletto heels to be worn for just one event. Her justification for this podiatric costume change, “Well, of course I’ll need one pair for the ceremony and one for reception.” She did hang her head in moderate shame however when queried about the price of her wild expenditure which topped the $2000.00 mark. Then again, that is why they are called “guilty pleasures.”

 

 

 

 

Kristi Grayston who owns Bermuda’s Pulp and Circumstance Shop knows all about women with shoe obsessions and what that can mean for the man who is married to one.  “One year at Christmas one of our customers purchased a rather expensive ceramic shoe chandelier with ostrich feather shades to hang in his wife’s closet,” says Grayston.

Although shoes may be a weakness for some, Grayston has also witnessed other luxury items which are obsessively collected by her clientele. “We have several pen enthusiasts who purchase high end pens on a regular basis,” says Grayston. “The beauty and craftsmanship get them every time.”

Wonderful food is a major weakness for thousands of people including celebrity chef Nigella Lawson who believes that “Cooking is not a passion. It’s an obsession.” On her television show Lawson has revealed her own laundry list of food indulgences. A real favorite is a chocolate pot which is basically a dessert made from chocolate and butter and more chocolate. She also confessed to another secret splurge which was eating vast amounts of pasta dressed with butter and cream and consumed directly from the cooking pot as long as no one is watching her.  If you have seen her purr her way through the creation of any full fat dish you can hardly doubt that meals are magic to her.

The late great chef, Julia Child who believed “every woman should own a blow torch” was passionate about food as well. “Non-cooks think it’s silly to invest two hours’ work in two minutes’ enjoyment;” she said.  “But if cooking is evanescent, so is the ballet.“

A common food oriented splurge is plain old coffee. Millions of people are basically addicted to the brew and would never even consider beginning their day without an infusion of caffeinated fuel, regardless of the cost.  “I really think it’s a ‘must have’ for some people,” says Brendan Huttick who owns The Lemon Tree Shop in Bermuda and sells between 150 cups to 250 cups of coffee each day.

“We’ve got one-a-cup people. We’ve got two-a-cup people,” he says. “Some times I know how the week’s going to go when people get a tall or a short. If it’s going to be a good day for you, you just get a short cup.”

One cup would be all you could afford if you decided to buy Indonesia’s most famous and unusual brew. According to London’s Daily Telegraph, Kopi Luwak coffee comes from the Asian Palm Civit and will cost you $50.00 a cup or $500.00 a pound.The small cat-like Indonesian civits are “ fed coffee berries and their feces are collected and washed to make Kopi Luwak (civet coffee).“ Apparently the action of the civets’ stomach enzymes “results in a drink of unmatched richness of flavour that has none of coffee’s usual bitterness,” says the paper. Huttick has heard of civet coffee but has no plan to sell it in Bermuda.

If a whole nation can have a guilty pleasure than China fits the bill. Prices for Dahongpao tea soared to over $1000.00 for just 2 pounds in 2010. The tea was first grown to accommodate the emperors of the Ming Dynasty in the 1300’s. But it now serves the fancy of millions of Chinese and international buyers as well.  “Chinese traditionally prize tea as the symbolic heart of national culture and believe that in terms of varieties and taste differentials it is a rival to wine,” according to London’s Daily Telegraph.

The French have their own weaknesses and one of them is fine perfume. Couturier Gabrielle Coco Chanel, who named her perfume Chanel Number 5 because it was the 5th sample she tested once famously said that “a woman who doesn’t wear perfume has no future.”

That may be a bit harsh but many women must clearly agree as “the company estimates that a bottle {of Chanel #5} is sold worldwide every 55 seconds,” according to Wikipedia.

The owner of the Bermuda Perfumery in St. George echoes Coco Chanel’s perspective about the importance and impact of perfume.   “It is the color of one’s aura,” says  Isabelle Ramsay-Brackstone. “You cannot see it or touch it. You either love it or hate it. It rarely leaves you without emotions, good or bad!” Brackstone produces 7 scents for women and five for men and each contains 50 to 100 different oils. So one could consider the purchase of such an item a real indulgence since we wear it every day and would have to replenish it quite frequently.  But not Brackstone. “For me perfume is not a luxury because since my early childhood it was always part of the wardrobe,” says Brackstone. “ Just like you need to wear lipstick and mascara.  I would never go out without a scent.” Annick Goutal’s Eau D’hadrien is ranked as “the most expensive perfume in the world,” by  the website, luxuryitems.com. It costs  $1,500. 00 and is packaged in Baccarat crystal. Clive Christian who first produced beds now creates expensive scents for both women and men.  His  latest cologne for gentlemen will run you $865.00. But by far the granddaddy of all expensive perfumes has to be his Imperial Majesty which is described by Currentdose.com as “17 fl oz of pure irresistible lust for him and her.”  The web site says the scent costs “ $215,000. a bottle” and is “presented in a hand crafted baccarat crystal bottle with 5 carat brilliant cut diamond adornment personally escorted to your home in a Rolls-Royce.”

Some perfumes devotees will clearly go very far and very deep to indulge themselves. But for anyone who feels an acute sense of guilt when partaking in extravagances, consider two things. One, the guilt in guilty pleasure has been widely studied by prominent researchers. And two, they have found some very uplifting news.  The Journal of Marketing Research published a report in February 2009. It asked, “ Do we really need to indulge?” And the answer was, basically, Yes. Researchers found that although we predict we’ll feel guilty when we splurge on something just for fun rather than as a reward for some accomplishment like a promotion, let’s say, we don’t actually feel bad at all once the deed has been done.  “A lack of justification does not limit the actual enjoyment of an indulgence,” concluded the study. What’s more, consumers’ angst over indulgences “may deprive them of many enjoyable experiences, at least for the relatively small and inexpensive indulgences of every day lives, such as a fine dinner,” researchers said.

Of course, these studies were done to advise businesses about how they could better market their products and sell more effectively to consumers. But it also may suggest that in most cases a little guiltless self indulgent behavior can go a long way to enhancing the happiness factor in our lives.

Some people can only be happy sleeping on the most luxurious sheets imaginable and will consistently pay hundreds of dollars to ensure their good night’s sleep upon fine Egyptian cotton which boasts a 400 thread count. Porthault, for instance, is a French company known for providing pricey bedding all over the world. You could easily spend over $2000.00 for a set of its product.  It’s web site claims that “linens are not merely linens… they are a pleasure for all of one’s senses.”  Porthault also lists a who’s who of its clients including Winston Churchill, Grace Kelly and the Duchess of Windsor just to name a few.

“Spending several hundred dollars on your linens may seem like splurging,” says Elaine Murray, owner of the Linen Shop in Bermuda. “But long after your cheap and cheerful linens have been designated as dust rags you’ll still have beautiful linens.” Murray maintains that customers who splurge on their beds feel they deserve the best and consider their purchases “investments.”

People with a weakness for the finer things in their bedroom will not stop at fine sheets when creating ambiance in their sleeping quarters. Murray says another guilty pleasure for her customers is ensuring  soft lighting and a lovely aroma in the boudoir. “We have many clients who are absolutely mad for Cire Trudon candles,” which she says burn for 60 hours and are encased in hand blown glass. “Cire Trudon is the oldest continuous candle maker in Europe and has been in business since 1643” says Murray. “Luxury survived a revolution and Cire Trudon is proof,” she adds.

A tour on the internet uncovers many more ‘small’ personal pleasures that yield untold joy, including, indulging in a long Saturday morning lie-in, watching television all day long, reading Gothic novels, playing videos, or simply not shaving. A choice that could suit both men and women.

The lure of chocolate is a strong one and has long topped the list of guilty pleasures.  Some 2000 years ago the great Mayan civilization highly revered a specially concocted drink which the Mayans made with chocolate. According to WIKIPEDIA, “It was often seasoned with vanilla, chile pepper, and achiote, and was believed to fight fatigue, which is probably attributable to the theobromine content, a mood enhancer.” The on line encyclopedia adds that “chocolate was an important luxury good throughout the Aztec empire, {so much so that} cocoa beans were often used as currency.”

 

 

 

 

 

One Bermuda couple has actually turned an obsessive love of chocolate into a business. “My husband loves chocolate,” says Bernadette Walker who ran The Gourmet Boutique in Hamilton.  Although the store paired together many lovely, delectable foods it also provided a huge display of knee weakening confections for customers with a sweet tooth. “My gosh,” is all she can about the chocolates which are produced by the famous Belgian chocolate company, Galler.

“My guilty pleasure is Dewar’s,” says Bermudian Julie Rans. “The other thing is a good book. My favorite thing in the whole world to do is sit in a quiet room and read a book. I love it.” She doesn’t need the Dewar’s as well, she says, but it wouldn’t be a bad idea. Her husband’s guilty pleasure is gambling she says. “I think because he’s an intelligent person he gets a kick out of the rush of beating the bank.” Rans was one of several Bermuda women and men willing to discuss their secret indulgences regardless of how oddly personal they might be.

”Ironing,” admits Lyndsay Anderson. “ And polishing the silver, brass and shoes,” she says. “Because silver, brass and shoes {equal} instant gratification.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Books,” said one gentleman. There has never been a book shop he has ever passed without feeling a compulsion to move toward the door and into the worlds of thousands of authors yet unmet. He admits there is no more room on the nightstand and no space left on any bookshelf in his house but that doesn’t stop the collection from growing. “I love the feel and smell of books,” he says. “They’re educational. I see a book and I think, Oh I’d like to learn about that,” he says.

“My guilty pleasure is visiting my children because they live so far away,” says Judiann Smith. ‘When your children live 8-thousand miles away being with them is the pleasure. “

Indulgences are clearly not always about cost. Coco Chanel once said, “some people think luxury is the opposite of poverty. It is not. It is the opposite of vulgarity.”

Wendy Mason, Floor Manager of Blucks’ China says she knows exactly what a luxurious indulgence is to her. “Something that I can’t afford!”  Historically the most expensive secret splurge item at her shop was Royal Copenhagen’s Flora Danica which commands a price of $2000.00 per plate. Despite the high cost of china in general, Mason has plenty of clients who simply cannot resist expanding their various collections of wonderful table ware. “Years ago men would come in Christmas Eve and panic. Now they’re coming in all the time which is nice. Most of their wives collect the Herend {china} animals. There’s the tree frog prince priced at $265. And “the pig is a good seller,” she adds. Simply put, when you indulge your secret passion, “It lifts your spirits,” says Mason.

And never has a retailer been more delighted for the existence of guilty pleasures than Andrea Beazley, the buyer at Bermuda’s Calypso group of stores. She says despite the $350.00 price tag of her most popular cashmere sweaters customers grab them off the shelves as soon as they arrive each and every season. “Some people collect them. They’re like candy. The colors are so pretty and it is luxury,” she says. Andrea says she has also seen major splurges at Voila which is another Calypso store that serves the well-heeled traveler. “We have businessmen who like to buy Longchamp luggage ( at $600 plus), and Murphy shoes, and everything to match!”

Beazley says she made her own most recent personal secret splurge in New York City where she bought two pairs of impractical but beautiful over the knee leather boots.  “I have them standing up in my boot racks near the door and I’m like, ‘when is it ever going to get cold enough to wear these things?”’ She says she is hoping for a blizzard. On Bermuda? And although she admits to a bit of buyer’s remorse, Beazley, like most splurgers, couldn’t be happier with her find.

“It’s a luxury, it’s a want, it’s a thrill,” she says. “We work hard all day. I think you deserve to treat yourself every once in a while.”  Because, of course, “We’re worth it.”