Living in the shadows of pricey comfort

The U.S. Election is the new Sunday Night Football. Everybody is giving the whole fuzz on it and anticipating the results. Couldn't blame such a fact since the elected president will be the one responsible for the whole country. Even the Hollywood stars are making statements on who are they supporting. Somehow they become huge fans of their presidential bets.

Obviously, the election is a battle between democrats, although the republicans are still holding on to their presidential candidate. It's Hillary Clinton against Barack Obama. So, who are the ones backing which U.S. presidential wannabe (at least between the two)?

This car is the answer to the everlasting price hike of gasoline. What is a hybrid car anyway? Just like a dog from two different breeds, a hybrid car uses two sources of power, which directly or indirectly provide propulsion power. Most hybrid cars out there are gasoline-electric hybrids. However, A French Car Company has recently released its diesel-electric hybrid.

Why do we need to drive this car? Well, it’s not really about selfish reasons, like it’s the latest in car technology and you got to have it. The truth is this car will help reduce the Carbon Dioxide that is the major cause of pollution. Vehicle exhausts contribute significantly to global warming. We have to care about the environment and keep Earth alive.

In terms of mileage this car is very efficient, since it drives slower and maintains a constant speed. It does not allow the driver to waste energy when speeding up and instantly slowing down. It also avoids abrupt stops. It has the ability to stop slowly with its generator, rather than rely on the brakes to do all the stopping. Remember that sudden stops mean huge energy loss.

The most in demand hybrid cars in the market are the Honda Insight and Toyota Prius. Hybrid cars can cost a little more than the usual cars. But hey, they save a lot of energy.

When it comes to summer fragrance, technically, we are talking about a lasting smell. Although all perfumes should be enduring, summer smell should stand out more particularly when the sun is hitting so high. Remember that not all fragrances are summer-friendly. For example, when you stay out too long during the day, your perfume can be not that nice anymore as you sweat under the sun.

Here is my top fragrance picks for this summer (mostly every summer):

1. L' EAUPARKENZO POUR FEMME - Honestly, I have a hard time buying this one. I just couldn't remember the name. It's too French-y. But, this mixture of lotus flower, cool mint and pink pepper just makes my sunny days extra special. Although Kenzo has a specific fragrance for the summer, I prefer this again and again.

2. TOMMY GIRL SUMMER COLOGNE - This fragrance is a combination of lilac, honeysuckle and lime blossom. Although its debut on the market dates back to 2006, This version of summer smell is proven especially when you're out on the beach. Believe me, I still smell so good even after I soak up the sun.

3. PACIFIC PARADISE by ESCADA - It's really fruity and floral, very feminine. A creation of Philippe Romano, the fragrance is actually a three-note smell. The first note consists of apple, banana, coconut, lemon and lime. The second note includes banana, sugar cane and sunflower. Finally the third note, which is amber, musk and sandalwood.

The main ingredient of most summer fragrances is the fruity smell. Even if you don't buy the designers perfumes, you can take the alternatives. Just stick with something fruity.

Bright bright colors and lots and lots of bright incandescent colors fill the 2008 Spring Fashion runways. The texture and material are flowing making it very comfortable but stylish during the day, even the evening calls for these bold colors. In fact, they are the first part of every designer's collection. Relatively, this season's style is highlighted with fun in flow, length and pattern.

Here are some of the designs in primary colors.

The flow. The collection features breathable designs for the day, which is easy for the female form to flaunt itself even if it's hot outside. Although the designers make them a little translucent for those who would like the beach, they always make sure that elegance always stand out. Fashion today make it a point that a dress has the ability to cross from one occasion to the other. You can wear these babies with your favorite stilettos for some luncheon, or pair them up with high suede boots for a little trip to the mall.

The length. Now the length part is either inches above the knees or inches below the heels. It's so big actually with pregger celebrities. Angelina Jolie and Gwen Stefani are so into them right now. The lengthy dresses hide the big bump good without subtracting glamor that almost inevitable during pregnancy. Eventually, they have to stay as pretty fashionistas especially with the papparazzi around all the time. Believe me the design works miracle, they even look like wearing an evening gown in the day. How cool is that?

The pattern. Ruffles. Ruffles. Ruffles. Yes, they are resurrected. They can be just on one side arrange in a slant way, or they can be all over the place like waves on a stormy day attached to the body through a stylish dress in very bright colors. They really spell fun and frolic especially on the red carpet. With the flow of the light material used in the collection, ruffles have never been justified until now. Of course, the bold colors help a lot, perfect for that formal din din without that old school black dress.

The accessories. Belts are a must if certain formality is required, like the office or a cutting-a-deal meeting. But, belts can also make those tiny dresses special with a little drama they offer. The huge layer, if not thick, necklines are the second accessory detail of the spring collection. They can be necklaces or the heavy part of the design, which more likely to be made of Swarovski crystals and metallic beads.

They are just so beautiful that you want to wear them all. Just like spring itself, colors make the season glorious for everybody not just in the fashion world. They don't make colors for nothing. If you can't get the real designer clothes, they are always rip offs around the corner that cost a little less but look as good. Just remember that the important part of fashion is how you wear them. It's not really about the price or the designer, unless you want to wear them inside out and show off the tag.

Let’s face it: it’s not just the ladies, guys like luxurious stuff too. What that term means changes however.

For women, it’s clothes and furniture; for men, cars and gadgets. Just this week, I wrote about a few luxury items that we despise openly but secretly love -  and noticed some I found are really for guys! So as not to be unfair to them boys, and with a little help from style.com, I’ve found out the following.

1. Stefano Bemer’s shoes. What, you thought ONLY WOMEN liked shoes? Bemer is a master at his art, and loves to use unusual techniques to give his work a different look. An example is dying a part of the shoe with red wine! He also uses almost every type of skin imaginable, from camels to toads! It takes him three months to make his shoes, and will set you back a few thousand bucks.

2. Cadillac V-8. Men love their cars and love being fast, and the V-8 is the most powerful engine ever put in a Cadillac. Each one is assigned to be made by a single person, who assembles the engine piece by piece down the assembly line. You’ll be lucky to get this baby for a hundred grand.

 
3. Hinds Head French Fries. They don’t sound like much, but these particular fries take six hours to make! That’s a long wait. Each step of cooking is precise and measured, carefully timed, with great steps taken to ensure the perfect potato treat. At the end of those six hours, you’ll take a bite and tell yourself that it was worth it. An order will cost you only nine bucks. Note: So maybe this ain't expensive, but if you compute the waiting hours with your hourly rate, these french fries come out pretty expensive.
 

4. Oliver Goldsmith Sunglasses. Gotta love those shades. You can have the sunglasses custom made. Each pair is cut by hand from a plastic sheet, and only uses handsaws, files, and a bit of heated air to make. It takes four hours to make but orders take six weeks to finish. Lowest price? $500.

5. Vanilla Bicycles. Imagine waiting months for a bag. Now, imagine waiting four years for a bicycle. Each bicycle is made to order and is built from scratch. Just painting the frame takes six weeks, and just polishing the little moving bits take days! Be prepared to spend a few thousands on this one.
 

6. Masamoto Sohonten Ao-ko Honyaki Mirror-Finished Yanagi Knife. Whew, what a long name! Men love their sharp pointy things, and what better sharp pointy things than these knives? They take three months to make and are absolutely the best for their intended purpose. The sashimi knife, for example, cuts through fish like butter, but don’t use it on an apple! Another few thousands to spend for this particular item.

7. Confederate Hellcat. Big bikes. Men love them too. Confederate only makes 120 of these a year, and each one is hand-built to order. The good thing about the Hellcat is that it can pass for a sport bike rather than a luxury one because of its excellent performance. If you spend the 70 grand on this baby, you’ll be spending a lot of time on it.
  There you have it! Boys and their toys. What male-oriented luxury items do you know of? Speak up!

I'm in that state again - my wishful thinking state.

I love surfing the web for the newest luxury items - whether it's the newest luxury destination, or the newest luxury surgical operation, if it's got the word luxury attached to it, I'm viewing it.

Now I don't know about you, but there are just some luxury items when I talk to my girls that I openly hate; I give it a good put down so to speak. However, in the dead of the night you'd probably see me busy buying that item online! Talk about a deep dark expensive secret!

Here are some items that are just over the top but I bet you'd be buying later!

La Perla Dragon Bra - Frivolous? Definitely! When I think about it, this isn't just for women, this is also for men. The guys don't have to wear it, you just have to appreciate it! Think of it as wearable art. I imagine it to be difficult to wear since it's made of metal, but for the sake of art & fashion, there's no such thing as pain! 

Maingear Axess HD - all you technophiles out there, let us all salivate in this techno wonder that has a "...Dvd or Blue Ray player, Tivo-like functions, an Ipod-like music server capability, and a display of your favorite photos into an elegant minimalist chassis." It has 2 terabytes of internal storage (talk about BIG), you can view hundreds of hours of HD TV programming and accepts mostly every CD and Photo collection out in the market. Damage? $1,395. I imagine the ladies telling their men,"but that's... sooo expensive! you don't need it" - and the men will just shrug and say, "you just don't understand"

Los Cabos, Mexico - all that stress from work, your friends, family, and your significant other will take a toll on your beautiful face. Relax and unwind from all that stress at the Marquis Los Cabos. It's been in Conde Nast Traveler's Gold list for 2006-2007, and bagged the world's best hotel award for 2007 c/o Travel + Leisure, it's currently on auction over at Luxury Link. How frivolous can this resort get? It's got Bulgari toiletries. That's right. Toiletries. Bulgari.

Waterview Dental - What? A luxury dental clinic? I kid you not. Waterview Dental boasts of Spa Amenities to rival that of your actual SPA. What do I mean by that? Massage chairs, DVD selections, pillows + blankets + personal warm towels, a cappucino bar, and personal headphones. Pretty soon they'll be introducing on site Jewelry Cleaning (inform me of this one.... i have no idea why there will be jewelry cleaning .. maybe the bling on their teeth?), and paraffin wax therapy. Talk about a super relaxing experience before your painful tooth canal.

The Cinderella Slippers - Turn your ugly duckling into a princess! The Cinderella Slippers as designed by Stuart Weizman is studded with 565 Platinum-set Kwiat Diamonds + 55 carats of clear diamonds + 1 big 5-carat stone. This was worn by Alisson Kraus during the Oscars in 2004 (my my, how many bodyguards did she have to bring?) The cost? A whopping $2 million!!! This is one pair of shoes Cinderalla won't DARE lose at the ball!

Bugatti Veyron - This one's for the men.  The Bugatti Veyron is supposedly the most  expensive car  in the world according to the automotoportal.com.

 

"The Bugatti Veyron 16.4 is the most powerful, most expensive, and fastest street-legal production car in the world, with a proven top speed of over 400 km/h (407 km/h or 253 mph)"

and last but certainly not the least...

A $2.72 Million Camel as purchased by the Crown Prince of Dubai.It doesn't get any more luxurious, extravagant and over the top than a purchase of a camel for that amount at a... camel beauty pageant.

 

Have a good work week everyone!

After watching the news, I was really shocked to what I’ve seen. A baby with two faces - two noses, two pairs of lips and two pairs of eyes - was born in an Indian village, where she is being worshipped as the reincarnation of a Hindu goddess. I felt weird and shocked about it but it was interesting though.

The abnormality which the baby has is called craniofacial duplication, an extremely rare congenital disorder whereby part or all of the face is duplicated on the head.

“She is fine lake any other child”, said by Lali’s father, Vinod Singh, despite of the condition often being linked to other serious health complications. Hospital staffs and officials said that Lali can use both of her mouths and open and shun both pair of her eyes at the same time.

Attracting intense attention, Lali had hundreds of visitors flocking to the village of Saini Sunpura to catch a glimpse of her unusual and unique features. They have been touching Lali’s feet and offer money to receive blessings for they believe that the little girl is the reincarnation of the Hindu goddess of Valour, Durga, a fiery deity traditionally depicted with three eyes and many arms.