Celebrity Life

Thanks to just how quickly Mercury moves — and the number of times a year it appears to move backwards from our vantage point on earth — it's likely the planet you most associate with retrogrades. But it's far from the only planet that requires us to slow down and go inward every so often.

Romantic Venus kicked off its retrograde on December 19, 2021 spurring reflection around all of the areas of life it oversees — relationships, beauty, love, money, and values — until January 29, 2022.

If that sounds like a total downer, take heart: Because the retrograde is happening in industrious cardinal earth sign Capricorn, there's a pragmatic vibe to this transit, which lends itself to pinpointing actionable steps and rational solutions instead of just spinning your wheels.

Here's what you need to know about Venus' 2021-2022 retrograde.

What It Means When Venus Is Retrograde

The planet of love, which oversees how you relate to others, how you flirt and express yourself artistically, how you experience pleasure, and what you value and see as aesthetically pleasing, is a personal planet that spends about a month in each sign. It also goes retrograde — in other words, slows down and appears to be moving backwards — every 18 months.

When moving direct (aka when it's not retrograde), Venus colours how you externally relate to others (not only romantically but platonically or collegially), experience love, romance, and beauty, and think about money and material possessions. One of the benefic planets (the other being Jupiter), which are thought to bring good fortune, Venus has a pleasure- and charm-boosting effect on anything it's interacting with. Say it's in your third house of communication; because it's such a social planet and the third house is all about connecting with others, you'll be especially charming, curious, and capable of hitting it off with a variety of people, possibly brainstorming artistic ideas right and left. If it's in your tenth house of career and public image, you'll be particularly magnetic when you step into the spotlight and especially capable of making a winning impression on higher-ups.

And when Venus is retrograde, which occurs for about six weeks, you can expect delays, confusion, and a nudge to go inward in regard to the areas of life the romance planet rules. Like Mercury retrograde, Venus' backward turn is a time to go back to the drawing board, reflect, revise — but specifically in terms of relationships, creative projects, and financial endeavours.

Your focus — aka your Venus retrograde mission, if you will — is based on the house of your natal, or birth chart that Venus is retrograde in. For instance, if it's in your first house of self, you'll be reflecting on your personal brand and how you want to be presenting yourself in the world. If it's in your seventh house of partnership, you'll be meditating on your closest one-on-one relationships.

And while Venus retrogrades are not to be treated as huge, fear-mongering red flags for moving forward on anything related to love, beauty, and money, it's not the ideal time to tie the knot (unless perhaps you and/or your partner were born with natal Venus retrograde or it's a remarriage, which would be fitting), get a bold makeover, buy a new wardrobe, or make a major financial investment. Instead, this transit's all about addressing and nurturing Venusian business that's already well underway.

What to Know About 2021-2022's Venus Retrograde

Because Venus retrogrades happen every 18 months, the last one was from May 13 to June 26, 2020, in mutable air sign Gemini, which is ruled by Mercury, the planet of communication. So the tone of the transit was actually a bit mercurial, fueling miscommunication — but also curiosity and ability to gather information, as the sign of the Twins is prone to do — in our relationships.

This time around, Venus moves backwards through cardinal earth sign Capricorn, ruled by taskmaster Saturn, so the vibe is quite different. Hardworking Capricorn, symbolised by the Sea Goat, is determined to reach the peak of any mountain it attempts to climb, and its ruler, Saturn, the planet of limitations, boundaries, and commitment, asks us to put in the work to truly earn whatever it is we're aiming for. So as Venus retrograde encourages you to take a step back and smooth over the rough edges in your relationships to others, yourself, and money, the fact that it's in Capricorn can help you come up with a practical, step-by-step game plan for doing just that — and then, once Venus is direct, using what you've learned to make concrete progress.

The retrograde's Cap vibes also mean you can expect more internalising and reflection about topics that fall under Saturn's realm: practising setting boundaries, learning to say "no," better understanding your limits, etc.

A few days when you might feel the Venus retrograde energy more than others:

December 25: Venus pairs up with transformative Pluto for the second time this month (the first was when Venus was direct on December 11), intensifying desires in a way that could even morph into infatuation and power play.

December 29: Messenger Mercury and Venus pair up, which could be a wonderful moment for having a healing heart-to-heart to tackle an ongoing emotional issue with a loved one or friend ahead of ringing in the new year.

January 5: Venus forms a friendly sextile to dreamy Neptune in imaginative Pisces, which could be a wonderful time to catch up on your zzz's — and daydreams.

January 8: The confident sun and Venus pair up, potentially marking a turning point in your personal Venus retrograde narrative. Feeling more self-assured, you could be prepared to take action.

The Signs That Will Be Most Affected by Venus Retrograde

Although every sign could feel the love planet's backward turn, those born while the sun was in Capricorn — from December 22 to January 21 — or with personal planets (the sun, moon, Mercury, Venus, or Mars) in the sign of the Sea Goat (something you can learn from your natal chart) will feel this retrograde more than most.

If you want to get even more specific, check to see if you have a personal planet that falls within five degrees of where Venus stations retrograde and direct (26 degrees Capricorn and 11 degrees Capricorn). If so, you'll be especially stirred to slow down and go inward to clarify how you're showing up in your closest bonds, how you're defining and viewing beauty, and how you're valuing money and material possessions.

The Grounded Takeaway

The word retrograde tends to trigger a great deal of nervousness, fear, and worry, whether talking about Venus, Mercury, or any celestial body. It's important to remember that these transits are just a part of the universe's "regularly scheduled programming" and serve a crucial purpose: to take a step back and tie up loose ends related to the themes that the planet in question deals with. As much as you might love to be ploughing forward 24/7/365 every year of your life, retrogrades remind you that it's okay to take a break — especially in order to reassess and edit key areas of your life.

While Venus is most comfortable when it's moving through ethereal, romantic signs like social Libra and dreamy Pisces, the fact that it's turning backwards in Capricorn could really be seen as a gift. After all, the Sea Goat's work ethic is downright enviable. There are few signs who are so fired up to go all in to achieve whatever it is they've set out to do, even if it takes a ton of time, energy, patience, and resilience. By holding that ethos in mind, it's possible to see this Venus retrograde as a special opportunity to lay the groundwork for a beautiful, inspiring, pleasure-filled 2022.

This story first appeared on www.shape.com.

(Main and Feature Image Credit: Alex Sandoval)

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As Chaumet's CEO Jean-Marc Mansvelt tells us, bringing the house's 240-year heritage into the modern era is an immense task that amounts to a "daily obsession". But if the new pieces in the Chaumet Joséphine collection are anything to go by, the Place Vendôme stalwart is heading in the right direction.

What kind of woman today does the Joséphine collection appeal to?

First, it’s about a woman with a certain character. Because when you choose to wear a tiara on your finger, you’re making a choice of distinction, a choice of character. You’re sending a message to say you’re not like everyone else and you have a certain strength and a certain personality. But also a sense of virtuosity, grace and beauty, because it’s not for women who want to be too provocative.

It’s a way to set your personality. And then of course, there are two major reasons to become a client of Joséphine. On one side, it remains one of the favourite pieces chosen for a bridal purpose. It’s connected to the initial history of Chaumet, the history of the power and love between Napoleon and Joséphine. And Napoleon is known everywhere, that’s incredible. There’s another type of client on the other side of the connection with the pearls, the coloured stones, something a bit easier and more accessible.

This year, Chaumet's creations have also incorporated sleeker, more modern takes on the tiara. Can you tell us a bit about the new high jewellery?

After many creations that were a bit more tiara-like, a bit more decorative, more visible, more baroque in a certain way, we wanted to enrich the collection with new ways to mix and match, and to go for designs that were slicker, with a more minimalist approach, because that’s also the style of today. We have a feeling that clients today are a little more understated, and we have the capacity to create beauty through a fine line, rather than an accumulation. So one of our high- jewellery pieces, which is sort of a V with a stone in suspension, doesn’t shout about its design. It’s all about balance.

This year is the 10th anniversary of the Joséphine collection...

But we don’t mark it that way for two reasons. I always feel that if you start doing anniversaries for everything, then at the end, what’s the meaning in it? Last year, when we did the 240 years of Chaumet, that was slightly different. For Chaumet, our heritage is much longer than a decade, it’s about centuries. Instead, this year, we’re celebrating our connection with the 200th anniversary of the death of Napoleon, which is significant in Europe and in France. We’ve done an exhibition at 12 Place Vendôme that was open to the public which tells the love story of Napoleon and Josephine through 150 different objects, beautiful loans from museums and private owners.

Which piece proved to be the most challenging piece in the collection?

The most discussed and the most debated one was the watch. Because we’re clearly a jeweller, and we’ve focused all our efforts and attention on jewellery. But since a few years ago, we’ve reassessed and repositioned what watches mean for Chaumet. It’s true that with the business of watches within Chaumet, we’ve really tried to be coherent with what the story of watchmaking for Chaumet is as a jeweller. One of our challenges was to look at the market – in the market, 90 percent of watches are round – and nobody’s waiting for Chaumet to create a round watch, because we already have thousands of beautiful options on the market.

We decided on a shaped watch, and it wasn’t very difficult to settle on the pear shape, like an illusion of a diamond. We also faceted the watch’s dial.

How do you balance 240 years of heritage behind a brand and stay relevant at the same time?

That’s really the obsession every single day. How do we continue the narrative, the link to the story? Since the pandemic, we’ve seen clients choose Chaumet because there’s longevity. And so it becomes a daily obsession of ours to convey this message to our clients through different means, including the digital approach, so we can speak to the needs of our audience today. We also go through the traditional channels and have books and exhibitions. I regularly write down on paper in two columns: on one side, how much do we tell the story of Chaumet, and on the other, how do we take a contemporary approach, either through the narrative or through using different tools? I take a step back and ask myself is there a balance? If we’re going too much in one direction, maybe it’s time to rebalance. It’s in everything we do.

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Having a child is a life-changing moment, dictating the start of a whole new chapter in life where your priorities get reshuffled and suddenly nothing matters apart from the sleeping (or crying) baby in your arms. This was the predicament Joyce Lau found herself in, who changed the entire course of her career in 2018 to start a new company, NakedLab, to bring quality bedding for her then two-month-old daughter, who was battling serious eczema.

A former architect and now a full-time mother and entrepreneur, Lau tells us about her frustrations with the bedding industry, her belief in the health benefits of bamboo textiles, and how she hopes NakedLab can ultimately bring a family better sleep, health, and mindset overall.

Name: Joyce Lau
Profession: Entrepreneur
Industry: Textiles and bedding
Company size: 8
Startup since: 2018

When did you launch your company and why?

NakedLab™️ was founded in 2018 when I became a mother. When Pia was 2 months old, she was battling a serious eczema situation. With this sudden urgent need to focus more on skin health and sleep health, I struggled as a new mother shopping for quality bedding that didn't break the bank. So many options were overwhelming and unreliable in terms of quality. That sparked my curiosity to find out that the bedding industry was very ambiguous and antiquated. This frustration initiated the beginning of my journey and the birth of NakedLab™️.

Retailers were selling high-end bedding at up to ten times markup, inflating thread counts, and operating on bloated supply chains that added to cost but not quality. I had no background in textiles or manufacturing, but I soon realised just how savvy one can become after spending one year educating myself on the industry, visiting factories, and sampling fabrics.

I discovered bamboo sheets, which have a lot of health benefits. It's not only scientifically backed to make you sleep better because of its thermoregulating properties, but it is also naturally anti-dust mite, anti-bacterial and hypoallergenic. It also feels so silky soft and feels extremely luxurious.

We focus on Oeko-Tex certified BambooSilk fabric, which is free from harmful chemicals although because I insist on the Oeko-Tex certification, it means that the bedding is more easily creased than cotton (which is dipped in chemicals) and has to be carefully handled (cold or low-temperature wash, and no bleach and tumble dry). We started out with one product, which is a pink baby cot sheet for Pia, but have since added kids' bedding, adult bedding, and duvets, which are coming soon.

To me, NakedLab is more than just a shop that sells bedding. Bedding is such an overlooked item at home – it's a household item where we spend most of our hours (the average person spends almost 230,000 hours of their life in bed, that's approximately 26 years!) and it is also the one item our skin has the closest contact with. I believe a good set of bedding gives you not just good sleep, but also the foundation to good health and most importantly for me, a good mindset. And that is the key to a happy home and a happy life. This is what kept me going, it just makes me so happy knowing that I can help make a little difference to somebody’s sleep and happiness because they had a good rest.

Was sustainability a factor for you when you created your line?

I think sustainability is an essential factor in any business nowadays, that’s fundamental. I’m not even going to dive into the manufacturing process, for one simple fact is that bamboo is one of the fastest-growing plants in the world, with some species growing up to three feet a day. It doesn’t require the use of pesticides, or any other agrochemicals, nor fertilizer or irrigation, both of which are common in cotton farming - cotton sheets are still the traditional choice of bedding while so many of us still know anything about bamboo bedding.

Did you always want to be an entrepreneur?

Not in a million years! I wanted to be an architect since I was very young, and I have not strayed from that path until now. I was trained in the UK and came back to Hong Kong for a China development project eight years ago.

Your husband is also an entrepreneur. Has he helped you in any way along your own start-up journey?

He is my mentor when it comes to business. He has so much more experience in terms of this entrepreneur journey. I have seen all the downs and I see how he overcomes them and becomes better and better every day. I always say I understand what he is going through, but honestly, I only truly understand now when I became an entrepreneur myself. Your business is like your own baby, it’s so close to heart. Because you build it yourself, sweat and tears. He always says “running a business is all about self-improvement and self-challenge every day”, there’s many more other good quotes from him because he reads so much, he’s the most disciplined person I have ever met. I always go to him when I need advice.

What are some do's and don'ts of starting your own company?

If I can give one piece of advice to the aspiring business owner, I will say: don't try to do everything at once. When you have an idea, you often get overly excited and try to get everything done at once. I think the key is to really do it step-by-step and to try to balance the inside and outside of the business. Prioritizing is super important; try to focus and tackle one hurdle at a time.

You started your business at a time when you still had a full-time job and caring for a newborn. Thinking back now, would you have done it any other way?

I think that was the perfect timing. When I started, it was really just a passion project, I didn't think it would go far. I had a full-time job and a daughter, and a side business was taking a lot of time, especially at the early stages. But I have learned how to hyper-focus, delegate and prioritize. That was something I was pushed to learn when I had so many hats on, and now I think these are the keys to success!

Has the pandemic impacted your business in any way – good or bad?

In a good way for sure. People are now very curious and focus on wellbeing and self-love. People are also staying at home more often, they are more aware of and yearn for good quality products so business is taking off.

What's in the works currently?

Loads of exciting things. In October, we're finally launching our very own 100 percent bamboo duvet – say bye to allergies! In December, we're launching a donation/ repurpose programme with Hong Kong Dog Rescue where we'll be setting up recycling stations at major offices and donating old bedsheets to rescued dogs at their shelter for the winter season.

We're also planning for more colours, mattresses … and in February we're launching an exciting new product that we'll have more information for later. But very exciting things are coming up.

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