Рубрика: General

After losing its luster during the pandemic, the finest seating category on commercial flights is now back, better than ever. After losing its luster during the pandemic, the finest seating category on commercial flights is now back, better than ever.

Your guide to the city’s most sought-after experts. 

You have a hair stylist for bad hair days, and a stylist for wardrobe dilemmas, but who is entrusted with the care of your skin? A facial can appear indulgent, akin to a massage: a fleeting, restorative hour that soothes rather than transforms. Yet, in the hands of a truly exceptional facialist, it can have a lasting impact.

Pollution and erratic weather changes compromise the skin barrier and the consequences are cumulative: dehydration, heightened sensitivity, and premature aging, among others. In reality, that one hour appointment is doing a lot more than just reducing cortisol levels.

But where, in a city filled with buzzing skin saviors, should you turn?  Below, a curated selection of New York’s most sought-after facialists – and the treatments for which they have earned their reputations.

Best Facialist in New York

Elizabeth Grace Hand at Ställe Studios

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For an environment that’s as dreamy as the facial itself, book in with Elizabeth Grace Hand at Ställe Studios. The licensed esthetician built the studio from her SoHo apartment, and has evolved it into a minimalist, sought-after space.

The personal touches don’t stop at interiors. Hand tailors facials to each client, blending medical-grade techniques – growth-factor infusions, CO2 masks, LED – with a personable approach that makes you feel like you’re chatting with a beauty-obsessed friend. She became renowned for giving her clients the ‘It girl glow’; the type of dewy finish that has people marvelling when you say you’re make-up free. 

Crystal Greene

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If you need proof of Crystal Greene’s capabilities, look at Jenna Ortega’s, Christy Turlington’s, and Laura Harrier’s skin. These women are regular clients of the Upper East Side-based esthetician, who is also an ambassador for Estēe Lauder.

While her signature La Sculpture facial includes oxygen infusion and LED light therapy, the real magic comes from her hands. Her rhythmic massage technique stimulates circulation, relieves tension and (as the treatment’s name suggests) leaves skin looking sculpted. Along with the calm ambience of her studio, her technique will relax even the most uptight of clients. Your skin may look all the more energized, but your slower pulse and relaxed temperament may suggest otherwise.

See also: Who to Call When Your New York Home Needs A Declutter

Raquel Medina-Cleghorn

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It’s only been three years since Raquel Medina-Cleghorn opened her skincare studio, and yet, she’s quickly built a name for herself. After training and working as a lead esthetician for renowned skin guru Joanna Czech, Medina-Cleghorn went solo in 2023 and counts the likes of Emily Ratajkowski and Paloma Elsessor as clients.

The Facial is her signature treatment and includes a sculpting massage, exfoliation, extractions (if necessary), and at least one of the following modalities; Ultrasound, Iontophoresis, Microcurrent, LED, Pressurized Oxygen, and Negative Ions. The result? A sculpted, lifted visage with noticeably healthier skin. 

Georgia Louise

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On the ground floor of an Upper East Side brownstone, Georgia Louise has created a sanctuary devoted to elevated skincare. Her treatments blend hands-on massage with cutting-edge devices, and she’s best known for her lifting and sculpting massage method that deeply cleanses, gently exfoliates, and includes lymphatic drainage. With Ciré Trudon candles lit around you, expect to melt into the bed as she works her magic.

For that reason, it’s hardly surprising that she has a roster of A-listers as regulars, including Anne Hathaway, Amy Schumer, and Cate Blanchett. And if your skin is in need of sprucing in between appointments, find her skincare tips and massage techniques on her Instagram for a DIY session at home.

Elite Traveler sat down with exhibition project curator Lydia Caston to discuss Schiaparelli: Fashion Becomes Art, opening on March 28. 

The veteran radio and TV host’s home in St. Helena is up for sale at $19.8 million after first hitting the market in 2024 for $22 million. The veteran radio and TV host’s home in St. Helena is up for sale at $19.8 million after first hitting the market in 2024 for $22 million.

The actress and talk show host bought the circa-1740s home just two years ago, then embarked on a total overhaul. The actress and talk show host bought the circa-1740s home just two years ago, then embarked on a total overhaul.

Registering your car in Montana can be a way to avoid taxes. Registering your car in Montana can be a way to avoid taxes.

The new Global 8000 is the first in the firm’s planned 24-strong fleet. The new Global 8000 is the first in the firm’s planned 24-strong fleet.

Stock up on La Côte aux Enfants and Vielles Vignes Française while you can, says Alice Lascelles. 

Not every prestige champagne is quite as limited edition as you might think – Dom Perignon, for example, doesn’t release figures but is believed to produce up to five million bottles a year (a figure that’s entirely feasible given its owner Moët Hennessy’s status as Champagne’s largest vineyard holder.)

If you want a real unicorn from a big name, then try Champagne Bollinger, which quietly makes a trio of collectable cuvées from some of its rarest vineyards.  

The first two wines – a champagne and a still red – come from La Côte aux Enfants, a single 10-acre plot just a few minutes drive from Bollinger’s home in Aÿ.

The first thing to note about this vineyard is it’s rather steep; about 45 degrees. When I climbed it on a rather drizzly day last month, my companions were sliding all over the place (I had chosen stoutness over style when it came to footwear, thankfully). The vineyard used to be steeper – and it’s thought that ‘Enfants’ (‘children’) is in fact a corruption of ‘Enfers’, or Hell, a nickname given by pickers who had to haul runoff soil up its treacherous chalky slopes.

See also: Upscale Parties Call for These Champagne Cocktail Recipes

Today, the vineyard’s primary job is to provide the still red wine for Bollinger’s rosé champagnes. (Indeed, Aÿ used to be famous for its still reds, which were a particular favorite of King Henry IV). But Bollinger also releases small amounts as a standalone still wine, or Coteaux Champenois, made from fruit grown on the warmer, south-facing slope.  

With the vineyard’s wet mud drying on my boots, I tasted Bollinger’s Coteaux Champenois 2019. Made with whole cluster fruit, in the Burgundy style, it is a deep dark, red; very expressive on the nose with floral blackberry and juicy black cherry aromas. On the palate, it is generous, silky, and concentrated, with a hint of vanilla tobacco. Only produced in the best years, it retails for around £100 (approx. $133).

Bollinger La Grande Année Rosé 2018, which will be released in autumn, also has five percent Cote aux Enfants red wine in the mix, resulting in a gorgeously creamy, textural rosé with piquant notes of rhubarb and bittersweet orange. A serious rosé from a fabulous vintage that is destined to age well.

Fruit from La Côte aux Enfants’ cooler northern slopes is also bottled, occasionally, as a single-vineyard blanc de noirs champagne of the same name. Less than 5,000 bottles of this are produced and retail for around £1,000 (approx. $1,338).

The 2013 La Côte aux Enfants is quite racy. I preferred the 2014 which is more vinous and richer, with a sweet-and-savoury blend of leesy, almost cheesy creaminess and crystallized tropical fruits.

Not rarified enough for you? Then there’s also Bollinger Vielles Vignes Françaises, a cuvée made from two historic Bollinger plots totalling 31 ‘ares’ or just three-quarters of an acre.

See also: Sakura Season Is Brief – These Are the Drinks to Try While It Lasts

These plots are prized because they contain some of the last surviving un-grafted vines in Champagne (ever since French vineyards were devastated by phylloxera in the late 19^th century, Champagne vines have always been grafted). It’s thought that the walls around the vineyards help to give them some protection.

A typical vintage amounts to 2,000 bottles – but that figure’s falling all the time, says Bollinger’s managing director Charles-Armand de Belenet. “With climate change. winter is less cold, so the phylloxera is growing. There’s also less water, so when it’s sunny there’s a heatwave in the clos. Yield is collapsing year on year. It’s emotional every time we taste this wine as we don’t know if we will taste it in a few years.”

A while back, I had the opportunity to taste the Bollinger Vielles Vignes Françaises 2012 – it was aromatic, nutty, and spicy. The old vines also gave it great concentration; lovely notes of fruit leather, hazelnut, and membrillo. £1360 (approx. $1,820) from champagne specialists The Finest Bubble. Drink now. Don’t wait.

The 137-acre spread includes a five-bedroom main house and several guest accommodations. The 137-acre spread includes a five-bedroom main house and several guest accommodations.

This is the latest batch of these Tennessee whiskeys, aged for 10, 12, and 14 years. This is the latest batch of these Tennessee whiskeys, aged for 10, 12, and 14 years.