Today

How lucky are we?

We were lucky enough today to have a wonderful student spend the day at Bijou. This student (you may have read about them in the paper!) was from Syracuse University, his job was to tell a story with pictures. We learned a lot about him too! Daniel is also a military combat photographer.

During the day at Bijou he captured....lots of people getting colored and foiled...manicures between a bride and bridesmaid...pedicures between sisters...a bride getting her final touches and lots of teenagers getting their make up and hair done for homecoming! He blended in well, and we hardly noticed the flashes!

Daniel, Thank you for coming in to Bijou, it was such a pleasure to work with you! And thank you so much for giving us the disc of photographs so that I could share them with everyone!

PLEASE PLEASE click on this link...(I promise, you will not be disappointed!!)take a few moments to visit the "Fall workshop" that Syracuse University students put on. It is a documentary of photos..."Days in the life of Skaneateles". We attended the public preview of everyone's work, and it was so fun to see photos and videos of the people of our quaint village. I especially loved that he captured Chris, our village friend who visits all the shops everyday, whoever photographed him, did it beautifully and I know many people who are very fond of Chris, that will enjoy it immensely!

Here is the "about us" section on the fall workshop website. Don't just look at the website once, it will be changing alot as they keep adding stuff (or so I am told:) I hope they put the slideshow they presented at the community preview. It was really fantastic! I'm really hoping they make a book as well! I would certainly buy it!! (hint, hint;)

About the Fall Workshop

Each Fall more than 50 graduate and undergraduate students from the Multimedia Photography and Design department [MPD] at Syracuse University's Newhouse School canvas a small town in upstate New York, recording sound, writing stories and shooting photos and video.

Over twenty leading newspaper and magazine professionals from throughout the Northeast will coach students, critiquing and editing their work.

The Bijou blog has had some "re-decoration"

Hey, did you notice!

The Bijou blog has had a bit of work done to it! I can thank Lealou design for what they did! I absolutely am in love with it! I can't stop looking at it....It's SO pretty! Now when I step into my blog...I feel like I'm right there standing in Bijou!

I'm really lucky...I say this because life is good and I feel really blessed!

We had our Chamber after hours tonight, the Bijou girls all work so hard, they're great, pitching right in, joining in the fun of creating a night of fun, food and drinks!

So...now that the Bijou blog is re-decorated...Shelly, Chiara and I need to brainstorm on how to decorate a porta pottie! NO, you heard me correctly....A porta pottie! We at Bijou have sponsored a porta pottie and prizes can be won...like the peoples choice award...(hehe) whoever goes the most in your porta pottie, wins! I'm thinking, between the 3 of us...and the rest of the Bijou girls...we can definately get a silly ol' porta pottie to look like the inside of Bijou! (will I eat my words?) Any suggestions will be greatly, and I do mean GREATLY appreciated!

You will be hearing alot about the Pink cow bingo! It's going to be a blast! The last event that Laura Ponticello put on...(remember, the Thom Filicia event...wooo that was fun!) was fantabulous and this one will literally KNOCK YOUR SOCKS OFF!

And the great thing is, it will all benefit Positively pink packages!

Stay tuned for some pictures of the after hours.

I seriously could not wait...To post these photos...

So I really should actually wait to post these, but I cannot wait, no no, I am too excited, here is Bijou's professional photo shoot, by Laure lillie! Check out her blog, she is the best! I will post some more text tomorrow and figure out a way for you to be able to see all the photos! Thank you Laure, you are simply the best!!

Next on my list is my kids photo shoot!

Whats new on the shelves at Bijou?

I see....flawless definition mascara...I see refillable brushes..I see hydrating mineral veil...

I see...the eyelining tutorial...I see crash course..I see rocker eye!

I see.....LOTS of buxom....we LOVE buxom lips..full color and gloss...tingly (in a nice minty way) makes your lips a touch fuller..ready to be kissed...

And best of all.....you don't have to order online, you can come down to Bijou, try some on, have us help you, and buy it all local! How great is that!?

Baremineral questions answered!!!

While browsing for info on how to put together a class/party for Bareminerals, I found this awesome site that is so informative and told me things I didn't even know. They are very fair, they also review other mineral make ups and list ingredients of others. I liked it because it's not a biased opinion, it gives the pro's and con's of all mineral make up!

Here is the link, I hope you learn as much as I did! Click here, we'll zoom you there!

We will be announcing, via our email blasts, (so if you don't receive our emails be sure to sign up for them to be informed of coupons and events! Just look to the right of our blog page and there will be a link, let me know if you have any problems, you could also call the front desk and ask them to add you to the email list:) news of our Bareminerals party! We plan to have stations to try Aveda skin care and get a free sample and also stations for foundation, lips and cheeks and eyes...so if you ever wanted to try the Baremineral line, this will be your chance! Stay tuned!

How does Bijou stay so clean??

Want to know how Bijou keeps it's sparkle??

Because we have Mimi!!
Mimi, who will climb tall ladders, we try to stop her, but she won't have it...she climbed up on her 3 story roof after she had a hip replacement, a little ladder is nothing to her!! She'll even strike her dance pose up there..something that made Asher's heart stop!

I am grateful for Mimi, she is my eyes to see what becomes normal to me...she saw the dust on the ceiling fans...I forgot to look up:) oops (we only installed them 2 months ago..who knew dust accumulated SO fast!)
She keeps our retail area shining!
And more importantly she comes in twice a week to give us some mothering:) We all need it once in a while..she makes sure we are all taking care of ourselves...makes sure she gives our little ego's the boosts we need and she gives us pep talks when we need it:)
She's like sunshine:)

Thanks Mimi!

The bridesmaids and their braids!

Some of the photo's are a bit blurry, my camera is acting weird, but I think you can get the idea of how the girls looked! We had a great time with them all, very nice group...no bridezilla's here! We rarely, if ever get those! Thank goodness!

They all wanted a braid incorporated into their styles, it was a nice challenge:)

Little Sally get's married!

So here is Sally...Funny thing, I met Sally when I first moved here...She was a friend of my teenage nephew...(who is no longer a teenager) I met her when she was 13 years old. Sally is now 27 and as of today, a married women! This is all so surreal to me, when I put the numbers together they don't make sense...I met her when she was 13...I have a 10 and 15 year old (she had babysat that 15 year old, when he was 2!) right now...it doesn't seem that so many years passed...BUT somehow they did! I hate how time flies, even when you're not always having fun!

Well here she is in her before picture...really she could have gone down the aisle just like this...well minus the leopard print cape...so beautiful already!


Okay, quite a few curls and lots of Kenra #25 hairspray...and many many bobby pins...here she is, a natural look, just like the natural girl she is!

Here is her before photo, without make up....watch the simple transformation of the bareminerals make up!

Taaa-daaaa!

I used...Fairly light foundation...absolutely no concealer (she didn't need it) the illuminating mineral veil (perfect for photographs) True (my absolute favorite allover face bronzer/color) and for the eyes...sex kitten as a liner with the weather-all waterproof system (I saw Sally at Midnight and not a bit of make up had worn off...at all!!!) nude beach (described as a warm sand) all over the eye, heart (described as a Victorian rose) and devotion (described as a velvet plum) for accenting the eye and a tiny bit of my favorite Queen Phyllis (described as a soft sunlight) to highlight right under the brow line for a beautiful look!! I then used the natural nude lip liner with a bit of sugar cookie buxom, (to give her grooms lip's a little tingle when she gave him their first married kiss:)

Introducing Stacy O'neal!! Our 8th Bijou girl!

I'm so excited to announce we have another great addition! And another Midwesterner to boot!

All of the Bijou girls were all getting so busy that I was finding myself having to turn people away...After Samantha (end of January) came aboard, I thought we'd be settled for quite a while, she was our 7th girl, but then that thing started happening again, where we were turning people away and I started thinking...maybe it's time to add another girl...but who...and honestly, I was too busy myself to even think about placing an ad...I just started thinking about it and then what happened?? Courtney tells me, "Hey this really nice girl stopped in asking about a job..she was really nice, I liked her alot!" and then I thought...hmmm, I'm really good at this thinking about something and then it appearing, I so wish it could work for other things;)

So Stacy came in on a Sunday, actually the Sunday of Father's day (I'll have to thank her husband for letting her escape from him that day:) We talked for quite a while, Thomas had some questions and it just went so well, we knew we couldn't let her go!

Let me tell you about her from my point of view. Just talking to Stacy, you want to keep her talking because her voice is kind and caring, you just want her to take care of everything for you...from the moment I met her, I wanted her to do my hair first! (I'm so lucky that it's part of the interview process, a haircut and color, lucky me!) In fact practically every single other Bijou girl was lining up to get in with her, there's just something about her, you want her to work her magic on you! It could be that every thing about her looks perfect (although she says it's hard work, it looks effortless and natural on her) and you want her to make you look the same..perfect!

The other thing that is so great about Stacy is how she just jumped right in, and landed into the Bijou family so gracefully! I really called her in on a day that we were down a girl who was out sick and asked her if she wanted to fill in on really short notice, she said yes, she'd be right there! And the other girls have all taken to her so perfectly, it's as if she has always been here!

A longtime client of mine who had a pedicure and manicure by Stacy today, said "She was really great! She fits right into your beautiful salon!"

So without further adieu...here is Stacy's bio, to tell you a little about her background! And thank you Stacy for joining our Bijou team!


Stacy O'neal is an enthusiastic and skillful cosmetologist who emphasizes excellent client customer service. After graduating from Harrold's Beauty Academy, in Terre Haute, Indiana, she built an impressive clientele base and worked as an educator for Chi haircolor. In 2007, Stacy and her family moved to the beautiful finger lake region to start a new journey. Scott O'neal, her husband, is employed by TRW Automotive in Auburn. They have two boys, Colton (14) and Brandon (10), who are very active with sports in the Marcellus school district. Stacy has recently taken a position at the beautiful salon, Bijou, in Skaneateles, where she specializes in hair coloring, cutting, and styling, as well as spa pedicures. She has a passion for making people look and feel their absolute best. Stacy's favorite quote is, "Every journey begins with a single step."

A very thoughtful note, from someone so nice! Your welcome Rebecca it was our pleasure..I'm so glad that I thought to ask you if I could do your make - up, it was really great to be a part of your moment:) Thank you for sharing!

Dear Kim - I am sending along a photo of the incredible style Courtney did for Olivia on the day of my daughter's wedding. Olivia looked so lovely along with all the bridesmaids, and received SO many lovely compliments on her hair - many thanks again to Courtney for getting it EXACTLY right (even though we didn't know what that was when we walked in!). Thank you as well for doing such a fantastic job on my hair and makeup that day - we all looked and felt great for the big day! Thanks again, Rebecca

Bijou girl gets married!!

Samantha Mahoney got married on Saturday! Her new name is Samantha Mattice...I already ordered her new business cards!

All of us Bijou employees were all welcomed at the lovely (super lovely) ceremony and reception at Anyela's vineyard! It was spectacular and to me, the best part was her Mom's speech, and the love that surrounded this family. All of us that attended, had touched hearts and tears in our eyes...It was a lovely ceremony and the whole afternoon spent with Sam's dearest friends and family was just so much fun!

Everything was so fantastic, Balloons did the food (excellent!). Thea Folls did the flowers (fantastic!!) And of course Dina from Savoir Fare did the cake...it was glorious!

A good time was had by all, (I'm still recovering from the fun;) and all the girls as beautiful as they look, they really were so great and fun!

The Princess and the little monkey sister!

So these two little sisters are too funny! They were all about the glitter and the curls!

The big sister (you might recognize her from this post) was telling me her full name, her middle name is very unique and when I asked about it she said it's a princess name (of course;)...."I'm a princess and my sister is a Monkey!" Ha! I thought that was hysterical...When I asked Paige...she agreed, she was definitely a monkey and explained in detail how she can hang upside down and climb very difficult things! Too funny!

They were both in a wedding and very good little clients, waiting patiently for their curls and braids!