LA by Diana - Personal Style blog by Diana Marks

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January 12, 2017

Augustine Prague: A Luxury Collection Hotel

Last year was full of travel experiences for me. I stayed in lots of lovely hotels, from big chains to boutique ones, and one of my favorites and freshest in my memory is Hotel Augustine in Prague. It was my first time visiting Czech Republic, and the hotel was a perfect choice. It is centrally located in a quiet neighborhood walking distance to city's sights like Charles Bridge and Prague Castle, and, most importantly, it has the most fascinating history. 
The hotel's suites feature amazing views of Prague castle, the monastery or garden courtyards. But the most impressive room is the 360-degree-view Tower Suite, a three-story penthouse that once served as the monastery's observatory. You can see the whole Prague from there!

January 9, 2017

Home Favorites

A lot of you know that I moved last September. I left my beloved Beverly Hills, where I lived for almost 5 years, for vibrant Venice Beach - a completely different area in Los Angeles located next to the Pacific Ocean. It took me a long time to make that decision, but once I made it, I wanted to move fast, as we all know that moving is one of the most stressful experiences in life. I found a lovely modern apartment, where I am temporarily living, while getting familiar with the area and prepping for a more permanent settlement here. The new place has a beachy Venice-appropriate vibe as opposed to my classy black-and-white Beverly Hills pad. Naturally, I didn't want to bring my favorite pieces from the old apartment, but I also didn't want to get rid of them. Putting things in storage felt like a perfect solution, but I didn't want the hassle of actually arranging a delivery and going to the storage unit myself. Luckily I found the wonderful company Make Space, that takes care of all the storage problems for me. Their team came over at a designated time, picked everything up (and packed it!), and also provided me with their free stylish storage bins. I didn't have to lift a finger! Any time I want any or ALL of my items back, I can simply order them online (I can see everything I am storing with them on my account online!) and their wonderful team will bring it all back to me.  And all of this for a very affordable price! It's a super easy and convenient way of approaching storage nowadays. Gone are the day of self storage, and I couldn't be happier about it.
The apartment where I am currently staying, came in furnished, and while I didn't want to refurnish it as I really like the design, I needed to add several details to make my temporary place feel like home.  You see glimpses and pieces of it on my social media, but here are just a few of my favorite additions to my current home.
My bed is super important to me, so the first thing I did was upgrade my bedding to a luxurious Brooklinen collection.

December 27, 2016

Dove Hair #SkipAWash Challenge

You might know that I don't like spending tons of time on my beauty / make up routine, and today I am partnering with Dove Hair to bring you guys another life hack that has been a great time saver in the recent days for me. 
My life is always hectic (from meetings to events, admin, errands, shoots, and so much more!), but I always have to look presentable and picture ready. The part of my hair routine, that I drag the most, is washing my hair, as drying and styling it takes a while, and I lose productive daytime doing it. When I heard of Dove #SkipAWash challenge, I immediately got interested, because who wouldn't mind skipping a wash (or two!) and save those extra hours while maintaining fresh looking hair? ;) 
I do play around with different dry shampoos every once in a while, and I am always happy to try new ones as I haven't found my go-to quite yet. But the Dove Refresh+Care Detox & Purify Dry Shampoo might just be the one! It's quite big (so lasts longer), immediately refreshes my hair and controls hair oil while allowing to skip a regular wash. Super easy to use too! Just shake, spray on lifted sections of dry hair, 8-12 inches from roots, massage through roots and brush through! Voila - a perfect fresh look for an extra day! It's been a real time-saver for me. Try it out and let me know your thoughts!