On Feb­ru­ary 1, Mar­li Street, Port-of-Spain was abuzz with ex­cite­ment as pa­trons flocked to the launch of CARIV­il­lage. Ac­cord­ing to spokesman, Dr Al­lana Roach, CARIV­il­lage is a fun shop­ping en­vi­ron­ment which show­cas­es prod­ucts and ser­vices avail­able in the Caribbean, as well as those that cater to the Caribbean dis­po­ra. Host­ed at Stu­dio W, an ex­clu­sive women's fit­ness fa­cil­i­ty, the launch of­fered its guests a first glimpse at ex­quis­ite Car­ni­val cloth­ing and ac­ces­sories avail­able from lo­cal dis­trib­u­tors, Karamel Cloth­ing, I Live 4 Gems, MysJo, Sexy Trea­sures and Git­ta­nia Mia. The high­light of the evening was the un­veil­ing of the CARIV­il­lage Car­ni­val 2012 Sig­na­ture Look, cre­at­ed by make-up artist Lisan Sootim. Pa­trons shopped, some danced and all net­worked while en­joy­ing de­li­cious lo­cal cui­sine catered by Cafe Mari­posa. One lucky pa­tron was award­ed a makeover and oth­ers re­ceived meal vouch­ers from Wendy's Restau­rant.

CARIV­il­lage will be host­ed at Stu­dio W every Sat­ur­day un­til Car­ni­val from 9 am to 2 pm. It cul­mi­nates on Car­ni­val Tues­day with an all-in­clu­sive Car­ni­val make-up ex­pe­ri­ence. (Dion Roach)