Chilled to the marrow and generally fed up with the northern-hemisphere winter? Longing for blue skies, sunshine and sea breezes, and maybe even your own private island, complete with swaying palm trees, white sandy beaches and warm, limpid sea? In that case, two words for you: Cook Islands.

This thrillingly remote group of 15 islands in the middle of the South Pacific is one of the last great unspoilt tropical paradises. A-List readers can combine a stay at two of the Cook Islands' most intimate retreats with exclusive use of One Foot Island (an uninhabited island within the famous Aitutaki lagoon, widely thought to be among the most beautiful sights in the entire region) for a night.

By Steve King

For more information on the Cook Islands, visit www.cookislands.travel

Turquoise Holidays offered all Vanity Fair A-List members a special package including a 12-night holiday combining seven nights in Rarotonga at Sea Change in a Lagoon View Villa and four nights at Pacific Resort Aitutaki in a Beachfront Bungalow, as well as one night on One Foot Island, valued at £3,599 per person. Don't miss out on future offers, sign up to the A-List

You've just stayed at a swanky hotel in Sao Paulo and fallen in love with… the bed. It would look simply darling in your own home, but how on earth can you get your mitts on it?

Well, as of this week, it's easy. No need to scour the net, bug your interior designer friends or try to get it copied, because new website discover-deliver.com is the answer.

Founded by Isabel Rutland, who whilst on honeymoon at the Greenwich Hotel in New York wanted to buy and take home some of the furniture. And after a bit of research amongst her friends, she realized she wasn't alone. So Isabel quit her job in private equity and has spent the last two years, researching, travelling and now launching discover-deliver.com which currently sells over 450 products sourced from over 120 hotels, bars and restaurants from JK Place in Capri to Noma in Copenhagen to Waterhouse in Shanghai. From beds to lamps to water glasses, pieces have been corralled and cross-referenced so that you can imagine how each piece works in different surroundings.

Other services offered by the company include 'Find It'; customers can enlist the help of the design team to source pieces that aren't necessarily on the site. Or 'Deliver It'; a service to smooth the logistics of shipping and dealing with local taxes and customs duties on furniture that discover-deliver.com customers have bought on their travels. 'How will I get it home?' should no longer put you off buying (after many cups of mint tea) that vast carpet from the souk in Marrakech.

www.discover-deliver.com

When it's not flying around the world being exhibited or shown-off to potential owners - try and catch a glimpse of the spectacular Emerald and Diamond Romanov necklace by Fabergé.

The necklace was inspired by an archive design by Agathon Fabergé dated 1885. Tatiana Fabergé and creative director Katharina Flohr set to work, taking 9 months to source the perfectly matched emeralds and working incredibly closely with their workshop in Paris.

"The necklace is close to the original design," says Flohr, "But the modernity was to make it fluid, to work with metal and stones and make it seem like a piece of lace." Indeed this piece of latticed jewellery is like a garment that sits at the neck and across the shoulders like the prettiest, most extravagant collar. However the piece can also be dismantled, so that either the choker or the collar can be worn on their own.

"This piece has been a labour of love and of passion," says Katharina Flohr. "It ties together the Fabergé of the past with the Fabergé of today."