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We check in for two days of restorative wellness. 

Contrary to first impressions, ‘clean’ beauty is a muddied world, rife with contradiction. But, sitting in front of Odacité founder Valerie Grandury as she talks through her exclusive partnership with Domaine des Etangs Auberge, the movement becomes a lot clearer.

After recovering from breast cancer, Grandury found that in her adopted home of California, there was little skincare that suited her needs post-treatment, and she longed for the premium products that came as standard in French pharmacies. The solution? To build the products herself. 

Following years of development in her own kitchen and making custom-blend skincare for a few select clients, Grandury launched Odacité in 2009. The brand’s take on clean beauty isn’t about naysaying so-called chemicals – instead, it’s about calling on powerful natural ingredients and pairing them with research-backed actives to create a 360-degree wellness brand that is gentle to skin and planet.

With a cult global following, Grandury is now on a mission to spread the word, placing her premium products at the heart of world-leading hotel spas. The partnership with Domaine des Etangs Auberge is a natural one, on all fronts. On a surface level, Odacité was launched in California by a French founder; Domaine des Etangs is the only French hotel by the California-based hotel group Auberge. But deeper than that, they share an ethos that, first and foremost,t looking to nature is the ideal way to build holistic health.

“It’s important to me to work with only a few partners and create something really exceptional,” says Grandury. While other collaborations of this kind might be born of sales-led negotiations, Grandury herself was at the heart of putting Odacité in the Domaine des Etangs spa. “I got in touch with the Domaine and said, ‘The specific thing about Odacité is that we try to create something that belongs to your hotel.’ So, I came and stayed at the Domaine and I had the chance to spend half a day with [the hotel’s groundsman] Francois, to go through the grounds and look at the plants – I’m an ingredient nerd.”

The main fruit of Grandury’s search through Domaine des Etangs’s 2,500-acre grounds (which surrounds an epic 12th-century chateau) was lemon balm. The fragrant herb hails from the mint family and is native to the Middle East and the Mediterranean but grows in abundance in the hotel’s sprawling grounds. This discovery guided the custom essential oil made specifically for the hotel. Bolstered by calming lavender and sweet, floral rose, the oil is heady and powerful. “When you’re at home, add a couple of drops in your hands to warm up the essential oil, [cup your hands] around your nose, take five really deep breaths, and it’s going to take you right back to the Domaine,” Grandury says.

It follows then that lemon balm is also the core ingredient in the signature Odacité x Domaine des Etangs treatment, where handpicked local herbs are used to concoct a soothing bath and an invigorating scrub, followed by an expert massage.

The real star of this new collaboration, however, is the facials. Utilizing almost the full breadth of Odacité products (including the bright blue Aqua micellar water, the Hydra-repair mist and the signature lemon balm oil) and personally conceived by Grandury, the two new facials are performed by Domaine des Etangs’s remarkably skilled therapists. It’s clear from the get-go that they understand not just the products they’re using, but also the structure of the skin and the face itself. As a result, the facials are tailored and intuitive, rather than one-size-fits-all all.

Acting as an embodiment of Odacité’s science-meets-nature ethos, the two facials cater to either end of the wellness spectrum. The Nano Infusion offering utilizes the high-tech nano pen to create tiny non-invasive punctures in the skin to better allow products to penetrate. The Temple of Beauty facial, on the other hand, calls on more nurturing methods. Structured gua sha techniques are used to promote lymphatic drainage and gentle massage movements create lift and glow, without more invasive tools.

For a full immersion into the Odacité x Domaine des Etangs collaboration, the hotel has launched a three-day wellness stay. As well as taking in the very best of Domaine des Etang’s amenities, including dinner at the Michelin-starred Dyades, guided walks through the art-filled grounds and lakeside picnics, the package showcases the hotel’s vast wellness offering, including the indoor Roman bathing circuit, guided meditation and a choice of bespoke Odacité treatment.

aubergeresorts.com

The Fusion of Mexican Craft, Indian Style, and Shared Storytelling Takes the Gold at the 2025 San Francisco World Spirits Competition The Fusion of Mexican Craft, Indian Style, and Shared Storytelling Takes the Gold at the 2025 San Francisco World Spirits Competition

A Chinese tourist reportedly jumped into one of the protected pits where he “pushed and pulled” the clay warriors. A Chinese tourist reportedly jumped into one of the protected pits where he “pushed and pulled” the clay warriors.

The rare landmark 1960s property in Santa Monica was the legendary Brazilian modernist’s only residential project in the U.S. The rare landmark 1960s property in Santa Monica was the legendary Brazilian modernist’s only residential project in the U.S.

Currently available through online-auction house SBX Cars, the 2022 Ford GT Holman Moody Heritage Edition is one of only 21 examples built. Currently available through online-auction house SBX Cars, the 2022 Ford GT Holman Moody Heritage Edition is one of only 21 examples built.

A duo of legacy restaurants that remain as important, as relevant and as sought-after now as they ever were. 

But in a social media world, where fast-moving trends often dictate the masses (and ergo the reservations), some pillars remain. Acting as beacons of timelessness and championing the ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ ethos, a core group of restaurants have stood the test of time and remain as important, as relevant and as sought-after now as they ever were.

Click here to read our interview with The Ritz Restaurant’s executive chef John Williams on how he is keeping an icon relevant.

The Ritz Restaurant, London

Inexplicably, The Ritz Restaurant first opened its doors in 1906 (even more inexplicably, it is somehow not even the oldest restaurant in London, with some dating to the 1700s). The bona fide institution has lived through two world wars (including one that almost flattened the hotel), 25 prime ministers and six monarchs. HRH Queen Elizabeth II dined here, and her mother before that and her son since; The Ritz Restaurant is as ingrained in London’s identity as the river that runs through the city.

Expensive? Yes, absolutely (appetizers begin at £40 (approx. $53) and steadily head up). Glitzy? Without doubt (gilded chandeliers drip from a frescoed ceiling, and waiters are dressed to the nines in coattails) — but somehow still comforting, still familiar and always welcoming, whether you’re a regular or a first-timer.

“It’s the people’s hotel,” states executive chef John Williams, who assumed the helm of the iconic kitchens in 2004. “A very special people’s hotel, but a people’s hotel all the same.” And yet, despite its mammoth history, The Ritz Restaurant remains a beacon of the current London dining scene. Under Williams’ expert lead, the restaurant has deftly evolved to suit a more modern clientele.

These changes are subtle but sure: Classic sauce recipes that were once incredibly rich, for example, have been artfully lightened, and seemingly minor updates such as introducing new tableware have been painstakingly deliberated over for years before being finalized.

“If you don’t evolve, you die,” he reinforces. “And the only way to move forward is to listen to the guest.” In 2017, well over a century since it first opened, The Ritz Restaurant was granted its first Michelin star. Then, in February 2025, The Ritz Restaurant was awarded its second Michelin star. The proof is in the flambéed pudding: The Ritz is as good as ever.

theritzlondon.com

Le Bernadin, New York City

Across the Atlantic Ocean, restaurant institutions, particularly those of the ‘luxury’ persuasion, tend to be a little younger. Although now an NYC mainstay, the Le Bernardin name was first established by legendary sibling restaurateurs Maguy and Gilbert Le Coze in Paris in 1972. The restaurant thrived, and three Michelin stars were duly awarded.

But not satisfied with Parisian success alone, the siblings decided America was ready for them: In 1986, a second Le Bernardin opened in New York City, and the siblings sold their original Paris iteration. Le Bernardin 2.0 followed the same principles as its sparkly big sister, using classic French cookery techniques to highlight the finest seafood available. Clearly, 1980s New York had a taste for old-school French dining, and Le Bernardin thrived in its new home.

Following the untimely death of the massively influential Gilbert Le Coze in 1994, his sister sought the help of longtime collaborator and colleague Eric Ripert — a French-born chef who grew up in Andorra, a small neighbor of Spain with a robust culinary heritage. Building on Gilbert’s legacy, Ripert and Maguy have continued to establish Le Bernardin as one of Manhattan’s, if not the country’s, finest restaurants, revered for its sensitivity toward seafood preparation (so sensitive, in fact, that many dishes edge toward the border of ‘raw’).

Another French export, the Michelin Guide, landed in New York for the first time in 2005, and Le Bernardin’s mettle was properly tested. Never fear: The restaurant was awarded three stars at the first time of asking and has held all of those stars ever since. Now, even in the trend-ridden TikTok age, Le Bernardin remains one of the city’s most sought-after reservations. A refusal to bow to trends and an admirable stubbornness remain core to Le Bernardin’s success: “No, I don’t follow trends. I potentially get inspired by them,” Ripert firmly states.

le-bernardin.com

Michael Browne’s follow-up to Kosta Browne is just as good—if not better. Michael Browne’s follow-up to Kosta Browne is just as good—if not better.

J. Rieger is making some seriously good whiskey, as evidenced by this new release. J. Rieger is making some seriously good whiskey, as evidenced by this new release.

The Off-White x Air Force 1 Low “Sesame” was reportedly intended to release previously in Qatar only. The Off-White x Air Force 1 Low “Sesame” was reportedly intended to release previously in Qatar only.

Sales on the secondary market were up at the month’s end. Sales on the secondary market were up at the month’s end.