Pricey beauty products making you broke? Do you lose your lipstick before you even finish it? Tired of trying to shove your regular sized beauty products in that small plastic bag when you travel? Um, yeah, so am i! Now some of your favorite brands like Bumble & Bumble and Too Faced are making their favorites into mini sizes, and best off all they are all under $10. Minis are the perfect way to try out new products without breaking the bank, or just a convenient way to carry everything you need in that little bitty clutch bag. Click on the SLIDESHOW to see them for yourself.
While I can’t imagine dragging a trunk through a crowded airport terminal, there is something romantic about the notion of pulling your wardrobe out of a trunk while traveling the world. One of the biggest draws to peruse Louis Vuitton for me is the opportunity to ogle their display of vintage trunks. In an effort to regain their potential practicality I’ll give you three proposals: your trunk could be a coffee table, it could be storage for your out of season clothing, or as you’ll soon discover it could be your vanity. For a trunk to hold all of your beauty needs look to the Conran makeup trunk, for an option on wheels check out Bolsa Luggage, and for a small carrying case, Prada has got you covered. To find all this and much more check out my SLIDESHOW. Bon Voyage!
Celebs have made flying fashionable again with their designer luggage, oversize shades and even more oversized luggage. But now that some airlines are charging you for even your first checked bag, it might be time to start packing light and carrying on your luggage. One of my favorite carry on bags is the 22 Carry On Case by Le Sportsac. They have been making great carry on size bags for years, but really hit a fashionable note when they paired up with Stella McCartney; and now you can get her Spring/Summer collection for Le Sportsac for 50% percent off on there website! Not only does it look snappy, its convenient too; with a shoe compartment at the bottom, and 2 mesh pockets inside to store smaller items. This bag is big enough to fit everything you need and yet fits perfectly in the overhead, it wheels and handle keep you from breaking your back at those long gate changes, since unlike celebrities most of us don’t have personal bag carriers! Check out the SLIDESHOW for other great carry on picks for your summer jaunts.
Summer most definitely means summer vacation! And although people are bag-obsessed, they seem to forget that luggage is as much an accessory as any handbag! But you don’t need to have a private driver hauling your Louis Vuitton trunks around to say ‘I travel in style,’ because these fun suitcases have personality to spare. Adventurous colors, prints, and graphics make traveling more fun and fashionable. Vintage to ghetto blaster-inspired, these items are most definitely conversation pieces that anyone in any country can admire. Check out my SLIDESHOW so that you’ll never be stuck at the airport carousel guessing which luggage is yours again!
Last month’s City Style feature showed you where to sleep, shop, and shake it in modern Moscow, but now we’re back from the (former) USSR and ready to take you on a super stylish tour of my favorite city - San Francisco! From the food to the breathtaking views and the personality that each neighborhood has to offer, SF was an easy choice, and to start things off we’re welcoming you to Hotel Union Square. Situated amongst SF’s renowned shopping hotspots, the boutique hotel boasts sleek Art Deco styling and bold colors that contrast wonderfully with the slick mirrored accents. Click SEE SLIDESHOW for a tour of Hotel Union Square, and welcome to San Francisco! Photo credit: Union Square Hotel
As we showed you last week in our first installment of City Style, you could easily shop til you drop in Moscow’s concept store/designer dreamland Cara & Co. Today we’re taking you on a tour of one of Moscow’s premier hotel hotspots, Hotel Baltschug Kempinski. Sure, the name’s a mouthful, but catch an eyeful and you’ll be dropping your Cara & Co shopping bagfuls on one their super luxe beds in no time. Click SEE SLIDESHOW for a tour, or READ MORE for more fab details.
Photo credit: Hotel Baltschug Kempinski, Moscow
Want to give your place an effortlessly cool, well-traveled vibe? Don’t be afraid to mix and match colors and prints: graphic, modern, and ethnic prints look surprisingly fabulously together! Accessorize with a well-edited collection of unique pieces you’ve picked up on your travels: a bleached white shell will look great next to that wood carving you picked up in Costa Rica! Haven’t gone on any great trips lately? Not to worry. There are plenty of inexpensive, wow-factor pieces to be found in shops like Urban Outfitters and West Elm. Just check out this red lantern and tongue-in-cheek hip art-piece-slash-mirror! Click SEE SLIDESHOW for some more great Stylehive finds to turn your pad groovy.
Sure, black is always fashionable, but if you’ve ever tried to pick out a black bag from the mass of other black bags strewn around an airport luggage carousel, you know black isn’t best when it comes to travel. Now that Spring is almost here, why not trade in the ol’ black bomber for a sleek new travel look complete with bold colors and unique prints? Headed to the beach? Check out the Ibiza Weekend Bag in a perfect shade of Kelly green! Off to some exciting, cosmopolitan locale? Take a peek at the classic shape and surprising blue color of the Halsea roller bag! Off to a yoga or spa retreat? Time to rock some leather-free Stella McCartney luggage!
Daydreaming at work about that dream life you’d have if you weren’t wasting your life? The life where you’re a scuba instructor in Belize? Or maybe a winemaker in Napa? An artist in France? Everyone has that one career they’d be doing, if only… Well thanks to a whole new batch of learning vacation packages, you can give your dream job a whirl for a week or two and see if it’s really a perfect fit! Try stomping grapes in Wine Country, learn to paint in Provence, or get your yoga certification in Hawaii! Think you might wanna be an architect? A cake decorator? A museum curator? Check out the long list of options at Vocation Vacations! And click SEE SLIDESHOW for our favorite life-changing vacations!
Green travel, like all things green these days, is a huge trend right now--and it looks like interest will only grow in the upcoming years. A recent TripAdvisor survey found that 26% of respondents will be making eco-conscious travel decisions in 2008! So what sorts of choices does an eco-chic traveler make?
1. Green hotels! Before you book, ask your hotel what sustainability programs they have in place. Do they have key cards that control the thermostat and automatically turn off the electricity when you leave the room? Do they pay fair wages to employees? Give back to the local community? Protect the local ecosystem? Maybe the hotel was built using an energy-saving design or recycled/reclaimed materials?
What gives a spa the title of the best in the world? Stylehivers wanted to know, so I flew to Bangkok and checked myself into the Mandarin Oriental Hotel to find out. Why so far? Because no other spa has been so internationally talked about as being the most amazing on the planet, and The Robb Report (a magazine all about ultra-luxury) rated it as the best in the world for their 30th anniversary issue. Ratings-schmatings, I had to find out for myself what all the fuss was about and so begins the journey!
Vacations can actually be stressful. For every beachside resort there is a forgotten flip flop, and for every leisurely cruise there is a cross-terminal sprint. And let’s not forget the most stressful part of all, which begins even before the vacation itself-- the packing process! Longer trips give us a bit more leeway in terms of outfit options and suitcase space, but those weekend getaways are a true test. After all, pack too much and you’ll automatically be the high-maintenance one of the bunch, but pack too little and you could find yourself standing outside of the club, trying to convince the bouncer that yes, they are technically flip flops, but they’re $500 and Prada, and thus are fit for the venue… an argument that you’d surely win, but one you could avoid altogether by simply clicking over to Stylediary where our West Coast Bureau Chief, Patricia Handschiegel, will lend her expertise to this age-old question.
Plenty of hotels out there claim they’ll provide an experience that feels “just like home.” But wait - isn’t the whole point of traveling to get away from home? The duoMo Hotel in the seaside town of Rimini, Italy, is just what we had in mind. With its futuristic club-like feel, guests get the elevated experience they crave from staying in a hotel, while enjoying all of the amenities that they expect, some of which include flat screen televisions, bathrooms designed with Alessi accents, bike service, and jacuzzi.
If money were no object, I’d definitely be going somewhere ultra romantic for an unforgettable Valentine’s Day. Of course, I’ll settle for a lovely dinner somewhere local, but in the event that I win the lottery I’d like to have some idea in mind for the perfect luxe Valentine’s getaway. So I better start planning, just in case. From a beautiful medieval walled city by the sea to a luxurious hotel nestled in the canopy of the Amazon rain forest, I have put together a top 10 wishlist for the ultimate in romantic destinations.
Situated in the small village of Jukkasjärvi more than 120 miles north of the Arctic Circle in Sweden, along the River Torne and beneath the Northern Lights, ICEHOTEL is the world’s first and most famous ice hotel. It is rebuilt from scratch every winter, constructed entirely from blocks of ice collected from the nearby river. The sprawling igloo-like structure usually features 60 guest rooms (ranging from $170-$800 per night, depending on the room) in addition to a sauna, ice bar, chapel, reception hall, and theater.
If you can’t imagine working out without your iPod, or feel the same way about forking over your soul and paycheck to a personal trainer, you’re going to LOVE iTrain™. It’s basically like having your very own Hollywood trainer wherever you and your mp3 player go! Grace Lazenby, the brains and bod behind iTrain™, developed the portable programs with entertainment exec Sebastien Reant after seeing their potential in the abundance of mp3 players being used at gyms. Says Reant, “It’s a concept that takes a tool everyone knows and loves-- the mp3 player-- and takes it to a new level of functionality and relevance by adding trainer-designed workouts to the music experience.” Whew, I need water already!
Hot new designers to check out, advice for tasteful ways to regift (yes, it can be done!), inspiration for travel escapes, outfits to hide all the gorging you did over the holidays, and more made this the best week on Stylehive since last week! Get the scoop while it’s hot.
Ahh the decisions that haunt us every New Years Eve. What to wear, how to do our hair, what to drink, where to go?! Sure, there’s always Vegas and the Big Apple, but what about something a little more cozy, low key, or even exotic? Hmm..how about the intimate beaches of Rio or the snowy slopes of Whistler? We’ve scoured the map for the coolest (and even untraditional) places to celebrate the big ‘08 in style. So break open a bottle of bubbly (or better yet get your butt on Expedia!) and check out the swanky hotels and cool new locales we’ve got in our swanky slideshow!
This year, just say no to the standard tie, cufflink, and card gifts for the man in your life. And please, please avoid the murse (yes, thats right, the man-purse). Trust me, he may tell you he loves the murse, but really, it’s the equivalent of those horrible fruitcakes that come in the mail every year. To take the guessing game out of finding the perfect gift for the guy-who-has-everything, I’ve compiled a list of essentials that every man needs, but may not already have.
Men love their luxury goodies, too - and just like the ladies who are willing to drop a couple Benjamin’s on face cream, the males in our lives will spend just as much (if not more) on the latest gadgets and toys. Check out our slideshow of some of the best male-approved luxury gifts in the Hive that’ll give you a run for your money (literally!) including a $2,500 cashmere robe and a personalized billiard ball set with his name written all over it!
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