BareMineral's product review - Faux tan

Wish you could look like you spent a day at the beach? Thankfully you can get a safe, all-over tan in a bottle. This luminous warmth is easy to apply to your whole body and works on even the most sensitive skin - leaving you soft and glowing!

Benefits

• Say goodbye to streaks: you see the color as you're applying it, so you'll know exactly where to put more or if you've missed a spot
• Works within hours of applying and lasts for 5-7 days
• Natural-based formula moisturizes, hydrates and protects the skin with aloe vera and vegetable-derived emollients
• Doesn't clog the pores or irritate sensitive skin

So these are the benefits and the information on Faux Tan sunless tanner by Baremineral's. I thought it would be fun to give the product to our front desk girl Victoria (the Valedictorian for Skaneateles High School for 2010) and see what her experience was!


Here you go:

Day 1 (3/11, Thurs):

-Felt kind of slimy when applying, but spread evenly and the color was subtly but instantly noticeable. Smelled good :). Worked as a moisturizer right out of the shower, too, and did not need to wait a full ten min before dressing...

Day 2 (3/12, Fri):

-Noticeably (at least to me) gaining color, yesterday's layer didn't seem to smear or rub off during either a work-out or shower. Reapplied a thin but even layer after shower, tends to even itself out, except for periodic spots where you notice a new "blemish"...easily fixable with some water though! does discolor hands a bit until washed substantially.

Day 3 (3/13, Sat):

-At this point, improving upon a nice glow. Remains even and consistent...but be careful, if hands are washed too quickly after applying, some streaking occurs. Hands definitely show color so have to wash thoroughlyyyy but other than that, color looks good! I even feel healthier...

Day 4 (3/14, Sun):

-Noticing that the lotion feels slightly oily around the forehead and back. Feeling healthier and tanner though! My mom asked why I'm looking tanner lately? haha...Doesn't look orangey or yellow-ish though!

Day 5 (3/15, Mon):

-pretty much the same! again slightly oily feeling on the back and forehead, but gradually getting tanner without obvious yellow/orange tint!

Day 6 (3/16, Tues):

-just applied a little more on the faces arms and legs before a concert. still building on the color but I'm applying less so it doesn't look as obvious...still not holding on the face as well? almost like it only darkens to a certain point...hmm

Day 7 (3/17, Wed):

-again, adding to legs, arms, stomach, back, and a little to the face. still feels kind of oily around the forehead and back, so I'm putting less there, other than that, continues to be even and realistic looking...

Nothing about hair or Bijou, But a St. Patricks treat for you!

Happy St. Patty's day! I wanted to share with you a mouthwatering recipe that I had the honor of sharing with a wonderful client of mine! If you ever need to buy a house, call her, maybe she'll cook it for you as a housewarming present;)

Thank you Wendy!

Pasta Baked with Cheese and Stout

8 oz pinwheel pasta
2 tsp butter
2 tsp minced shallots
3/4 cup Guiness Stout
2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup Gouda
1/2 cup shredded swiss
1/2 cup shredded cheddar
3/4 cup bread crumbs

Cook pasta to al dente, about 10 min. Drain and set aside. In med. sauce pan, melt 1 tsp butter over med. heat. Add shollots and cook 3 min. Add stout and cook until reduced by half, 5 min. Add cream and cook until reduced by half, about 5 min. Remove from heat.
In lg. bowl, combine pasta and cheeses and stoutand stir. Preheat oven to 350'. Spray 9 x 13 pan.
In sm. sauce pan, melt butter add bread crumbs and spoon over top. bake 30 min or until lightly brown.

Red Cabbage Braised in Mead

1 med. red cabbage, cored and shredded
2 onions, chopped
3 cups frozen cranberries
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, sliced
1 1/4 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup Bunratty Meade or Irish Whiskey
1/4 cup raspberry vinegar
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

In lg. sauce pan combine all ingredients and bring to boil. Cover, reduce heat to low and cook stirring often until tender, about 50 - 60 min.

Bijou helps out for another Skaneateles school play!

You always need inspiration!

I wish I would have taken more pictures, because since we all pitched in with these girls, it was slightly different each time! The show was Pride and Prejudice, the late 18th century, lots of ringlets, lots of bouffant, sets that last an eternity! My I wonder how they did it back then..No hair dryers, we have tools, what did they use? Well I guess they managed pretty well, since alot of what they did, inspires us in small ways today!

Thanks to the Krause family for the lovely fruit creation and for choosing Bijou on your special debut! I can't wait to see what other plays will be for the future! Wouldn't it be great if they did Hairspray or GREASE!!!!

Michele Zeppieri does an amazing spring revival!

So we had two young girls come in, the first model used to have highlights a while ago, she had, at the beginning of winter gone back to her natural palette, but longed for the California blond she used to have!

Her friend that she brought (it's always fun to do a makeover together) had faded, dullish color..she dreamed of a richer darker color..Michele assessed both of their hair, picked colors that both clients liked and also disliked..had a really thorough consultation and made a plan!

You can scroll all the way down and see, both girls loved it! It was so nice to see in person, their eyes and personality "popped"! This is what I love about color, seeing the reaction!

*I really should make videos of it, because in my words only, you miss all the dialogue, these girls were cracking us up!

Mommy and me time, getting pedicures together!

As a busy Mom, how do you find time to pamper yourself? WELL, our Bijou friend Meg, brings her daughters in for a treat as well. Petite Pedi's for little princesses are only $20 and Petite Mani's are only $10..this keeps them busy enough for Mom to get her pampering done! Brilliant!

A different customer today brought her husband while she was getting her hair done, I really wanted to take a picture, we had the perfect guy, waiting patiently, shoes off, feet up and lounging on the window seat...silent..because he was sleeping! SO wish I would have gotten a picture of that!

Lori Lovell at Bijou Salon

Here is a beautifully stunning cut and color done by our precision stylist, Lori Lovell!

Corrective color by Samantha Mahoney

Before, a very golden color, our client is in college, she was brave and decided to grab a box color, the color was very very gold, not the result she desired...

(*cue the hero music*) Luckily this girl's mom scheduled with us at Bijou and got Samantha, she right away devised a plan, she would add some lighter highlights, and then tone it with one of our pastel neutral blondes. (* the hero music should be getting louder;)

Look at how happy this beauty is! California blonde, here she is! Thanks for coming in and thanks for this big huge smile!

Sweetheart dance in Skaneateles, NY

Just a quick little view..of a couple of the sweetheart dance attendees. Sparkles for their Dad's!

They love to tell us all about their dresses...SO important! And how they will do all the dancing and the Dad's will stand around and watch, but the last 3 dances are for the Daughters and the Daddy's...One little girl asked me if it was like that when they had dances when they are older, I said, yep, pretty much;) Some things are the same, no matter what the age of the boy is!

Look at that intent look on this little sweeties face, she is watching every sparkle that hits her head!

The best part, is the look on her face looking into the mirror...the brightness of her smile, the dreamy look in her eye..loving the curls and the sparkles...dreaming of putting her dress on:)

What a great day and what a great fundraiser that the Laker cross country team puts on!

Bijou featured in American salon magazine!

This is my dream come true! I cannot tell you how many times I've poured over my trade magazines, always paying special attention and admiring the small salons that made it in there! I picture them more as people, instead of giant corporations that I picture the large chain salons to be.

Well here Bijou is in all it's glory! (Although up above you can kinda see the page, click on the highlighted part and it will take you to a better view!)

Pinch me, I may be dreaming! Thank you Nicole at American Salon magazine for thinking enough of Bijou to put us in your feature!

Time to shed your winter fur...

Yep! It's time to start thinking about summer time, shorts and bathing suits...(OH MY!!)

Did you know that Bijou's very own Courtney Conley is offering full body waxing just in time for the spring. Keep up with your waxing every 6 weeks until summer and you'll only have to wax twice during the summer.

Courtney is offering: 25% off for the month of March!

• leg waxing


• back waxing


• chest waxing


• arms and under arm waxing


• abdomen waxing


• Bikini, bikini plus and Brazilian waxing

Several things you should know before waxing:

Make sure there is at least 1/4 inch of hair growth by the date of your appointment. If you have extremely coarse hair, 1/2 inch would be better for an effective waxing. One or two days prior to waxing, be sure to exfoliate any areas that are being waxed. Also, avoid tanning prior to your waxing appointment because it increases sensitivity.

ANOTHER great tip is to take an IBUPROFERIN about an hour before your service!

Things just got EVEN easier at Bijou!

At Bijou we are always thinking of new ways to make life easier for everyone! I base a lot of my decisions on what is difficult for me when I do things outside of Bijou. Like for instance, I really hate that I never remember to book an appointment during the day when I am working...which happens to be the hours of the places I am trying to book an appointment. I will think about it early in the morning, before they open, then I go to work, work all day..Get out of work, worry about dinner and all that other stuff. THEN at 10pm...I'm slapping my forehead because, once again..I FORGOT to call to make an appointment. Seriously if I could book an online appointment for my automobile service garage, I would never have to be late again on an oil change. AS a matter of fact, the first garage that implements that...they have my business!

SO of course, I digress...Where was I..okay yes, we are all about making life easier on everyone:) So we have some really fun and exciting for everyone options, especially if you are computer savvy...CROSS that, you don't have to be savvy..just own a computer, it's easy, I promise you. You just have to go to HERE our new and beautifully improved website, click Booking and that is it, follow the easy instructions. Now YOU can book an appointment any time of the day, early or late, at BIJOU! If you have any troubles, please give us a call, we'll walk you through it!

THE other goodies we have are convenience related! I don't know about you, but I rely a lot on reminder calls from Dr.'s appointments and so on. We try to do reminder calls, but sometimes we can't get a hold of the person, or a kid takes a message, whatever it is. We have added a new feature to our program, but NEED a little bit more info from you. (ONLY if you'd like to participate and use this option:) So please do the following if you would like to:

Get a text message the morning of your appointment? - Call the front desk, give them your name and ask them to enter your cell phone in the appropriate box, with your cell phone carrier (verizon, A t&t, cricket..etc) and voila, you will get a txt the day of to remind you:)

Would you like an email confirmation, instead of a phone call? or BOTH? (just to be extra sure to remember) - again, call front desk and have one of them add your email address to your name, ALSO and this is a big one:

DO you want a BIRTHDAY email from us? With a big birthday surprise, something really worth your while...once again, you know what to do, I bet...call front desk and add your birthday (only the month and day is necessary) AND your email of course:)

Thanks, I hope you like these great new options as much as we do. When you come in though, be sure to take Asher up on his offer for Coffee, tea, water or hot cocoa, he's a bit worried his job will become obsolete;) NEVER, we will always need the front desk staff, NOW they just have more time to welcome and play "cruise director"!

Just in case....

Just in case you ever wanted to be a tree...a magical nymph like tree...with fairy dust, curly branches and hair 2...no 3 feet high...

Come to Bijou, we've got it mastered!

Here is a little glimpse of Skaneateles Middle school play, 'Into the woods'...Bijou had the honor of being hairdressers to the little stars! Cinderella's dead mother, Cindy herself, and a few other cast members all looked great up on the stage because of Courtney, Samantha and yours truly!

Look what might be coming to Bijou...

Only the most perfect sculpted acrylic nails. We get a lot of phone calls for Acrylic nails or gel nails, we have tried to do gel nails, but I just didn't feel they were perfect. BUT I found the PERFECT girl to do them, with the perfect name...(especially these dreary winter days) SUMMER! (yes, that is her name, the perfectionist with tons of years of experience!)

Both of these sets, one on Somayyeh and the other on Samantha, we white tipped sculpted nails, there are no tips on these, she uses forms..which makes them nice and thin!
They are really perfect!

Stay tuned for details, because soon Bijou will be offering Acrylic and gel nails!

Medusa, tree-like hair

Once again we are volunteering at the Skaneateles Middle School for the play. This is my 4th year and I LOVE to do it! I wish I could (I say this every year) really bring a video recorder or energy recorder to show you how much fun backstage of a middle school play actually is...IF I would have known what I know now, I would have done drama way back when...Although the good energy and camaraderie may just be Skaneateles. Tonight when I went to the costume area to take some photos, all the kids were listening to Michael Jackson's - 'Beat it!'..and dancing, it was so contagious, I had to escape out of that room, before I started bustin' a childhood routine we used to do to that song...NOW that would have been embarrassing!

What I absolutely love the most about doing the plays is, that all the kids, no matter what their inside school personalities dictate, they all are there for the love of drama and they all are nice to eachother..no cliques..just drama students..all the same....It's really great!

So I decided to post these pictures, under this title, because before doing the play, we were told that we had 8 "tree's"...and they wanted them to have crazy..medusa like hair. Sam and I both googled - 'medusa hair', 'medusa tree hair', 'hair to look like tree branches', and didn't really get much help. We improvised and Sam being the master teaser she is, whipped up this first tree hair. Everyone loved it and we both breathed a sigh of relief, knowing we nailed it!

For those of you far away, (in the NICE warm weather) I hope you enjoy the photo's, if I ever could figure out how to get a video on this, I'll post one, I'm working on it!

Sierra says...(Moroccan oil, not "Mongolian" oil, Mom!)

Since this is my first guest appearance on the Bijou Blog, I'm not quite sure where to start! I guess I can begin by introducing myself. I'm Sierra, the female version of Asher: receptionist extraordinaire. When you call Bijou and hear, "Bijou, this is Sierra, how can I help you?" you would be talking with me. We may have met, if you have come in on a Wednesday, Thursday, and/or Sunday, since I have been here since August. Otherwise, we have yet to experience the pleasure of an introduction. My hair doesn't usually look like the above picture, that was a special occasion, so don't be thrown off.

Nevertheless, Kim has recently boosted my job profile to be receptionist extraordinaire/product tester. My first assignment was MOROCCANOIL. Now, I had dabbled in this before, after I began working here, but after successfully using up the whole tester size I never got around to picking up more. That was wrong. My hair went from being silky smooth to, well, not so silky smooth. I did pick up the added bonus of extra split ends, which, and I won't lie to you, have gotten me through many a long class period. That same day, Michele did my hair and even remarked that it was very dry. She reached right for the MOROCCANOIL. All of the stylists love it!

Anyway, I brought the oil home. My mom didn't know what it was, so I explained that it locks in moisture and makes your hair a lot smoother. She was doing my little sister Ava's hair at the time, so she put some right in and, after drying her hair, agreed with me one hundred percent. She even asked me for some of mine. Actually, I caught her sneaking some. She thought I was sleeping, but I saw her. Gotcha, Mom. Sure enough, I "woke up" half an hour later and this is how the conversation went:

Mom: "Sierra, I used some of that "Mongolian oil" and its great! I used a dime size and look at how shiny it is!"

Me: "Well, Mom, I've never heard of this "Mongolian oil" and I have no idea what it is, but I'm glad it's working for you, I really am."

Now I've been using MOROCCANOIL every time that I wash my hair (my mom prefers the Mongolian version, apparently, but in my professional receptionist opinion stick with the MOROCCAN), and it's definitely getting a lot healthier. I say hey, take one of the smaller versions home, test it out, and soon you'll be begging for more!

Call me.

Sierra