Archive for September, 2010

In This Month’s VSP EnVision Newsletter We Tackle Whether Lash Growth Serums Equal the End of Mascara as We Know It (And Will You Feel Fine?)

This month’s topic in my monthly “Ask The Eye Doctor” column in the VSP EnVision Newsletter might at first seem like a purely cosmetic one:

“Are new lash-growth serums the end of mascara as we know it?”

But if you dig a little deeper, this question goes more than skin-deep.

So ladies, before you throw out that tube of Chanel Inimitable to test drive one of the many eyelash growth products on the market, be sure to read this month’s column to understand how and why they work, as well as the potential risks.

CrowdRise, ALS Michigan and Quicken Loans are out to raise $70,000 dollars in just seven days using Facebook, Twitter and Social Media. Urban Optiques is Donating His and Her Tom Ford Sunglasses to the Top Fundraiser!

In Downtown Detroit right now, there is an entire group of passionate, dedicated people on a mission: Help whip ALS.

They are out mining their Facebook networks, reaching out to bloggers, Tweeting like crazy, throwing in not only their own dollars, but also their precious time all to hit a very lofty and aggressive goal: Raise $70,000 dollars in just seven days for ALS Research and do it all via small, $10 donations from people on Twitter, Facebook and a social fundraising website called “CrowdRise.”

ALS — Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, often referred to as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease,” is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. The mind stays sharp, but the body literally withers away making the person a virtual prisoner in their own body. The disease is fatal and has no cure. And it typically claims the persons life within 2-3 years.

The Tweet for ALS Team at Quicken Loans put together a video explaining ALS and what they are trying to do this week on YouTube. Take a just a few minutes to watch it:

How You Can Help?

Urban Optiques has joined the “Tweet for ALS” Cause this week because as one of the lesser known diseases out there, ALS simply doesn’t get the type of attention or fundraising dollars that other big (but equally important) causes like breast cancer receive.  But for anyone who has known someone who has battled ALS or understands the awful, debilitating and lethal toll this disease takes on its victims, it deserves our attention and dollars.

We also have lots of patients and clients from Quicken Loans, so we like supporting the causes that our clients support.

Finally we like that “Tweet for ALS” is trying to make a statement about the power of social networks to do good. The goal of the seven day fund-raising campaign is to raise $70,000 dollars in a very short period of time not through giant corporate donations, but a series of small, affordable $10 donations from average people.

When you think about it, this should be easy to do:  The average Facebook user has 130 friends, so if just 500 people were able to get a mere six $10 dollar donations from their friends, Tweet for ALS would have already met nearly half of their goal. If each of those six people who donated were able to get six more donations of $10 dollars themselves, we’d be at $60,000 dollars almost overnight.

You can donate by joining the Urban Optiques Tweet for ALS Team on http://www.crowdrise.com/tweetforals/fundraiser/urbanoptiques

Upping the Ante: Free His and Her Tom Ford Sunglasses for the Top Fundraiser!

To help the fundraising effort, Urban Optiques is giving away a pair of his and hers Tom Ford sunglasses with a retail value of nearly $1,000 dollars to the top fundraiser on the Urban Optiques “Tweet for ALS” Team on CrowdRise. We’ll award the sunglasses to the person who has raised the most money as of midnight, Thursday September 23.

To sign up and start raising money and qualify for the prize, just go here: http://www.crowdrise.com/tweetforals/fundraiser/urbanoptiques

It literally takes less than 60 seconds to sign-up and Crowdrise makes it easy for you to share and reach out to your Facebook friends and Twitter followers.  Our goal for the Urban Optiques team is to raise $1,000 dollars in the next 48 hours.  So let’s get started!

We Just Added More than 30 New Chrome Hearts Eyeglasses and Sunglasses to the Urban Optiques Collection! Be Sure to Stop in and Check Them Out …

For the past few weeks, it’s been Chrome Hearts heaven around Urban Optiques.

We’ve just received our last shipment of new 2011 Chrome Hearts Eyewear models and we’re already seeing Chrome Hearts devotees come out of the woodwork to snatch up the latest, and hottest new models from the L.A.-based luxury eyewear maker.

The addition of more than 30 new models to our existing inventory makes the Urban Optiques Chrome Hearts Eyewear Collection the largest and deepest in Michigan (there is only one other eyewear boutique in Metro-Detroit authorized to carry them.)

This month’s 944 Detroit Swag Giveaway Features a Amazing Pair of Special Edition Badgley Mischka Boyd Sunglasses from Urban Optiques.  Enter Now for Your Chance to Win Them!

Okay, summer is pretty much over, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be plenty of sun-filled mornings and afternoons ahead of you requiring a great pair of shades.

In celebration of the Fall fashion season, 944 Detroit and Urban Optiques are giving away another fab pair of couture sunglasses:  This time a pair of  Special Edition Badgley Mischka Boyd acetate aviators  with 18K white gold couture lenses valued at $780 dollars.

A unisex sunglass, the Boyd has been spotted on everyone from Brad Pitt to singer Kelly Rowland to models Heidi Klum and Alessandra Ambrosio.  While the Boyd is celeb favorite, no one has yet been seen in the Special Edition version of the Boyd we are giving away this month.  So if you win the Boyd, you’ll be setting the trend here.

How Do I Enter to Win?

Entering for a chance to win these lux sunglasses from Badgley Mischka Eyewear, Urban Optiques and 944 Detroit is easy: Just click over to the 944 Detroit Swag page and fill out the short registration form (it’s only a couple of fields.)  Not only will you be entered in the sunglass giveaway, but you’ll also have a chance at winning a print by emerging local artist Mark Sarmel.

Enter To Win One of Ten $2,500 “Gear Up Grants” from Urban Optiques Contact Lens Partner CooperVision!

As any parent knows, equipment — whether for team athletics, individual sports or even music — is expensive.  And in tougher economic times, it can be harder than ever to outfit a team or child with the necessary gear to participate.

So when our contact lens rep from CooperVision stopped by this week and told us about a new grant program CooperVision is sponsoring as part of their “Life is a Contact Sport” initiative, we were instantly on-board with promoting it — especially since we know that so many of our clients have children who participate in athletics, group sports and band.

How It Works

Here’s how it works:  CooperVision’s “Life is a Contact Sport” program will award ten $2,500 dollar “Gear Up Grants” to help winning teams, individual athletes/performers or communities “gear up” this season. The winners decide what gear they need.

To enter, all you have to do is have your teen register and submit their story in video or a series of photos on the CooperVision “Life is a Contact Sport” Gear Up Grant website. The subject of the story should be why your teen, their team, or the community should win a Gear Up Grant and what they would do with the money if they win.

Entries have to be submitted by September 30, 2010 and judging to choose the top 30 finalists takes place in early October.  The finalists will then be posted to the “Life is A Contact Sport” website on October 18th, and visitors to the site will then get to vote on who they think should win the 10 grants.

Winners will be announced in early December.

What’s especially cool about this promotion is that CooperVision made it very inclusive: The Gear Up Grants don’t just apply to athletics — but other activities such as music or dance. So if you need to outfit your child or community band with instruments, you can apply for the grant as well.

Bonus! Prescription Sports Eyewear

Plus, any team member or performer who wears contact lenses or glasses will also be outfitted with CooperVision contact lenses for a full year. Submitting your story is a snap – just visit the CooperVision website to enter.

We’d love to see one of our patients win one of these 10 grants. Time is running on out this grant cycle so if you’re ready to Gear Up, get moving with your story!

Grab the Kids and Join Urban Optiques Sunday September 26 at the DIA for a day of Education and Fun at the 15th Annual Metro Parent Education Expo. It’s FREE!

Looking for something fun, educational and best of all — FREE — to do with the family and kids on Sunday afternoon?

How about joining Urban Optiques and more than sixty of the area’s top educational leaders at the Detroit Institute of Arts for the 15th Annual Metro Parent “Education Expo?”

The event, which runs from 10 am to 4 pm on Sunday, September 26,  not only provides you with free access to dozens of interactive exhibits,  but also let’s you DISCOVER the best opportunities for your children’s academic success from metro Detroit’s educational leaders! Even better, you can EXPLORE the exciting galleries at the Detroit Institute of Arts all for FREE.

The Urban Optiques Team will be on hand at booth #23 during the Metro Parent Education Expo with a cool, interactive display on optical illusions that is guaranteed to not only amaze, but also educate kids, moms and dads on how optical illusions work, and what they can tell us about our vision.

We’ll also be performing free vision screenings for the whole family, since studies show that vision problems are one of the leading reasons for poor academic performance among children and teens.

Finally, we’ll also be giving away lots of  fun door prizes for attendees who enter our special drawing.

For more information and to pre-register for this always-well-attended event, visit Metro Parent Magazine online.

Hope to see all of you there!

RVS by V Eyewear Blends Handmade Craftsmanship with Fab Retro Styling, Shapes and Colors.  Should We Carry RVS Eyewear at Urban Optiques?

At Urban Optiques, we’re always looking for the new and unusual to add to our eyewear collections.

We’re partial to small, exclusive independent boutique eyewear brands — especially those that show a high-level of commitment to producing not only exceptionally-designed eyeglasses and sunglasses, but also understand the value of quality over quantity.

So when we ran across RVS by V Eyewear, we were instantly enamored with not only the bold colors and distinctive retro-inspired shapes of the frames, but also the philosophy of RVS by V Eyewear and its owner Vidal Erkohen.

RVS Eyewear’s claim-to-fame is that they hand-make and assemble each frame from the ground up.  Based in Istanbul Turkey, Vidal Erkohen and RVS Eyewear produce their eyeglasses and sunglasses from the highest-quality Mazzuchelli acetate.  The acetate is left unpolished, producing a truly bold, unique matte finish that we simply haven’t seen on other frames of this quality in the marketplace.

When we contacted Vidal Erkohen to ask him about the possibility of stocking RVS Eyewear, he explained the company philosophy very succinctly:

“We believe it’s very important to produce eyewear for people who value quality over quantity. Each piece we manufacture is truly HANDMADE.  This does not mean they were “hand-placed in a case.”  Everything is truly made from hand:  From our hand painted-red screws, brand prints inside the temples made one-by-one, and hand-sewn satin cases;  all of our pieces are made with the goal to bring back the originality and quality that was put into eyewear of the past.”

RVS produces its eyewear like small batches of fine wine — their collection is relatively small compared to most eyewear lines, comprising 10 opthalmic frames and 11 sunglass models for a total of 21 frames.  Each model is typically available in five to six different colors.

Each RVS eyeglass and sunglass is limited to 1,500 pieces, making it extra-exclusive and ensuring that you’ll be only one of 1,000 people in the world to own any given RVS by V Eyewear piece.

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What’s Hot? Detroit’s Truly Independent Trendsetters Dish On What’s “In Store” For Fall Style

Last month Candace Dickow at 944 Detroit approached us with a very cool opportunity: 944 was looking for 10 of Metro-Detroit’s leading Independent  Trendsetters to participate in a special two-page feature in 944’s September Fashion Issue on what we thought would be hot this season in terms of fashion, style and accessories.

What we especially loved about the concept was that unlike many of the other major local, upscale lifestyle magazines in Metro-Detroit, 944 chose to focus on smaller, independent businesses, versus simply falling back on the big, upscale department stores that seem to be featured over-and-over again in other local magazines’ fashion spreads and pictorials.

At Urban Optiques, we’ve always scratched our heads when we see the local glossies turn to the giant department stores for product and insight on style trends.

We have scores of fantastic, smaller, independent boutiques and retailers right here in Metro-Detroit that have deep expertise in their industries and are blazing fashion and style trails at a pace that the more conservative department store buyers simply aren’t willing to commit to.  And many of these featured businesses are offering deeper, more unique and exclusive collections than the corporate giants at Somerset Mall. In fact, in the case of Urban Optiques, most of our eyeglasses and sunglass brands simply can’t be purchased

Last month Urban Optiques sponsored the 2nd Annual “Buy Michigan First Festival” in Northville, and based on attendance and response, there is a tremendous amount of demand in Metro-Detroit for supporting the types of businesses featured in the “Independent Trendsetters” spread in 944.  These smaller businesses create jobs, keep a large portion of their profits in the local economy, tend to reinvest into the community and are quickly putting Detroit back on the map as as an up-and-coming center of creativity, entrepreneurship — and yes — style.

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