10 Things You Should Never Pack In Your Checked Luggage

I'm prepping two Glam Italia Tours that are running back to back this June, and as none of the ladies have traveled internationally before I'm sending them all kinds of great travel information to get them ready.
Some of it I am posting here for you as well.

Its really easy to make novice mistakes when you're packing for your first international trip. Actually its really easy to mistakes even when you've already done it a hundred times. 

So lets talk about what not to pack in your checked suitcase.

10 Things You Should Never Pack In Your Checked Luggage

1. Lithium Batteries.

Lithium batteries can move around, catch fire, and cause catastrophic damage to the plane while it's in the air. 
The FAA issued a Safety Alert for Operators to warn airlines "of the potential risk for a catastrophic hull loss due to significant identified dangers associated with the transport of lithium batteries as cargo on either passenger or cargo aircraft."

They are okay while installed inside your electronics (which should be in your cabin baggage with you), but loose are very dangerous.

There has been talk about lithium batteries exploding inside the hull of airliners and bringing the plane down. 

Scroll to the bottom of this post to see the FAA video of what happens when lithium batteries explode and catch fire inside a simulated cargo bay on a plane.

2. Jewelry and Valuables.

Don't take the risk of your bag going missing or of someone rifling through it behind the scenes and taking or damaging your valued belongings. Whether it's your valuable watch or a family photo album, take it on-board with you in your cabin baggage.
Should the airline decide to compensate you for a bag that has gone missing, or items stolen from your bag (most of the time they won't), they will depreciate the value of your items and the capped maximum on replacement of a missing bag is $3300.

3. Cash and Credit Cards.

Same as above. If you travel frequently you have no doubt found TSA notifications in your suitcase, telling you they searched your bag. Or perhaps you've arrived at your destination and found that things are in different places in your suitcase - someone has been in there looking around. 
It happens all the time, and the number one thing that thieves are looking for is your cash and credit card stash. Keep it with you in your cabin baggage.

4. Passports/Identification/Boarding Passes/Essential Documents

Always keep the originals with you, but make copies of them (credit cards front and back as well) and keep a digital copy attachment in your email. You can keep  photocopies in your suitcase, but beware that you may be creating an easy path for identity thieves.

5. Medications

This one is important. Should your suitcase go AWOL you could be in a world of trouble if all your medications/prescriptions are inside. It's a good idea to separate your medicines and take half on board with you and check the other half through, especially when travelling internationally.
You can take liquid prescriptions that exceed 3.4 fluid ounces in your carry on luggage so long as it is well labeled. I recommend telling The TSA officer, and also having a doctors note to accompany it.

6. All Of Your Clothes

Always pack a couple of days worth of clothes in your carry on luggage. Should your suitcase not arrive with you, you need to have something to change into. 
For most of us spending the first few days of your international vacation in the smelly clothes you flew over in would really ruin the trip. One of my friends spent 3 weeks of her 3 1/2 week trip to Spain last year without her suitcase. Luckily she had enough supplies in her carry on to be able to rotate her outfit each day. You won't always have enough money to buy a new travel wardrobe, and there won't always be places to buy things that you like.
Typically airlines will get your bag back within 3 or 4 days, but chances are you will be moving around, which makes it harder to reconnect you with you bag.

Shop Sale Items at Samsonite.com!

7. Laptops/iPads/Electronics

Think in terms of theft and breakage. Your electronics are of course, a very popular item to steal. On top of that you have to know that no matter how many sweaters you wrap your laptop in, chances are it won't survive being in a bag that is thrown around and has heavy bags thrown on top of it. Just take it on board with you.

8. Flammable Items

Lighters, matches and flammable items are banned from checked luggage. See a full list of banned items on the TSA Website

9. Breakables

Have you ever watched them throwing suitcases or piling heavy suitcases on top of each other? Your breakables don't stand a chance! Even if you've bubble wrapped them and cushioned them with socks and sweaters, how many heavy suitcases stacked on top of yours would it take for the collective weight to break your treasures? Read Confessions Of A Baggage Thrower for more insight into the perils of packing breakables.

10. Film

The X-Rays used to screen suitcases can damages film. If you have been shooting your trip with wet film, put the film in clear cannisters or ziplock bags and take it with you in your cabin baggage. Ask the TSA agent at the X-Ray machine to check your film by hand.

Here is the FAA video of what happens when lithium batteries explode inside a plane:

Discover Caserta

View of the palace from halfway up the gardens

Did you know that the largest royal palace in the world sits just 37 kilometers outside Naples? 

On the morning of January 20th 1752 the first stone of Caserta Palace was laid for Charles VII of Bourbon, King of Naples and Sicily. 
The Bourbon King had decided to build the largest palace in all of Europe, a palace to rival the beauty of Paris' magnificent Versailles, and the Schonbrun palace in Vienna. 
In an odd twist of fate Charles VII never lived in Caserta, instead abdicating the throne in 1759 to become the king of Spain. His third born son, Ferdinand IV became king of Naples and Sicily, lived in Caserta, and in 1768 married Maria Carolina of Austria, who grew up in the Schonbrun Palace, and who's sister Marie Antoinette would marry Louis XVI of France two years later and move to Versailles, the very palace that Caserta was designed to beat.
Makes your head spin, non?

Aerial view of Caserta Palace (image via google)

The Palace of Caserta is massive. It has more than 1200 rooms, stands 42 meters (45 yards) high and 250 meters (273 yards) long, taking up 44,000 square meters.

the uppermost end of the gardens

The fountain of Diana and Actaeon

The gardens are 3.5 kilometers long, with a central waterway and 6 fountains, surrounded by a tree filled park. 

Statues enjoy a break from the sun, tucked away in the shade of the trees. 

They also line the walkways.

And adorn the bridges. The statues are a celebration of the arts.

You can take a horse and carriage ride through the grounds, rent a bike, or just stroll.

The park was nearly empty on this Monday afternoon in December

pathways in the palace gardens, Caserta

In 1997 Caserta became a UNESCO World heritage site.

For years and years I had wanted to go to Caserta but it never fit in with the trips I was on, whether I was private tour guiding or traveling with friends. 



This past December I was lucky enough to be able to sneak off to Italy for a week, during which I was able to finally go visit the spectacular Palace of Caserta.

See inside the royal apartments at Caserta Palace here

The palace and the grounds are nothing short of spectacular.
No matter how prepared you think you are, once you walk onto the palace grounds the sheer size of Caserta is staggering.  
In it's day it must have been magnificent.

But basically no one bothers to go see it. You would think the largest royal palace in all of Europe would get great tourist traffic, but Caserta gets around 500, 000 visitors per year compared to Versailles 5 million.

Unfortunately Caserta is sorely lacking in funds and as such is a little run down. The palace has been used as a training facility for the Italian Air Force, which along with the Carabinieri still has offices there. Movies including Star Wars, Mission Impossible and Angels and Demons have shot there. Palace security is apparently lacking, and despite the Air Force and the Carabinieri both being in residence there have been problems with theft, most notably recently $100, 000 worth of copper being stolen from a lightening conductor on the roof.

There is something incredibly sad about this once majestic palace and it's enormous gardens. Just the thought of Hollywood descending on it and stomping around disrespectfully all over the grounds and the rooms while they make their movies makes it feel desecrated.
And yet because hardly anyone bothers to go visit Caserta it also feels like your best kept secret. 
Other than my friends who live in the area I don't even know one person who has been there before.

If you are in the Amalfi Coast/Naples area Caserta is well worth a visit. The train station is right outside the palace, so you don't need to rent a car.

How To Choose The Right Foundation In 4 Simple Steps

As a makeup artist I get asked all the time which foundations I like best, how to make foundation last all day, how to choose the right foundation.

Walk into any department store / Sephora / makeup emporium and the list of options can be overwhelming. 
Half the time the people charged with helping you make the choice are so overly made-up they look like caricatures of themselves, which hardly inspires confidence. If you look to you tube and Instagram you will find the "beauty experts" favor obliterating any concept of skin by slamming so much makeup on the face it almost looks plastic.
And maybe you just want to look like a pretty, normal, lovely girl.

you use the same 4 steps to choose your model's foundation for a shoot
as you do for yourself for everyday wear.

Whether I'm getting a model or a movie star ready for a shoot, or whether I'm just shopping for myself, here are the criteria I look for when choosing a foundation:

1. What finish do you need?

What type of skin do you have? If you are oily you will want a slightly more matte finish or a water based foundation to offset some of the shine you are battling.
If you have dry skin you need a foundation with a glowing, dewey finish to make the skin look luminous.

2. How much coverage do you really need?

Rather than hijacking the face and holding your skin hostage, foundation is supposed to create the illusion of a beautiful, radiant complexion.
If your skin is clear you only need a sheer cover foundation. If you have scarring, uneven skin tone, blemishes that need disappearing then you should opt for a more full cover foundation. If your skin falls somewhere in the middle, you need coverage that falls somewhere in the middle.
The worst thing you can do is overload the skin with a foundation that is far too heavy. Instead make creating lovely looking skin your goal.

3. What is your undertone?

Basically foundations come in two color groupings. There are cool toned foundations, which cover ivory, porcelain and pinky undertoned skins, and then there are your warm tones for girls with a yellow or olive undertone.
If you have a cool toned skin and wear a yellow based foundation it will look awful. The same applies to a warm toned girl wearing a pink based foundation.

4. Find your shade

Rather than testing your color on some remote corner of your jawline, test it somewhere where you can clearly see whats going on, such as your forehead or the front of your cheek.
You should be the same color from your hairline to your chest, and your face shouldn't be any darker or any lighter than the rest of your upper body.

Adele Covers Vogue March 2016

I get a little obsessy about Adele.
About her makeup.
About the exquisite execution of her makeup by the complete genius' who work with her.

Adele covers the March 2016 issue of Vogue magazine, photographed by Annie Liebowitz.
What are your thoughts?

It's very Kate Winslet-y don't you think? Very pretty and she looks lovely, but I like my Adele Vogue covers to have a little more 
ba-boom to them. I love those images where she knocks you over with her incredible wow-factor. Such as the Vogue cover that Mert and Marcus shot in 2012.

Stunning, non?

Check out the bts video from the recent Vogue shoot, and then scroll to the bottom for a link to the article in Vogue.

Watch this video on The Scene.

Read the Vogue Magazine article and interview with Adele HERE

Under The Tuscan Sun ~ Where To Stay On Your Vacation In Tuscany

Thinking about spending some time under the Tuscan sun?

sunset at Podere Cunina in Tuscany

Every year I like to spend a few weeks in Italy.

People always ask me where to stay in Tuscany, especially if they are not seeking out an overly homogenized hotel experience.

Podere Cunina standing watch over the Crete Senesi

Personally I love to rent an apartment, rent a car and drive around Tuscany, finding endless spectacular towns and villages that aren't in the guide books.

Podere Cunina, Buonconvento, Tuscany

I like to be super close to Florence, and not too far from Rome. In a country with such a fantastic rail system, I like to be close enough to a train station that it's easy to make a last minute day trip to Venice, or maybe Pompeii - wherever feels like fun that day. 

I like to relax in the piazza, drink cappuccino and watch the world go by. Shop at local markets for fresh produce,all grown inside a 10 mile radius and picked to be sold today, with flavor that just explodes in your mouth. (Unlike the flavorless factory farmed produce here in the US)
There's nothing quite like having a local vendor choose items for you, and tell you how to prepare them the way generations of their families have been doing for centuries, and then going home to your gorgeous Tuscan apartment, throwing it together and enjoying it, truly enjoying it with a local Sangiovese, or maybe a Brunello, living the luxe life.

I love filling my Italian apartment with freshly picked wildflowers and sprigs of fresh rosemary, the combined olfactory delight of which tells my brain I'm really, truly here. 

My dear friend Silvana is living the life I dream of.
Together with her husband Piergiorgio she bought an old, run down farmhouse on a little hill overlooking the spectacular Crete Senesi. They rebuilt, refurbished and restored it using traditional materials, creating a home that at the same time is visually mesmerizing, maintains historical truth but is equipped with all the modern conveniences. Its called Podere Cunina.

Beautiful Podere Cunina in Buonconvento Tuscany

The stonework, the iron work, the colors are achingly beautiful.

Part of the restoration project involved creating 7 apartments to rent to vacationers.

One of the apartments at Podere Cunina, Tuscany

Apartment at Podere Cunina, Tuscany

Apartment at Podere Cunina, outside Buonconvento Tuscany

Apartment at Podere Cunina

 There are 2 two bedroom apartments and 5 one bedroom apartments, each of which is just gorgeous.

Apartment at Podere Cunina, Tuscany

Podere Cunina is located 3 kms outside of Buonconvento, near Siena. An easy drive from either Rome or Florence it places you in the ideal location from which to drive around Tuscany and really experience the majesty of this amazing part of the world.

After a long day of enjoying yourself it is just lovely to sit out on the patio area and have a prosecco as you watch the sun set over neighboring Montalcino(one of my favorite towns in all of Italy).

 Wine lovers adore the region, as it is home to the Brunello, one of my all time favorite reds.

Prosecco time at Podere Cunina as the Tuscan Sun sets

Silvana is the ultimate host. She always has loads of ideas of great places to go see and experience. She always tells me about fabulous villages that the tour buses (thankfully) don't know about, is endlessly knowledgeable about where the best local markets are and when, which restaurants and cafe's you mustn't miss, and has the most wonderful stories about this spectacular slice of the world.

Lovers of Frances Mayes' Under The Tuscan Sun, and her subsequent tomes about her life in Tuscany will love driving to Cortona, which is not too far away, and spending the day walking through every moment in her delicious Tuscan world. (I think at this point I probably know her books by heart)

Summer is not the only time to enjoy Tuscany. Spring and autumn are beautiful, and this past year I was able to enjoy some pre-Christmas magic in Tuscany too.

If staying on a glamorous little farm is a bit to rural for you, Silvana also rents out an apartment in beautiful San Gimignano, which is my Italian home, and which I can never go a single day without thinking about.
Learn more about Podere Cunina or about vacation rental in Tuscany here: Agriturismo Podere Cunina 

catching up with my dear friend Silvana on the steps of Podere Cunina as the sun sets over the beautiful Crete Senesi

I snuck this last photo from Silvana's facebook page. Can you imagine having your wedding at beautiful Podere Cunina?? What a dream...

Dita Von Teese's 10 Golden Rules For Valentine's Day Lingerie

Valentine's day is nearly here, and honestly what says "Happy Valentine's Day" more deliciously than sensational lingerie??

Last week Vogue.com published Marjon Carlos' article Dita Von Teese's 10 Golden Rules Fot Valentine's Day Lingerie.
In the story the Burlesque dancer and queen of seduction, talks about what items you should have, shopping for lingerie and how to get things all steamed up for Valentine's day.
Dita also talks about what to do if you don't have a Valentine, because to quote Dita from the article "Seduction has nothing to do with other people, it's all about creating your own look". 
Brilliant, non?

Excerpted from the article:

A girl’s first piece should be in black lace . . .

Black lace is sophisticated, elegant, and erotic all at once, and it looks terrific on every woman. I say invest in a gorgeous set. Buy a bra that fits very well, plus two to three pairs of matching underwear, with varying shapes to add versatility to your wardrobe. The underwear needs to have double the life of the bra, so it’s smart to buy duplicates. Bonus points for the garter belt!

A corset over a waist trainer—any day!

Well, there’s a lot of misinformation about what a waist trainer is and what it isn’t, and there are all kinds of companies making these strange stretchy waist-training corsets. It’s important to look past the trendy celebrity-endorsed products—you can’t shape your waist with a Lycra corset, and that’s what they are all talking about.

Waist shaping can be accomplished with a true corset, which should be custom-made to your measurements. It is also no substitute for diet and exercise, and waist training doesn’t happen overnight; it takes a bit of time. I suggest looking to long-established corset brands like Dark Garden Corsetry or Mr. Pearl, and avoid all the new companies trying to jump on the bandwagon.

Let garter belts be your Valentine’s Day Gift to Bae.

Garter belts and stockings are the perfect thing to try! Wear them the French way: underwear over the top of the garter belt, not under. Black stockings and a black garter belt are sophisticated and erotic. Invest in good-quality pieces. I wear garters in everyday life, so the ones from my collections are very functional and made with six straps and power mesh to keep stockings in place. I have a drawerful of cute garter belts from luxe brands that are only really wearable for photo shoots, so when I created my own line, I set out to make garters that function properly. I’d say garter belts are my specialty.

Dita has some really great girl advice in the article, including this gem:

 "I always saw lingerie as a moment of beauty and luxury for myself."

I have always felt the same way about beautiful lingerie.

Another great Dita quote: "I never put lingerie on for a man. Ever since I was a little girl, I saw lingerie as something that was symbolic of womanhood and femininity."

You can read the full article on Vogue.com here

Perfect Valentine's Day Makeup Look From Charlotte Tilbury

I'm so in love with Charlotte Tilbury's new Matte Revolution lipstick in Between The Sheets! 

Charlotte Tilbury Matte Revolution Lipstick in Between The Sheets

It's a perfect lipstick for Valentine's Day if you want to look fresh, demure and subtly sexy. It's also a fantastic wedding lipstick, as well as a cool, sexy, mod look for spring.

If you haven't used Charlotte's Matte Revolution lipsticks before, they are a nice change from regular matte lipsticks in that they don't dry the lip out - they're actually hydrating so the lip stays looking smooth rather than cracked and chapped.

Charlotte Tilbury First Date Look

Charlotte has created a First Date Look makeup and tutorial that is of course perfect for your first date, but is also a lovely look for Valentine's Day if you're not planning on a super vampy look.
Check out the video tutorial:



To make it easy she has all the products you need to create this look in a simple set, The First Date Look gift set which costs $158
If you already have some of these products, or don't want a full set, here is a list of the products she talks about, with links to her website:
Colour Chameleon in Mesmerizing Mink
The Classic: Audrey
Full Fat Lashes
Cheek To Chic: Love Is The Drug
Lip Cheat: Pink Venus
Matte Revolution: Between The Sheets

You can find more products and tutorials on her website, CharlotteTilbury.com