If you’re into reading fashion blogs, then you’re probably aware that this past Thursday was Fashion’s Night Out. It’s best described as an almost-holiday created to support the economy by encouraging people to come out and shop. While people were certainly out and about, I didn’t see much shopping. But I did see lots of free booze, stores open late, dj’s, live bands, photoboths, diamonds, and faux hair.

Boston really embraced FNO this year by shutting down our iconic Newbury Street to traffic and lighting the Prudential Tower pink. The chance to walk down the middle of Newbury Street, surrounded by well-dressed men, women, and the occasional dog would have been enough to make my night, but there was plenty more.

I joined a FNO Crawl, and like I said on Facebook, it’s like a pub crawl but better because there’s clothes and shopping and the champagne is free. We (led by the wonderful Boston Fashionista) started in the Copley Mall and Tiffany’s, where I tried on engagement rings. No, I’m not engaged. And even if I were, my chances of getting a Tiffany’s diamond are between slim and “more likely to be eaten alive by Mothra.” Having said that, fuck me, are those diamonds amazing. I might have to start dating up.

Tiffany’s also had a photo booth set up and we tried to answer the age old question of how many bloggers you can fit in a picture. The answer is 4 and a 1/2 but if we hadn’t been wearing such crazy shoes, it probably could’ve been 5.

The next highlight was a stop at Salon Acote, where I was able to fulfill a lifelong dream. A while back I had blue streaks in my hair, but between the relaxing, bleaching, and styling, my hair wasn’t happy. But I still wanted to try hot pink streaks. Well, the amazing staff at Salon Acote was offering free extensions through the night. I happily got 2 small clusters of deep red and a cluster of light blonde, which will be dyed hot pink tonight. I’m that much closer to becoming my childhood hero, Jem.

All Saints had a performance by Bombay Bicycle Club earlier in the night, which I’m pissed to have missed since they’re supposed to be pretty cool. But they had a flipbook station. You stand in front of a camera for 6 seconds, act silly, and 15 minutes later you get a flipbook. This was a source of much delight!

There was much more going on, including an after-party that I missed due to extreme lameness (i.e., living in the burbs with no car) but all in all, it was a great night. And I looked pretty darn adorable, if I do say so myself. Minus the greasy do.

 sweater- Gap
leopard shirt- H&M
skirt- Gary Graham
tights- H&M
boots- Forever21
pearl collar- H&M

Considering how much my feet hurt by the end of the night I am both shocked and impressed by my ability to keep my shoes on long enough to take these photos when I got home. The things I do in the name of narcissism fashion. The skirt is another find from the Stel’s sale (of the century) and every time I say pearl necklace out loud, I giggle.

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I haven’t forgotten about my blog. I’ve even been taking outfit photos. But they’ve turned out so abysmal that I refuse to use them. I recently made a promise to myself that I would be really picky about the outfit photos that make it to the blog. In the meantime, I can share my (other) current obsession with you- haircuts. More specifically, Freja Beha Erichsen’s haircut. I’m loooong overdue for a trim/shaping/overhaul so I’ve spent hours scouring the web, admiring her ‘do. Come share in my obsession (and let me know if I am crazy thinking that I could pull of this type of hairdo).

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Oh, hello blog. Miss me? It’s not a huge exaggeration to say this has been the longest week ever. I think America should switch to a three-day work week. Anyway, I’m popping in to share a long overdue review.

A while back, and I do mean a while back, I was sent some very generous samples from Shielo Hair. I hadn’t heard of them before, but the products sounded great and I am a complete and total hair product whore, so I happily tried them out. And dude, it’s good stuff.

I tried both the volumizing and hydrating lines and they both left my hair shiny, bouncy, and smelling delicious. Now, this was months after getting a keratin treatment and both lines left my hair incredible easy to straighten. I’ve since gotten another keratin treatment and since the shampoos are sulfate-free, I’m still using the products and loving how my hair looks. Definitely give them a try!

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Brazilian Keratin Treatments for hair have been around for many, many months, but I’ve been resisting since a) I didn’t have any friends who were willing to act like my quinea pig and test it out, and b) it costs quite a bit of money. And since I am not the spawn of some adorable money fairies, money is a precious commodity to me.

But in the past month, various ladies on fashionism have had the treatment and shared raves about it. Then my soul sister (hi Nessa!) had it done and really raved about it. So I finally felt comfortable enough to give it a try.

For those of you who aren’t hair obsessed, here’s the background. Keratin treatments (called either brazilian keratin treatments or brazilian blowouts) coat the hair shaft (hehehe, shaft) with keratin, a protein that is found in healthy hair. Once the hair is coated with liquid keratin then heated to a high temperature, it bonds to each strand and leaves your hair smooth, shiny, and frizz-free. If you have curly hair, it relaxes the curl slightly but mostly just reduces frizz. If you’re starting with straight hair, you’ll likely find your hair is left completely smooth. Sounds awesome, right?

Well… it is! The process is long (and smelly) but it’s worth every second. And cent.

My stylist started by washing my hair and blowdrying it completely. She then covered my hair in the keratin liquid, which smells a little and made my eyes water but didn’t burn or irritate my scalp at all. My hair was dried with the treatment in it and flat-ironed. Then I got a trim because my ends looked like los gatos malos had been chewing on them. Don’t worry, they weren’t—I have boundaries. The final step was to at myself in the mirror, grinning like an idiot and molesting my own head.

Halfway done!

After the treatment, I had to wait 3 days before washing and take care to keep my hair straight during this period. No ponytails, no headbands. Which means no working out. Tragic, really. I consoled myself with chocolate. As someone who has relaxed hair, I’m used to going loooong spans without washing my hair. So this was a piece of cake for me.

Third day

Today is the fifth day and I finally washed my hair. And? It’s so straight. Right out of the shower. Then I realized I have no idea how to do my hair if I’m not straightening it or drowning it in gel to keep the curls in place. I’m going to experiment this weekend and see if I can figure out how to work with my new texture.

My overall thoughts? It’s well worth the time and money. I can tell it will take significantly less time to straighten and my hair is incredibly shiny and soft. I’m already planning on getting it done again in 5-6 months.

If you’re in Massachusetts and looking to get this done, visit my friend Ashley at A Cut Beyond in Randolph, Mass. The price includes shampoo and conditioner for keratin-treated hair. And she did an incredible job. I kind of have a problem about recommending my friend’s services to others. I feel like it’s my responsibility if something goes wrong. So let me say again, GO SEE ASHLEY!

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Two months I ago invested in a major piece of machinery- a new flat iron. Investment is truly the right word, as these things don’t come cheap and they need to work reliably nearly every day for years. The last time I made this investment was 8 years. Yeah, that’s right- 8 YEARS AGO.
 
I bought a chi when they were the new kid on the block and ceramic was the newest technology. I am not exaggerating when I say that this iron changed my life. I no longer had curly hair that was flattened but still frizzy. I had straight hair. This iron lasted through boyfriends, friendships, college, trips overseas, 8 years of my life. When it stopped working, I nearly shed a tear.
 
Then I got all giddy because it meant I could finally try out the newest technology and see if there was something that worked even better than my chi. After scouring the interwebz, I decided on a ghd. It has a great reputation, works overseas, and I rarely hear about them breaking down.
 
Off I was to Sephora, and after nearly doing a spit-take at the price ($150 more than chi’s were currently going for), I brought it home. And I used it. And my hair… got straight.
 
Well wait, that’s it? No, not really. It heated up in about 10 seconds. The plates ran over my hair with incredible smoothness. With the chi, I needed at least two passes for each section,even when it worked well. The ghd needs exactly one pass.
 
If it sounds like I’m underwhelmed, I’m not. But I’m not overwhelmed. I’m… whelmed? Can you be whelmed? I think you can in Europe.* One of the features of the ghd is that the plates are curved at the edges, so you can create curls easily. Well, I could do that easily enough with my chi, but the ghd allows me to get some volume at the roots by getting the plates right up to my roots and pulling the iron through my hair while holding my hair straight up. That’s pretty sweet and my chi couldn’t do that at all.
 
They both got my hair perfectly straight, frizz-free, and super shiny. But really, $150 more? I don’t think it outperforms a chi by $150.
 
What are your thoughts? Have you tried both out?
 
check out the chi here
check out the ghd here

*Man, I miss the 90s. 10 Things I Hate About You was such an awesome movie.

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Sometimes you just need a change right? Usually as soon as I cut my hair, I begin the processing of growing it back out. This time, I’d like to go a teeny bit shorter I think. It’s nice to not be suffocated by my hair when I lay down or bend over.
 

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My alter ego, miss spendaholic avoid-reality, has reared her ugly head this past month and forced me to buy loads of new things. The downside? I’m eating ramen noodles until Halloween. The upside? I have found some awesome products that’ll keep me happy for a while!
 

Bobbi Brown Corrector

I’ve never really found a product that covers my under eye circles and looks completely natural. Either the coverage isn’t enough or the color looks grey, white, yellowish, or just plain off. This miracle product actually covers my circles and looks totally natural. I have it in dark peach, with looks orange in the pan. It seemed so odd to put orange under my eyes, but it does the job! My only complaint is that it gets a little cakey without powder to set it. But hey- I’ll deal!
 

L’Occitane Shea Lip Balm

I need lip balm. All the time. But I hate shiny, wet looking lip balm. So i set out to find a super moisturizing, matte, yummy lip balm. And yay because it does exist! This stuff is my dream. It smells like sweet lemon, is nice and thick, and leaves my lips looking natural, not like I covered them in grease. The only downside is that it costs $10. Holy highway robbery, right? I’m sad to admit I’ll keep paying this ridiculous price unless I find something cheaper that looks exactly the same.
 

MAC lipstick in Tribalist

I love the dark lipstick trend this winter. So I ordered a lipstick online called “almost black.” Well, that was bad. shudder. I went to MAC to try out Cyber, their well-known dark shade. And it was nice, but Tribalist was a touch lighter and had more brown, less purple. It’s my official dark lipstick.
 

Living Proof Conditioner and Styling Creme for Coarse/Thick hair

Well wow. Just wow. I bought a trial size of the hair creme and thought, this stuff is pretty good. I’m digging it. Then I ran out. Then I realized that life without this stuff was like life without sunlight, pizza, and zombie movies. I just got the conditioner and it’s equally awesome.

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