Kenzo World – the new fragrance with a blast!

José Amorim
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0
Reading Time: 4 minutes

If you think you already saw everything in a fragrance advertising, wait until you watch the tv ad for the new Kenzo fragrance. It is a completely counter-culture approach against the establishment. This is for sure the it-launch of this fall.

Directed by Spike Jonze, this new film tells the story of a young woman who definitely has more than enough of her life. She is completely annihilated by her day to day do’s and don’ts. From a traditional scenery of a socialite environment, there is a “too-much-is-enough” blast. For this daring project only the inventive mind behind Being John Malkovich could nail it. Spike Jonze became a video clip expert by directing music clips for the Beasties Boys, REM, Puff Daddy, Björk or Lady Gaga and Kayne West. It is modern, elegant and with a high dose of daring. Actress and dancer Margaret Qualley performs an unforgettable choreography imagined by Ryan Heffington on an exclusive track by Sam Spiegel & Ape Drums featuring Assassin. Probably one of the most creative fragrance ads of the past 5 years.

Kenzo-world-fragrance

Carol-Lim-Humberto-Leon-Kenzo

There was a lot of change at Kenzo in the past years. Since 2011, Carol Lim and Humberto Leon became the Creative Directors of the fashion house. They brought a new wind of youth and dynamism to Kenzo.  Their motivation is to capitalize on strong brand icons but in a different and more contemporary way. Kenzo World is the first fragrance under the new Creative direction and was created in collaboration with the talented Perfumer Francis Kurkdjian.

Evocation of one of the brand’s most iconic prints, KENZO WORLD’s flacon offers a mix of black rubber, pink gold and opaline.

Kenzoworld-flacon-details Kenzoworld-open-flacon

Kenzo-World-flacon

“THE EYE IS BOTH FEMININE AND POWERFUL AT THE SAME TIME” Carol Lim & Humberto Leon

Kenzo-World-fragrance-new

Now this iconic eye symbol marks the new boldly feminine fragrance from the house, Kenzo World. Designed by Patrick Li, the bottle features black rubber, pink gold and opaline, recalling the mix-and-match of colors and materials that inspire the designers and their collections. The stylized eye is an invitation to experience Kenzo World, a world to be explored right from the name printed in Braille on top of the box.

Kenzoworld-outter-box

The olfactory creation is signed by perfumer Francis Kurkdjian, whose creative approach resonates with that of Carol Lim and Humberto Leon, a bold mixing of materials and styles to explore new directions. The flowery trail of Kenzo World is a surge of intoxicating, energetic scents that unfold in floral bursts, with notes of peony, Egyptian jasmine and Ambroxan®, a magical note that gives the fragrance voluptuous sensuality.

jasmine-peony

Carol Lim and Humberto Leon have created this fragrance for a Kenzo woman who is free, strong and bold, and whose boundless energy is translated in the advertising spot directed by Spike Jonze. Mixing choreography and performance, the clip follows Margaret Qualley on a frenetic and elegant escapade imagined by multi-awarded choreographer Ryan Heffington and set to a soundtrack with a captivating tempo, showing off the masterful acting talents of the former dancer. The electric ambiance is a far cry from the standard genre of perfume ads, perfectly embodying the spirit of this new fragrance creation from Kenzo Parfums. For  more information you can visit the brand official website here: https://www.kenzo.com 

Kenzo reinvents its brand always in parallel of trends or short term wins. Kenzo World is a strong message, always a impactful concept with a very classy scent. We wish to Kenzo World as much success as Kenzo Flower.

José Amorim

Info sourced at Kenzo official communication releases. All content is copyrighted with no reproduction rights available. Images are for illustration purposes only.

3 Interior Design Ideas for a Luxury Feeling

José Amorim
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0
Reading Time: 4 minutes

You know where you are coming from and generally you might know where you are going to. But more important is where you are right now. The way you live and what surrounds you are important points for your inner-balance. This month, our luxury news is dedicated to Interior Design. Here are 3 interior design ideas that will provide you a feeling of luxury in your home or office.

1- Furniture, less is more.

When it comes to Interior Design, one thing more important than furniture is how much furniture do you place in a room. Ideally you should make sure you do not have too much things that would block circulation and even not fitting together. Choose your furniture wisely but above all, always keep the feeling that something is missing. This will mean that you have enough. Free spaces highlight the existing furniture and will provide you a feeling of elegance and luxury.

True Luxury in the 21st century is empty spaces

Do not charge your ambiance too much. If you have enough space to install 2 couches, just put one. If you can place a 3 doors locker, just place one with 2 doors. This will create free spaces in your environment that can highlight your furniture in a stylish way. Less is more and in this case, it will make your interior “breathe”. Do not try to fill every square centimeter of your wall with pictures. Very often we say that a picture worth a thousand words. At LuxuryActivist we tend to say that a “good” picture worth a thousand pictures. Keep some parts of your office or your home with empty walls. White spaces can provide you freedom to dream and to think. Again, if you can place three pictures in your wall, choose just one. Take a very inspiring picture that will be highlighted by being alone in the wall rather than drowned in the middle of dozens of pictures. See the example of art galleries that generally isolate the master-pieces in order to provide a distinguished area for it.

minimalist-office-desk

minimalist-office-design

2- Plants, choose carefully

In order to provide you a well-being luxury feeling to your interior design, you should pay attention to one important detail: plants. Green plants are great elements to your environment. Not only they purify the air, but they provide a natural touch that can be well perceived. It will take away all tensions and provide a great aesthetics element.

home-best-plants-purify-air

plants-interior-design

Here are the list of top plants you should have at home or at your office. They are know to purify the air, to take away tensions and provide a balanced and relaxed atmosphere. If you play them well, you might get a very inspiring interior design.

  • English Ivy
  • Aloe Plant
  • Rubber Tree
  • Peace Lily
  • Snake plant
  • Bamboo palm
  • Philodendron
  • Spider plant
  • Red-edged Dracaena
  • Golden Pothos

Another important point on plants. Make sure you do not overwhelm your interior with too many plants. You are not a botanical garden and plants should not block your view from the surroundings. Our advice is to choose a corner or a specific place that will fit your horizon.

3- Small details are sometimes the main thing.

In order to craft the perfect luxury interior, you will need to play on details. Details are everything. Pay attention to vases, boxes, lamps and small accessories. For example, try to place a small table zen garden either on a furniture located in your main entrance, or in the middle of a meeting room. You will see that people will be automatically focused on it. Lamps and vases are strong accessories that you can use to modulate the overall ambiance. You can choose them very modern and technologic or at the contrary very natural and organic. Up to you to decide what would fit the best your environment.

 

table-zen-garden

decoration-vases

As you can see, bringing a hint of luxury into your interior is not that complicated. You just need to find the right combination. One important thing: never hurry your decisions. Take your time, think about it and when you are sure, then make your adjustments. Pay attention that all these different elements will be part of your day-to-day life, which means they will have a strong influence on you (more than you can imagine).

José Amorim

Info sourced at Elle Deco, Architecture Digest, Wikipedia and Forbes Asia. All content is copyrighted with no reproduction rights available. Images are for illustration purposes only. 

Ali Mahdavi takes Aubade to the next level of glamour.

José Amorim
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1
Reading Time: 5 minutes

This season, Ali Mahdavi gives an extra layer of glamour to Aubade. The sexy lingerie brand renews its famous “lessons in seduction” through the lens of talented photographer and artist Ali Mahdavi. Responsible for shooting a series of “Lessons in Seduction”, Ali Mahdavi writes a new chapter of the Aubade saga

Aubade, a great success story of seduction

Created in 1875 by Doctor Bernard, a corset specialist, the Aubade brand was founded in 1958, when panties and girdles were essential elements of women’s lingerie collections. No longer bound by the requirement to provide physical support, Aubade writes the first chapters of its story by offering sensual and glamorous products: lingerie becomes a real weapon of seduction.
For Aubade, the 90’s is the decade when its cult products are launched: the Bahia, the calendar… The 1990s also represent another keystone for Aubade: the launch of the first Lesson in Seduction. This is a real turning point in the development of the brand! These artistic and esthetic lessons are an ode to the seductive power of women, their refinement and their elegance. A black & white photograph that embellishes the body, but also the lingerie, accentuating a well-advised feminine tip with ironic humor. Aubade goes one step further and displays a beautified woman’s body in the streets for the first time! A series of posters that has instigated a real “French art of loving” for more than 20 years.
Aubade-Lesson-of-seduction-N-1

Aubade-lingerie-photos
Aubade has been making innuendos, stimulating the senses and titillating the public since 1992… Unprecedented at the time of their launch, these extremely well-crafted black-and-white photos – designed like a faceless portrait gallery – invite onlookers to read between the lines with their elegant precepts. They instantly introduced a new way to see lingerie, its seduction and the pleasure that it offers women and their lucky men.
20 years after their launch, the “Lessons in Seduction” continue to leave an indelible mark on our minds. Based on the changing society that they reflect, they act as symbols of an era, anchored forevermore in the collective unconscious. The very image of women is overturned by these new codes: now women have control, giving and taking as they wish, while men are happy to partake in this sweet game of seduction.

Ali Mandavi, master of ultimate glamour

Born in Tehran in 1974, Ali Madhavi is an artist whose plurality allows him to range from photographer, multimedia artist to film and artistic director. He lives and works in Paris. Ali Mahdavi’s work obsessively stages the relation of man to the body and the beauty, inseparable from the excess of fantasy and the unconscious. It is eminently personal, in the sense that this artist imagines reaching a universal meaning only by fully exploring his own contradictions. It creates timeless images that appeal to recurring themes of the collective unconscious, such as beauty, desire or death.
Ali-Mahdavi-photographer-artist
He has reinvented glamour by playing with traditional codes and blending them with a contemporary approach of photography. He contributed to the iconic beauty of Dita Von Teese by photographing her lake no one. Ali Mahdavi plays with light like an architect. He will cut, reshape, build, disguise, highlight or sublime the human body by using light as a reveal. Women and men are picture like gods and goddesses and only one important idea prevails: Glamour. Ali Mahdavi photographs are glossy, bold, graphically perfect and artistically speaking… pure genius. He is one of the most gifted photographers-artists of his generation and his work can revamp and modernize a brand. This is what he did for Thierry Mugler. Now in this new artistic episode, Ali Mahdavi unveils  a new face of Aubade. He plays the continuity but with his own unique signature.

Ali Mahdavi for Aubade, cutting edge glamour

This incoming season, Aubade decided to reveal a new “Lesson in Seduction” series. Here is an introductionary video about the new collection and the work done by Ali Mahdavi

The result are 5 new lessons in seduction from N.170 to N.175. By looking into the photographic work we can see that every line, every shape, every skin texture, lights and shadows were strongly worked to get close to perfection. We could look at these pictures for ages and still feel that we can discover something about it. The work of Ali Mahdavi is plural, rich, contrasted and very often unexpected. See for yourself:
Aubade-Ali-Mahdavi-170

Aubade-Ali-Mahdavi-171

Aubade-Ali-Mahdavi-172

Aubade-Ali-Mahdavi-173

Aubade-Ali-Mahdavi-174

Aubade-Ali-Mahdavi-175

These five new lessons are master-pieces in how art can serve seduction and sexiness without being vulgar. Every shadow is a story that can be read with your eyes. Everything is done in a sublime and classy way. You can visit more about Aubade by connecting to the official website here: http://www.aubade.com

Ali Mahdavi has a strong photographic signature and brands understand the power of glamour. You can visit the artist official website to learn more about this unconventional artist and accomplished photographer.

http://ali-mahdavi.com

Sometimes you cannot avoid success. Well done.

José Amorim

Aubade-Ali-Mahdavi-171

Info sourced in Ali Mahdavi and Aubade communication releases. All content is copyrighted with no reproduction available. Images are for illustration purposes only.

Magritte, art revolution and surrealism

José Amorim
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2
Reading Time: 5 minutes

Last month Luxuryactivist team went to Magritte museum in Brussels – Belgium. It is the biggest collection in the world for Magritte work with more than 150 paintings but also with several documents and belongings of the artist. We visited the permanent collection and if you are visiting Brussels for a day or a weekend, do not hesitate to visit the Magritte Museum.

Musee_Magritte_Bruxelles

The Magritte Museum is located in an old neoclassical building from the late eighteenth century and part of an architectural ensemble built after the fire of Coudenberg palace in 1731. Over the centuries, the owners have succeeded to transform it into a hotel, jewelry and finally a museum.
Place Royale and the surrounding buildings are historical testimony of Belgium under the “Ancien Régime” and its independence. It is on this spot that was held the enthronement ceremony of Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, King of the Belgians, 21 July 1831, fifty years after its construction.
In 1951, the facades and porches along the Place Royale will be recognized for their architectural and historical interest and will be permanently protected from modification by order of ranking on the Heritage List of Belgium.

The importance of the work of René Magritte and his international fame requested a space dedicated to the communication of the artist and his work. In 2007, the project of a future Magritte Museum in the old hotel Altenloh was born. The adaptation work begun the following year and was completed in 2009.
Inaugurated on the 20th of May 2009, the Magritte Museum opened its doors to the public on June 2nd 2009 in a building of 2,500 m2 belonging to the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium. The works presented are derived mainly from purchases and legacies of Irène Scutenaire-Hamoir and Georgette Magritte.

There is another museum about Magritte Rue Esseghem 135 in Brussels. It is located at the former house of the artist where he lived from 1930 to 1954

For the exhibition it self, you will need between 2 hours to 2 hours and half to cover all the surface split in 3 floors. So take your time. Audio guides are available in several languages so that you can really dive into the painter’s universe.

Rene_Magritte

What can we say about Magritte? He was born in 1898 in Belgium and was considered as a Surrealist artist. He became very well known for a number of provoking images that felt under the umbrella of surrealism. But was he really surrealist? Not at the beginning of his career but step by step that his style got clearer, we can say that the entire character of Magritte was a kind of Surrealist :-).

Rene_Magritte_portrait

Magritte always said about Art: “Art must represent something new. Any reference to the past designate weakness”

He was influenced in his work by artists like Gerico. The taste for mystery, darkness and enigmatic characters. There is a little of Salvador Dali in Magritte… or the other way round. Magritte was obsessed by the mysteries of life, of the universe. For him every single person or object had a hidden mystery. And part of his work was to reveal this mystery in every thing.

Magritte_Manifest_of_Surrealism

Magritte always followed the surrealists. After a great success of an exhibition in Brussels in 1927. he decided to live in Paris. He studied words in general, changed its senses in order to express a feeling of freedom. Objects or images on a canvas were organized as sentences and its order chosen by the artist himself. Magritte’s work frequently displays a collection of ordinary objects in an unusual context, giving new meanings to familiar things. The use of objects as other than what they seem is typified in his painting.

pipe_magritte

pigeon_magritte

During the 30’s and the crisis, Magritte did a lot of work for advertising and although some artists fellows did not see this with a good eye, Magritte got the recognition of his talent anyway and from the 40’s he could live from his art.

Pot_au_feu_Derbaix_magritte

Some artists love to do Portraits, others don’t. Magritte definitely was not a Portrait artist. Nevertheless he executed some of them, mostly of his wife , her daughter or some friends. For example this portrait of Adrienne Crowet of 1940.

portrait of Adrienne Crowet

After a while, Magritte reputation bring him to meet Alexandre Lolas, a greek art gallerist and collector with several businesses in Europe and in the USA.
Lolas will bring Magritte’s work to New York and a  first exhibition will take place in April 1947 at the Hugo Gallery. The Hugo Gallery was founded by Robert Rothschild, Elizabeth Arden and Maria dei Principi Ruspoli Hugo operated between 1945 and 1955. The Hugo gallery was initially on East 55th Street and Madison Avenue. This place was known for its specialization on Surrealism and Magritte got the perfect way to start in the USA. His reputation was really strong there and in 1966, one year before his death, the MOMA in NY dedicated an art retrospective of his work and brought Magritte to the level of Master.

magritte-moma-1966

René Magritte was a great influence to many contemporary artists. To list the most important ones:

  • Andy Warhol
  • Jasper Johns
  • Martin Kippenberger
  • Storm Thorgerson
  • Duane Michals

Here are some of the paintings we found very interesting during the exhibition.

Magritte_Bathers

Magritte_Joueur_secret

Magritte_landscape

Magritte_Magie_Noire

Magritte_Man_from_the_sea

So if you wish to visit the museum, here are the practical information:

Musee Magritte
Koningsplein 1
1000 Brussel

Tel: 02 508 32 11

Opening hours:
Monday – closed
Tuesdays to Sundays 10:00 to 17:00

You can also visit the official website for more information:
http://www.musee-magritte-museum.be

Poetry is on the Pipe…

José Amorim

 

Info sourced at Magritte Museum and wikipedia. All content is copyrighted with no reproduction rights available. 

Friday Chronicles #24: The Duty free business and how to send fragrances to hell

José Amorim
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0
Reading Time: 7 minutes

The fragrance industry is a a strong segment of the luxury business. In the world, it represents USD 36.6 billion which is 16.8% of te total luxury market. One dynamic area of business in fragrances is the Duty Free activity. People travels more and more and the Duty Free activity increases exponentially year after year. From a very exclusive offer to the mass-market of fragrances, today’s Duty Free experience is overwhelming, aggressive, discount oriented and based on the race for new launches. Welcome to fragrance hell!

The economic crisis since 2009 dragged the Fragrance market to the darkest sides of cheapness

Since 2009 the economic crises pushed several fragrance brands to review their strategy. Launches were reviewed and each dollar invested was spent carefully. There are very low risk-takers and all the launches seem to adopt a safe mode:

  •  Pink and Gold for women
  • Blue and grey for men
  • Floral fruity for the ladies
  • Aromatic woody for the boys
  • Good looking stereotypes for both

In 2015, more than two thousand fragrances were launched in the international market (luxury, semi-premium and mass-market). From all these launches probably only half will still be available after 2 years and only 1 or 2 will still be around after 10 years. The race to the new launch is a common sport and the room for building a longterm success. In order to push fragrances sell-out, perfumery distributors adopt mass-marks techniques like promotional stickers, Gondola heads, shelfs markers and the best of the best: the famous gift with purchase or GWP. This technique is supposed to tempt you to buy a product and get something for free. In the fragrance market it can be towels, small fashion accessories and even a bottle of wine. There is no limit to this, so there are a few times you wonder if you bought a fragrance with a free product or a product with a free fragrance.

fragrances-gift-with-purchase

fragrance-promotions-duty-free

New, new, new… what else?

Did you ever try to go to a perfumery store and buy a new fragrance for your self? It is an interesting human experience, especially if you choose a big retailer network or department store. After the famous question: “can I help you?” You will generally answer “NO”. For the sake of the exercice, let’s say you answer something like: “yes, I would like to change and find a new fragrance for me” . The sales person or the “Beauty advisor” will always start by showing you the novelties. Why?

  1. Because there is a strong chance you do not know them, so it is comfortable for the beauty advisor to do so
  2. The Beauty advisor will surely have a sales challenge and objectives on the new launches, so she better sell the ones that can bring her money and/or gifts
  3. Most of new launches are quite “likable” so out of hundreds of new fragrances, you might find one that will please you.

Unfortunately what if you do not find your new fragrance among new launches? This is not a problem. The Beauty advisor will show you the best-sellers. Why?

  1. As best-sellers, a lot of people like these fragrances so why not you?
  2. These fragrances have been in the market for a while, so the Beauty advisor might know them well.
  3. It is perceived as positive for many people to wear the “it-fragrance” rather than the “loser-perfume”.
  4. In special moments like Christmas, Mother’s day or Valentinés day, the Beauty Advisor might have a sales challenge on these fragrances tjst require support during the strong periods of the year.

Destiny tricks you. You still do not have the fragrance of your dreams! Well now it is tough. Either the Beauty advisor will understand that (s)he will not get anything from you and “leave you for a moment” and never comeback. Or she will give you a fragrance sample (that generally you do not choose) in case they cannot sell you cosmetics or make-up. Imagine this situation in an Airport where generally you have a plane to catch and not much time.

duty-free-promotions

Sales are difficult and we cannot blame the Beauty Advisors. The ones to blame are the brands who are not doing a good job in terms of training and product development, as well as the retailers who do nor train their Beauty advisors to make them experts.

Duty Free shop, you have 10 seconds to sell me your dream.

50 years ago, Travel fragrances or ancillaries were considered luxury goods. It was exclusive, sometime unique and generally you should be a very important customer to get one. People would travel with exclusive cases in which the grooming and beauty products were very often customized to your gear. Airports were places for hollywood stars, presidents and sportsmen. Travel was a  luxury experience. Today travel retail is a tremendous business. Last year world airlines carried more than 3 billion passengers. This number is exponentially growing. By 2030 more than 5.9 billion passengers will fly around and consequently pass by a duty free shop. It is a multi-billion business in which fragrances-cosmetics-make-up represent around 33% of the total business. Last year the duty free and travel retail business crossed the line of $30billion. Asia-Pacific is the biggest region for duty-free and travel retail. It represents 34% of total business. The biggest travel retail business is at Dubai Airport. Last year It generated $1.53 billion dollars, which is 5% of the total travel retail business (source: TRA).
Fragrances and beauty care are perfect products to sell in duty free areas. Here are the main reasons:

  • They have small formats: beauty products are easy to stock and require small area of stockage. Square meters cost a lot.
  • Life-shelf: The validity date is over 2 years, so no rush is required (compared with food)
  • Margins are terrific: Duty free shops take high margins to sell peoducts that generally are self-sellers. So it is a very profitable business.
  • Easy to carry: Fragrances, cosmetics and make-up are the perfect gifts to carry while traveling. Their small format allows you to carry them while connecting to your flight or your business trip.

Brands understand the power of this business so in order to keep the business a good business, they create specials for the travel environment. it can be smaller packaging, giftsets offers and sometimes regional exclusivities. There are also brands that develop exclusive travel retail products which is a strong sales argument to convince customers to buy it.

Travel retail became a way of buying quite well adapted to the modern way of living. Traveling today became easier and more efficient than before. Nevertheless, we spend less time in airports, so each time we wish to go shopping at the duty free, you have generally less than 20 minutes to do what you want to do. So we rush sales by offering all possible arguments to fastly convert a customer into sales: Discount, special limited offers, travel exclusive and gifts with purchase. Sometimes we wonder why these luxury supermarkets cannot evolve. Probably they will not evolve until the buyer evolves as well.

José Amorim

duty-free-promotions

Info sourced at duty free shop website, Travel Retail association, wikipedia, Forbes and The Economist. All content is copyrighted with no reproduction rights available. Images are for illustration purposes only. 

How to Create the Perfect Office Space Using Photography

LuxuryActivist
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0
Reading Time: 4 minutes

According to the American Time Use Survey, the average person spends 8.9 hours per day at work. There’s no reason to spend these hours staring at bland walls each day when office artwork has the power to reduce stress, and increase one’s creativity and productivity. Wall art can transform a boring, dull workspace into one that is beautiful and calming. Best of all, this can be done simply and affordably using your own photography to decorate in a way that is unique and high-end.

office-photography

Professional Photography Tips

You may already have some great photos, which can be converted to canvas wall hangings. Sometimes a simple photo, such as a family photo, can be edited to appear more artistic. Using editing software, you can add a filter or reduce the photo to black and white. It’s likely you will need to take some new photos to truly create artful office space, but even as a novice you can do it. Use these pro tips to improve your skills, and “take your photography to the next level.”

  • Use a wider frame for objects in motion.
  • Use the aperture f/8.
  • Use the mirror lock-up function when shooting from a tripod.
  • Test your lighting in advance of shooting people, so makeup and such don’t fade with time.

Choosing How and Where to Hang Photography

Art is supposed to make you feel something. This has as much to do with theme, color, and subject matter as it does with layout. For example, choosing photography that is vibrantly colored, bold, and exotic in nature will energize you. Bodies of water, such as waterfalls, will make you feel relaxed and at peace. Floral images create a beautiful atmosphere. In order to elicit these emotional reactions to the photography, you’ll need to hang it where you can see it.

frames-photos-office

It’s a good idea to choose one wall as an accent wall. For example, you can install a custom wall mural. This is artful in and of itself, and there’s a variety of options. Whatever you choose, such as a scene from nature or a primary color wallpaper, it should match but not overpower the photos on your wall which will act as primary focal points. They should draw the eye, and your accent wall should complement them.

In general, art should be hung at standing eye-level. This isn’t a rule, but rather a guiding point. You want to hang art in a way that is aesthetically pleasing and makes sense. Pinterest has some excellent boards that show a variety of ways to hang photos on the wall.

Photos and Frame Size

Your photography can be printed at home and added to frames, but if you can afford it having it printed on canvas or matte board is a better idea. Matte board comes in large sheets and can be found at any art or office supply store. You’ll need a straight-edge knife to trim your prints to fit the board.

It’s a good idea to have your photographs printed in a variety of sizes, which means you’ll need a variety of frame sizes. (Unless you’re choosing to print on canvas, which ships ready to hang.) A typical glossy photo is 8.5 by 11 inches, but you’ll want to reduce size and increase size depending on which pictures are your focal points.

Securing your photos into the frame is super easy. You can use glue or even scotch tape. Or, use a not-so-permanent adhering paper to keep them in place. Once secured, you’re ready to hang. How you arrange your photos means a lot, so brainstorm how and where and do a dry run before drilling any holes in the walls.

Liz Becker

Info sourced by the author exclusively for LuxuryActivist.com. All content is copyrighted with no reproduction rights available. Images are for illustration purposes only

Top Global Cities for Chinese tourists

LuxuryActivist
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0
Reading Time: 3 minutes

Chine is a massive country, not only in terms of population but also in terms of tourism. According to China Tourism Research Institute, China had 120 million outbound visitors in 2015 and they spent 104.5 billion US doallars, increases of 12% and 16.7% compared with 2014. The main driving forces for the increases included personal income rise, favorable policies, and appreciation of RMB. However, because of the earthquakes in Indonesia and Nepal as well as MERS in South Korea, the growth rate of outbound tourism was gradually declining. Here are the top Global cities for Chinese tourists.

Chinese-Tourism-top-cities
source: https://www.theatlas.com/charts/rkXyFoUP

Listed above are the top destination cities for Chinese tourists. For now, the most popular cities remain relatively close to home. As the Chinese middle class grows, they will increasingly begin to venture abroad and shape global demand for air travel. With the sustainable growth of China’s economy, the further implementation of the Reform and Opening-up Policy, as well as the substantial increase in its people’s personal income, tourism industry of the country has seen unprecedented development in recent years. The enormous outbound market has drawn the attention of the world. The domestic market keeps expanding steadily. However, the inbound market is in a downturn.

Pattaya-luxury-resorts

hanks to the great improvement in Chinese people’s living standards and consumption level, the outbound visitors grows by leaps and bounds. Chinese people are now eager to go outside to explore other parts of the world, which creates a tremendous market for foreign countries. The hottest destinations include South Korea, Japan, Thailand, France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, USA, Singapore and Maldives, some of which are nearby Asian countries. Based on the huge population, a further and sustained growth of outbound visitors is expected.

Analyzing from travel destinations, Asia still dominated China’s outbound tourism market. From January to May 2015, South Korea still ranked as the No.1 destination country. Thailand is also a very popular destination for Chinese and only far below we see the first western countries. USA with New York and Los Angeles are still a historical strong destination. Then in Europe we can see that unfortunate terrorist attacks in the UK, Germany and France brought Italy with Milano and Firenze to the top destinations for shopping and culture.

One thing to highlight is Hong-Kong disappearance from the top destinations. The number of mainland tourists visiting Hong Kong dropped dramatically by over 50% due to the protests against mainland shoppers. Now Hong-Kong is facing some economic crisis as basically main-land hopper have dramatically deserted the island.

Chinese tourism is growing every year with a double digit number. Thanks to new wealth generated in the country, a new strong middle-class and administration freedom, Chinese tourists are traveling more and more. It is shappinng air-travel as well as Hotels hospitality. In deed big hotels chains need to adapt to a new customer who has specific needs and so far we can see how challenging this is as the change is operating in a fast mode.
非常感谢 (Thank you very much).

José Amorim


Info sourced at the official Chinese Tourism website, Forbes Asia and Quartz Atlas. All content is copyrighted with no reproduction rights available. Images are for illustration purposes only.

Fashion Tips for the Business Professional

LuxuryActivist
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0
Reading Time: 4 minutes

Anyone looking to carve a name for himself or herself in the world of business knows just how important it is to dress the part. No, you don’t need to sport a $5,000  if you can find one for that price, but you do need to look and act professional. That may be one area you’ve neglected if you studied for your Masters in Business Administration online. After all, when working towards your online MBA who’s going to see you in your slippers and house clothes? Before venturing out into the world of business professionals, take a few moments to review some good fashion tips to help you look like the professional you know you are.

To Suit or Not to Suit – That is the Question

There was a day when no self-respecting business professional would leave the house without a suit and tie. While there are still some ultra-conservative corporations out there that require a suit, tie and polished shoes, there are others that simply have a more relaxed dress code. The key here is to do your homework before going on that initial interview. Does the company you are applying to have a strong dress code? If so, will you be comfortable ‘living’ in their standards? Bear in mind that you will be dressed for work most of your waking hours so it’s up to you to determine whether or not you can live up to their expectations. If so, dress accordingly on that all important first interview with the equally all important first impressions.

dress-code

Comfort is Key

Women are often up against a dress code that simply doesn’t allow them the comfort they need to get through the day without hurting more than they can think. Many administrative positions ‘expect’ a woman to dress as a business professional and stylish high heels are part of the overall look they require. Of course a dress code may not go as far as saying heels are required, but a quick glance around the office should tell you what is expected of you. When you were studying that online Masters in Business Administration course you were seated comfortably at home with your feet kicked up and the ever-present cup of coffee on the desk beside you. How would you handle an 8 to 10 hour day in a large office where you were expected to wear high heels? You may want that job but your feet and legs certainly don’t!

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Business Professional Attire Doesn’t Need to Cost an Arm and a Leg

Once you’ve scoped out the company you have set your sights on, it’s time to actually go out and buy the perfect outfit for the interview. As a person who’s just made it through a Masters in Business Administration program you know that there are ways to save money on almost everything you do and that includes shopping. Search for deals and online vouchers as well as looking for sales at your local mall. Don’t pay full price unless you are forced to do so because that is the outfit you ‘must have.’ Business attire doesn’t trend as quickly as does casual attire so you may luck out with last season’s outfit at a drastically reduced price.

The key to dressing in the top fashions for the business professional is to learn how to balance the dress code of the company with your own needs and comfort levels. Top fashions typically remain quite constant from year to year for the business professional so there are ways to get the right outfit at the right cost. Dress according to how you believe that company wishes you to dress, keep an eye on comfort and remember money isn’t everything. With the right deal you can look like a million bucks and that is the best tip of all. Put all that business savvy to work for you. Shop the deals and you will know you have mastered the basics of sound business practices.

Carol

Info sourced by the author for LuxuryActivist.com. All content is copyrighted with no reproduction rights available. Images are for illustration purposes only. 

Les Parfums Louis Vuitton, and the journey continues

José Amorim
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3
Reading Time: 6 minutes

Probably the most awaited fragrance launch has finally arrived. Louis Vuitton revealed their new fragrance collection, carefully crafted by Jacques Cavallier Belletrud the in-house Master Perfumer. A contemporary collection of seven fragrances that completely translate the spirit and the philosophy of Louis Vuitton’s creative universe. From the airiness of Rose des Vents to the intoxicating Turbulences, the ecstasy of a first night with Dans la Peau to the mindful immersion in nature with Apogée; from the self-revealing Contre Moi to an exploration of a darker side with Matière Noire and the explosion of the senses with Mille Feux… Les parfums Louis Vuitton describe a journey of emotions. It is definitely the luxury news of the month!

Named Maître Parfumeur of Louis Vuitton in 2012, Jacques Cavallier Belletrud traveled the world for four years to perfect the first collection of Louis Vuitton perfumes. Each fragrance he created starts with an emotion, an idea or simply a feeling of something that would talk to his heart and his mind. To take the challenge to rewrite Louis Vuitton’s olfactory universe, he needed to source all the brand roots and legacy in order to give a future to this amazing heritage. A fragrance is a memory, an impression, an invitation and an invisible signature. Louis Vuitton’s fragrances should offer an unique experience inspired from travels and from a best-in-class quality.

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Les-Parfums-Louis-Vuitton

Louis Vuitton, a luxury house that had already a fragrance heritage and background

Despite of the extraordinary legacy as leather accessories, travel luggage and fashion, Louis Vuitton has a historical heritage in fragrances. In 1927, the french luxury malletier launched its debut fragrance called Heures d’Absence. In 1928 Louis Vuitton launched as well a trio fragrance called Je, Tu and Il .

Louis-Vuitton-first-fragrance-1947

Louis-Vuitton-Je-Tu-Il-Fragrances-1928

We can see that Louis Vuitton was inspired from its first fragrance steps by the world of travel and by innovation. 18 years later, we are in 1946 just after Second World War, Louis Vuitton launched two new fragrances called Reminiscence and Eau de Voyage.

Louis-Vuitton-Eau-de-Voyage-1946

This heritage represented times in which traveling was a stylish experience to live. Sometimes it was probably the experience of a lifetime. In this after war period, the travel flask was a contemporary way to craft fragrances. Its simplicity and practical approach has already placed Louis Vuitton in a modern approach of the fragrance world… 70 years ago.

At that time Louis Vuitton was inspired by nature. Flowers, woods and exoticism was part of the olfactory adventure and each fragrance was created as a travel invitation to somewhere else. Travel was a luxury experience and food for the soul. 70 years after the last launch, Louis Vuitton decided to bring back this heritage. In a fragrance industry where things were overtaken by mass-consumption and marketing techniques, there was room for a luxury brand to out-stand. Louis Vuitton needed to do things in the right way. First things first: who should create the fragrances and where?

Parfums Louis Vuitton today, the journey continues

So in 2012, the French Luxury house announced the arrival of Jacques Cavallier Belletrud as the new in-house Perfumer. His task was to leverage the brand olfactory legacy and build the most beautiful fragrance collection of all. In order to establish the fragrance activity, they acquired a house in Grasse, the French city of perfumery where everything was born. In this preserved space, Jacques Cavallier Belletrud could design, imagine, craft the new olfactory universe for Louis Vuitton.

4 years later, mission is accomplished. The Master Perfumer traveled around the world, resourced himself in Grasse and aligned his creative power with the best from history and modernity. Truthful to the contemporary spirit of the house, Jacques Cavallier Belletrud offers a collection of 7 fragrances presented in a very elegant and modern flacon. It reminds the travel flacons you could find in all elegant travel cases, once again Louis Vuitton delivers a true invitation to a sensorial journey. Jacques Cavallier Belletrud, the brand’s first in-house perfumer, spent months travelling the world in search of inspiration. Leather, the brand’s signature material, will obviously be part of the collection olfactory palette, besides fine perfumery materials such as Osmanthus, Magnolia or Jasminum sambac.

Jacques Cavallier Belletrud idea was to redefine perfumery in a contemporary context. Aligning heritage and modernity, nature and technology at its best. Using Roses seem coherent based on the perfumery heritage but rather than using traditional extractions, Louis Vuitton’s in-house Perfumer used CO2 extractions, that allowed to get the freshness of the flower in a cold extraction process. This approach renews this idea of signature fragrances and provides the brand with a new purpose, relevant for the current Louis Vuitton fans as well as the future ones. Based on today’s society we can say it is very relevant and timeless.

Louis Vuitton decided to add a face to the fragrance line. Only one person, the brand muse could be the ideal candidate: Lea Seydoux. At the beginning of 2016, Louis Vuitton released the first ad campaign with Lea Seydoux for the Spring collection. She represents a free spirit, a true modern and young femininity, completely aligned with the brand values. Nothing more natural than using Lea Seydoux as the face of the fragrance range. The new campaign will roll-out from September 2016 onwards.

Lea-Seydoux-Louis-Vuitton-fragrances

Lea-Seydoux-Louis-Vuitton-Parfums

As we can see in the first visuals, Louis Vuitton features a young, modern, elegant determined woman. She has a strong self-confident look and know what she wants. She is surrounded with an interesting environment that would invite you to an extraordinary journey. Her dress is opened, so she is unexpected and has a strong personality. It is sexy but not vulgar, feminine but not cheesy, modern and yet timeless.

Being the most expected fragrance launch this year, Louis Vuitton is writing a piece of history as they take a strong statement as a beautiful fragrance brand. Away from the marketing world, they put in place all the means of their ambition. The result is fantastic and more developments should be revealed soon. Please visit the brand official website for more information: http://www.louisvuitton.com

Louis-Vuitton-Fragrance-new-launch

José Amorim

Info sourced at Louis Vuitton official communication, website and social networks, JSBG, Fragrantica and fashionista. All content is copyrighted with no reproduction rights available. Images are for illustration purposes only. 

 

3 Beauty Secrets For Men: The Perfect face.

José Amorim
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0
Reading Time: 8 minutes

Every morning it is the same struggle: how to take care of your skin and still keep things time efficient. As a man, your face is your visit card and year after year you need to take care of it. Naturally men tend to spend less time on beauty routines. In the morning every second counts, generally taken by shower and coffee! In order to help you keep things efficient, here are the 3 essential gestures you need to do and how.

1- Exfoliating your face: the essential gesture that every man forgets

Your skin is the largest organ on your body, made up of several different components, including water, protein, lipids, and different minerals and chemicals. If you’re average, your skin weighs about six pounds. It’s job is crucial: to protect you from infections and germs. Throughout your life, your skin will change constantly, for better or worse. In fact, your skin will regenerate itself approximately every 27 days. Proper skin care is essential to maintaining the health and vitality of this protective organ. The epidermis is the thinnest layer in your skin, but it’s responsible for protecting you from the harsh environment. The epidermis has four layers of its own: stratum germinativum, stratum spinosum, stratum granulosum, and stratum lucidum. The epidermis also hosts different types of cells: keratinocytes, melanocytes and Langerhans cells. Keratinocytes produce the protein known as keratin, the main component of the epidermis. Melanocytes produce your skin pigment, known as melanin. Langerhans cells prevent foreign substances from getting into your skin.
In order to keep your skin healthy, the advice would be to get rid of dead cells regularly so your skin can “breathe” and you keep a healthy look. For your face some beauty advisors would tell you to exfoliate your face twice a week. Obviously this can be challenging for us men that are still struggling with the basics. So we would advice to use a gentle exfoliator once a week and you can use it while taking your morning shower. It will be much easier to wash off the product. Here are our top 3 best facial exfoliator for men.

Clinique For Men Exfoliating Tonic

Clinique-for-men-exfoliating-tonic
Daily exfoliator for normal to dry skins. De-flakes and smooths skin’s surface to reveal clearer skin, prep for shave. Unclogs pores and minimizes oil build-up.

ClarinsMen Exfoliating Cleanser

Clarins-Men-Exfoliating-cleanser

Deep-cleansing microbeads water-activate into a silky mousse that gently removes embedded sweat, oil and spent surface cells. Pores open. Ingrown hairs rise up. The ultimate pre-shave prep.

Aesop Purifying Exfoliant Paste

Aesop-Purifying-facial-exfoliant-paste

A pre-mixed, deeply cleansing facial exfoliant. Purifying Facial Exfoliant Paste, when massaged gently into damp skin, removes dead cells and unblocks clogged pores to help skin glow. This exfoliant combines finely ground Quartz, to slough away tired surface skin, and Lactic Acid, to dissolve grime and oil. Exfoliating also allows skin to best absorb your preferred moisturiser. Rosemary Leaf, Lavender and Evening Primrose oils work to lightly hydrate skin.

2- Shaving: learn how to do it right!

There is one specific beauty routine that only men do: it is shaving. For some men it is a daily gesture, for others only twice a week and for a few…. Well, beards are still trendy. In any case it is something you need to take care of and not all men know how to handle it properly. First things first: do you need to shave and how often? These questions are crucial and every man should start by that. Then, how do you want to shave? Some men are fans of modern shaving electric machines and others are ild school manual aficionados. We observe that generally most of men who need to shave almost every day will choose a shaving electric machine whereas men with a shaving habit around twice a week (or less) will opt for a manual shaving. A lot of men just rush through shaving and they commit a big mistake. Ideally you should prepare your skin to welcome the razor. You should always shave on a clean skin. See above about exfoliating. But shaving after shower will change your life for the best (trust us on this one). Then you need to use an appropriate shaving cream/foam/oil to protect your skin while shaving. It will also improve sliding and therefore speed. Multiple products are available in the market depending on your taste, type of skin and even type of shaving. Here are our top 3 best shaving products.

Nivea Men Sensitive Shaving Gel

Nivea-shaving-gel
By far one of the best shaving products you can find everywhere. It protects your skin from irritation while shaving. The shaving gel contains 0% alcohol and does not burn. The extra gentle formula is fragrance-neutral and enriched with Chamomile and Hamamelis to care for the skin before you shave.

Clinique for Men Shave Gel

clinique-men-shaving-gel
The Clinique shave product is one of the must haves of the brand. Its aloe-infused gel elixir remains one of the market’s best, producing incredible lubrication that that softens the thickest scruff to leave skin clean and smooth with every shave-through. Notable ingredients like hyaluronic acid and chamomile provide moisture and soothe skin to eliminate razor burns.

ClarinsMen Shave Easy oil

Clarins-men-shaving-oil
Even the toughest whiskers can have a sensitive side. ClarinsMen’s comforting shaving oil — with essential oils of Rosemary, Eucalyptus and Mint — softens stubble to banish razor burn. That means no more grunt work. Just a close, clean, friction-free shave from now on. Use alone or prior to Smooth Shave.

3- Moisturizing: it is not that difficult and is so capital!

No matter if you are a man or a woman, every beauty expert will tell you that the best thing to do in order to prevent skin aging is MOISTURIZING! It sounds simple but it is the truth. It all start by a simple gesture: drink enough water. In deed, every efficient skin moisturizing starts from the inside. We need to drink between 1.5L and 2.0L of water everyday. This will supply the natural moisture your metabolism requires. Of course bringing some help is always a good thing. You need to choose carefully the best product as your skin type and the way you will use it might be important. So here a quick recap of different skin types.

  • Dry: Avoid use a moisturizing cleanser and follow up with a rich moisturizer. As long as acne is not an issue, oil-based lotions are a good choice, especially at night.
  • Oily: Avoid any heavy or oil-based formulas. Instead, use an oil-free or mattifying moisturizerin the morning and just a lightweight serum at night.
  • Normal/ Combination: The trick to treating this variable skin is creating balance. Aim for a medium-weight product that maintains moisture but doesn’t add oil to already shiny areas.
  • Sensitive: Avoid irritating ingredients, such as alcohol, fragrances, dyes, and preservatives (parabens). Moisturize twice daily with mild products specifically designed for sensitive skin.

You might already say: wait a minute, should I use an after-shave product and a daily moisturizer? How to find time for all these steps in my male beauty routine? Easy! If you do not have the time you can use your daily moisturizer as after-shave. You just need to make sure you avoid any formula containing alcohol. You should avoid alcohol anyway. It feels fresh but it will dry your skin. Here is our top 3 best moisturizers for men, most of them with global formulas, so all type of skin.

ClarinsMen Super Moisture Balm

Clarins-men-baume-super-hydratant

Up your moisture game. ClarinsMen’s soothing balm comforts skin after shaving. Energizing formula softens, tones and moisture-perfects while shielding skin with a patented anti-pollution complex. Main ingredients are Galanga, Alpine Sea Holly and White tea.

La Prairie Swiss Cellular Time Release Moisturizer

La-Prairie-swiss-cellular-moisturizer

The ultimate quencher for parched skin. Cellular Time Release Moisturizer Intensive breaks the time barrier with 16 hours of continuous moisture, just in time for those who need a concentrated hydration boost. Incredibly, it triples the skin’s moisture level, delivering a steady dose of highly effective hydration while guarding against moisture loss. With regular use, see smoother, softer skin.

Sisley Sisleÿum for men – Global Revitalizer

Sisleyum-for-men-sisley

Sisleÿum is a global revitalizing anti-aging skincare product for men. Its formula has been designed to increase the skin’s resistance against daily harmful effects (shaving, cold, stress, pollution…). It has many different actions; it firms, corrects wrinkles, hydrates, fights razor burn and fatigue. The skin is immediately soothed, hydrated, and softened (white horehound and wild pansy extracts, shea butter). Skin is visibly more resistant and appears less tired (a cocktail of active ingredients rich in oligo-elements). Fine lines and wrinkles are reduced and the skin is firmed (extracts of alkekengi calyx, padina pavonica, and white willow).

It is said that the eyes are windows to the soul. For a man, his face is his visit card and how is he living his life. So you better present a great face if you want to make a good impression. With the above beauty secrets, it will be piece of cake to keep up the game on a good level.

If you wish to learn more about the above products you can visit the following websites:

You deserve the best, especially if you can get that angel face.

José Amorim

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Info sourced at the respective brands official communication releases and websites. All content is copyrighted with no reproduction rights available. Images are for illustration purposes only. 

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