Jewels, journeys, launches and initiatives in the Kingdom of Luxury
Australian travellers are tapping into luxury travel trends that marry risk and reward. From a tented camp in Rajasthan to a riad in Morocco, from a river-front lodge in South Africa’s Sabi Sand Game Reserve to an adora-bubble on a Maldivian beach … unique and authentic places to stay are hot. Monastery, igloo, or treehouse?…
Edgy art, irresistible desserts and a bunch of nice neighbours make the Adelphi Hotel the pit-stop of choice They had me at the upholstered stools that looked like oversized licorice allsorts. And the bowls with all the Chupa Chups, Red Skins, Fantales, Sherbies, and Minties that a sweet-tooth’s heart could desire. The refurbished 34-room Adelphi …
The luxury French perfume house, Creed, has opened a boutique in Sydney’s Double Bay. On a November evening in chic Double Bay, the bold and the beautiful are milling about on the footpath outside 36 Cross Street, clinking glasses of Perrier-Jouet to celebrate the opening of the first Sydney stand-alone boutique from the enduring luxury…
Stargazing, underwater dining, art classes, and swimming with manta rays sets one Maldivian destination apart. In the Maldives some things are a given: powdery sand, turquoise water, coral reefs, kaleidoscopic fish, dolphins, starry nights. What, then, are the points of difference in paradise? Unique selling points might be exclusive sandbars for sunset cocktails (Soneva Fushi);…
Hey, hit the highway in a sporty car with both muscle and manners The new Ferrari is named after Excess All Area’s favourite playground: Portofino, near Genoa, in Italy. And there’s synchronicity – both of them hot, cliff-hugging and heaven on a stick. And, like a Paraggi Beach concierge, so good looking! The curvy Old…
A pumping new perfume stumbles into the disco dawn Christopher Chong’s latest exotic perfume for the Oman-based Amouage pays homage to high-voltage 1970s New York — with its celebrities, glamour, energy and artistic daring. The newbie, Imitation (Woman & Man), evokes a time when nightclubs like Studio 54 were heady playgrounds for grown-ups; when Andy…
What’s in your carry-on? Some luxurious – portable – perfumes, yes? Right now, travellers are in the sights of the perfume houses. Dinky little travel kits, slimline atomisers, and his and hers minis give jet-setters variety when they travel and ensure they don’t flout airlines’ rules on carry-on liquid limits. Travel kits are also a great…
Premium perfumes no longer owe their cachet to flower power alone. Fragrance is upping the ante with notes borrowed from drugs, French palace floors, and the Three Wise Men, reports Susan Skelly. Niche perfumes are a little like a Scandinavian gourmet pizza – layers of improbable, intriguing combinations of ingredients foraged by a “nose” who’s…
The world’s most gilt-edged stopover? Nowhere is it easier to luxuriate in the good life than in Dubai where food, opulent surroundings and self indulgence are the order of the day. Susan Skelly strikes gold A digital board at the entrance to the gold souk in Dubai’s old Deira district displays the day’s trading price…
A passion project of billionaire Australian property developer Lang Walker, Fiji’s newest luxury resort epitomises barefoot luxury. Susan Skelly dips a toe in the water… Christopher Kenyon’s beachfront studio might be pumping with Prince’s Little Red Corvette but the canvasses surrounding him reflect every blue of a Derwent pencil set – ultramarine, teal, turquoise, aqua,…