Articles by Susan Skelly

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Editor. Writer. Traveller. Keeping tabs on all things fab. susan@excessallareas.com.au

creed perfume shelving grid sydney store double bay skelly
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Waft on by | Stop and smell the roses | the perfumers’ creed

Garbo
Cool, understated elegance that belies inner sparkle and sizzle.

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…

An overwater bure at the Anantara Kihavah resort in the Maldives
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Maldives magic | one-off wonderland | designer paradise

Monroe
Sexy and glamorous. Red carpet ready. Did someone say 'rescue fantasy'?

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);…

Susan Skelly road tests the new Ferrari Portofino V8 GT in 2018
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What’s hot about the new Ferrari | luxury on wheels | Portofino playground

Groucho
Brainy and cheeky. Witty and inventive. Always smoking hot.

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…

Alexander Graham Bell inventor of the telephone
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For whom Bell toiled | phone a friend | Best Canadian Maritimes museums

Brando
Charisma and character - and just a little bit game-changing. Action!

There was more to Scottish inventor Alexander Graham Bell than the telephone, as one Canadian museum reveals If you wanted a speed date with Canadian history, the museums of the Maritimes provinces on the east coast of Canada would probably have you swiping right. Dedicated to everything from buried treasure, fishing and explosions, to Anne…

Christopher Chong amouage Imitation perfume agencedeparfum launch
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Smells like the ’70s | New York stories | Fragrance flashback

Monroe
Sexy and glamorous. Red carpet ready. Did someone say 'rescue fantasy'?

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…

Mentors surfer Layne Beachley champion conquering fear motivation
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The getting of wisdom | what mentors teach | game-changing advice

Brando
Charisma and character - and just a little bit game-changing. Action!

Embrace fear. Know how much debt you can live with. Be honest about what you don’t know … gritty advice from mentors can be career game-changers. SUSAN SKELLY talks to four trailblazing women about passing the baton. LAYNE BEACHLEY Seven times a world champion, it was inevitable that Manly’s number one surfer girl would become a…

Front row seats at Soneva Jani resort in the Maldives
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Have perfume will travel | Vial trials | Kits & caboodle

Monroe
Sexy and glamorous. Red carpet ready. Did someone say 'rescue fantasy'?

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…

Dubai perfume souk oud niche-perfume-susan-skelly
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Niche perfumes | Sexy scents | Fragrance stories

Garbo
Cool, understated elegance that belies inner sparkle and sizzle.

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…

One And Only Royal Mirage Resort Exterior And Landscape Entrance at the Palace-seven nomads danie de jager
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The gold standard | Dubai deluxe | palatial stopovers

Monroe
Sexy and glamorous. Red carpet ready. Did someone say 'rescue fantasy'?

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…

Dress circle sunset Kokomo private island villa fiji skelly
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Why Koko pops | a new Fijian paradise | Lang Walker’s home away from home

Groucho
Brainy and cheeky. Witty and inventive. Always smoking hot.

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,…

Copyright © Susan Skelly 2020.