Top 10 fashion and beauty ideas

1. Yakkay — Stylish helmets for urban cyclists
2. Transitional Sizes — Clothing rental for size-changing dieters
3. Catwalk Genius — Adopt-a-designer program for crowdfunded fashion
4. Sneakart — Customizing sneakers with removable stickers
5. Stitsh — Click to buy: fashion blog is a street version of shopping mags
6. Keds & Zazzle — Design your own Keds & sell them on Zazzle
7. Tomboy Trades — Steel-toes and tool belts for women
8. colorOn & Eye Majic — Press-on eye shadow kits
9. Diesel & Roskilde — Limited-edition festival jeans
10. Dondup — Bringing a dye back from the dead: luxury jeans tinted a long dormant blue

10. Sonntagmorgen

We've featured two businesses that offer custom-blended tea: Blends For Friends in the UK and Design A Tea in the US. Since tea-lovers aren't the only ones to yearn for a hot beverage they can call their very own, we knew it wouldn't be long before one of our Springspotters pointed us to a company offering custom-blended coffee.

From Germany this time, Sonntagmorgen (German for Sunday morning) sells made-to-order coffee blends online. Customers can choose from nine regional varieties and set their own blend ratios. A 250 gram pack of coffee can contain 4/7ths Ethiopian Sidamo and 3/7ths Indian Pearl Mountain, for example. Adjusting is easy: just flick arrows up or down. Once the momentous blend decisions have been made, coffee-meisters specify a grind (or whole beans), and can then move on to add flavouring. Sonntagmorgen offers 13 aromas, ranging from vanilla to chili peppers, and users can select up to three.

Finally, customers pick a name for their personal brand of joe, which is printed on the label along with the varieties and aromas used. Prices for a custom-made blend depend on the types of coffee used, but average around EUR 7 for a 250 gram bag. Until entire pantries can be stocked with personalized food, customization opportunities abound for smart and creative entrepreneurs. (Related: Mixed-to-order muesli.)

7. Pink Flamingo Pizza

We've seen cone-shaped pizzas, super-fast pizzas, pizza vending machines and pizzas on antique wheels, but it wasn't until recently that we discovered balloon-enabled pizza picnics. Yes, that's right—Parisian restaurant Pink Flamingo Pizza allows customers to order their pizzas for delivery to the picnic spot of their choice through the help of a distinctive pink balloon.

Pink Flamingo, which has two locations—one in Canal St. Martin, and a new one in Marais—is already well-known in the city for its original and creative pizza varieties. "The Bjork," for example, features smoked salmon; "The Ghandi" is topped with spinach saag and Baba Ganoush; and "The Almodovar" offers a paella theme. Even more charming, however, is that patrons of the restaurant can order their pizza for delivery to a picnic spot such as the banks of the nearby Seine. Upon ordering, they simply tell the restaurant where they plan to dine and are given a pink helium balloon to take with them. Pink Flamingo's delivery staff—who travel by foot or bicycle—then spot the customer thanks to the eye-catching balloon. Prices for Pink Flamingo's pizzas, whether delivered or eaten onsite, begin at EUR 10.50.

For all those who thought there was nothing new under the sun in the world of pizza delivery—innovation strikes again! One to emulate in picnic-friendly cities around the globe. (Related: Beach barbecue on call.)

4. Catch a Piece of Maine

We've already written about programs to adopt a vineyard or an olive tree, and now two Maine brothers have found a way to offer consumers the chance to adopt a Maine lobster trap.

For USD 2,995, consumers can own a Maine lobster trap and all the lobsters it catches for an entire year through the Premium Trap program from Catch a Piece of Maine. As "partners," as the company calls them, customers of the program are assigned a dedicated lobsterman who will fish their trap throughout the 32-week season. Everything he catches is tracked with a colour-coded band placed on the lobsters' claws, and all data is recorded online so that the partner can view their trap's activity, manage their catch and schedule shipments from anywhere. As lobsters are caught by the trap, the partner's account grows; as lobsters are requested for shipment, it decreases again. Lobsters can be shipped in batches of four as soon as they are caught, or they can be saved for later (in which case the company will substitute one just caught for the original); either way, details are included on when, where and by whom they were obtained. Catch a Piece of Maine guarantees at least 48 1.5 lb lobsters for each partner—totalling over 70bs.—and also 12 lbs. steamer clams, 12 lbs. mussels, and 48 servings of Maine-made desserts over the course of the year. All shipments are sent via FedEx overnight delivery throughout the continental U.S.; shipping costs are included in the fee. Partners are even invited to come aboard the company's lobster boat in Maine if they can, to meet the lobstermen and experience the harvest first-hand. Corporate gifts and single-meal orders are also available, and Catch a Piece of Maine donates 10 percent of its profits to the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, educating 5th and 6th grade students about the Maine lobster industry.

At a time when local fishermen are struggling to make a living, Catch a Piece of Maine's partnership program allows lobstermen to receive a premium for their product while also preserving their sustainable fishing methods, the company says. No less significantly, it also gives consumers an active hand in what has typically been a hands-off business. Finally, it dovetails nicely with the still made here trend, giving consumers a geographical connection and a story to tell about the source of their food.

3. Honibe

Honey may be one of a growing number of snobmoddities, as we noted back in 2006, but that doesn't mean it isn't still sometimes a sticky mess. Not so the Honey Drop, a new honey that you can hold in your hand.

Island Abbey Foods, of Prince Edward Island, Canada, has come out with a dried honey drop, equivalent to a teaspoon of the sticky stuff, that you can hold in your hand, drop in your tea or pop in your mouth. Released in January, the drops are made with pure Honibe honey from PEI, with no artificial colouring, flavouring or preservatives. The drops have a shelf life of one year and are available in two flavours: pure honey, or honey and lemon. Pricing is CDN 11.99 for a box of 20, which makes for a very premium alternative to sugar cubes.

Island Abbey Foods, which is a member of 1% for the Planet, is currently looking for retailers, affiliates and resellers for the Honey Drop. Sounds like a sweet proposition!