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My Art of Bridal Style winner is …

… Blanca G.! Congrats, girl, you are going to this Sunday’s Art of Bridal Style luxury showcase at Union Station! I’ll reach out to you on claiming your tickets … thanks so much for entering the giveaway, and again — CONGRATS! To everyone else who’ll be joining the festivities (buy your tix here), see you Sunday!

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Fabulous hair, including for ‘fros

As someone who wears her hair in a natural ‘fro, I get all excited when I read of “mainstream” (read: not for natural ‘fros) brands that cater to or even include ethnic hair. So imagine my delight when I got word of the Philip Kingsley line of travel-friendly Jet Set products — the pack called Moisture Extreme was described as “ideal for extremely porous, tight curls and all variations of ethnic textured hair.” Yes, please! I requested a sample immediately!

Well, this fabulous mini-set includes Philip Kingsley Moisture Extreme Shampoo (above) and Conditioner and three Elasticizer Extreme sachets, all meant to work together to … well, extremely moisturize your hair. Having tightly coiled curls, I struggle to keep my ‘do looking hydrated and healthy, so Moisture Extreme sounded like a godsend.

Was it ever. I worked the elasticizer into my hair and left it in, under a plastic cap, for 20 mins. Then I used the creamy, dreamy, divinely scented shampoo and conditioner to achieve moisture nirvana. My hair was so soft and manageable I couldn’t stop touching it! I kept telling everyone to feel my hair — and I hate when people wanna feel my hair!

Happily, the Philip Kingsley line addresses many other hair woes besides dryness. Jet Sets include Body and Shine, Body and Volume, No Scent No Colour (for sensitive scalps), Pure Silver (for Divas of a certain age), and Smooth and Shiny (frizzy hair). Jet Sets cost $34 each. Check out the entire line here, and get on your way to beauteous hair. You can stop feeling mine now, please.

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Come get made over with me!

I’m pleased to tell you about a fun and unique holiday-themed party going down at Facelogic Spa next Tuesday the 6th. The Holiday “Glo” event will feature makeup artists extraordinaire Victoria Snee (above, author of The Beauty Buzz), Lindsay Harris and Corrie Gonzalez.

The ladies will be showing attendees how to put on a flawless face, using Glo mineral makeup, as well as the items in their very own cosmetic bags!! That’s the part I love — I have a trazillion colors of makeup that I have no idea what to do with — I’d LOVE to learn how to apply them in dazzling fashion! To that end, you’ll find me at Facelogic, gettin’ my learn on!

Call Facelogic at 214-696-3223 to schedule a makeover sesh between 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. — it’s only $25 for a 50-minute makeover, and you get a swag bag and an autographed copy of Victoria’s book!

From 5 to 7 p.m. there’ll be a cocktail reception for Victoria, who will also serve as the face model for several makeup ideas. And speaking of cocktails, there will be complimentary drinkies and snackies during the evening reception and swag baggage for the first 25 to arrive! I plan to be in the house at 5 p.m. — hope to see you there for holiday mixin’ and minglin’!

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NOLA, Day 3: Magazine Street

It was on our third day in town that Detroit Diva and I learned an important lesson about the beautiful and historical New Orleans streetcars: Do not EVER take them when you’re in even kind of a hurry! More on that in a bit.

We actually woke up this Thursday with enough time to take in breakfast — huzzah! At last I got to take Detroit to a spot with one of my fave dishes: the Old Coffeepot!

Disregard the cutesy sign out front that screams Gumbo — you want some Lost Bread. Made with the same bread the resto uses to build po-boys, Lost Bread is somewhere between a beignet and French toast. I have no idea how they make it, but it is frakkin’ incredible.

I suppose one could eat it with only powdered sugar on top of it, but I like to drown them thangs in syrup. I also order an albeit way-too-expensive side of sausage links, yurrm. It all went down nicely with a glass of OJ. Detroit found the Lost Bread to be way too sweet and kept it safe with a veggie omelet that she thoroughly enjoyed.

Soon enough, however, we had to skedaddle the hell outta there — we had 2 p.m. spa appointments over in the Garden District! (Yes, it was nearly 2 p.m. — I said we had breakfast, I didn’t say anything about it being in the breakfast hour.)

So with about 20 minutes to get to the spa, we speed-walked to Canal Street to catch the St. Charles Streetcar. Bad idea. Ten minutes in, I remembered how very slowly these trolleys run … gah! And they make pretty frequent stops once you’re in the Garden District … grack! And our spa wasn’t exactly along the line, too. Once we disembarked, we’d have to walk the five blocks to Magazine Street where our spa was located.

So at about 3:10, we step off the streetcar directly into the rain, not to mention about two blocks farther west than we needed to be — my bad for not reading the map right. As we progressed toward Magazine Street, we were hit with a torrential downpour that had people running for cover — but we were in a residential neighborhood, we had no place to go! So we started running — the downpour turned into a sidepour, drenching us under our umbrellas. I looked back at Detroit and her pants had become see-through in the rain!! No bueno. I was wearing shorts, and my legs were soaked from thigh to foot.

Because of my horrific navigating, once we got to Magazine Street, we still had walk two or three more blocks to our destination. At that point, we’d given up trying to stay dry …

Finally, an oasis — we arrived at a gorgeous home that housed Duke Morgan The Spa. The door opened and a kind face greeted us into the warm and lovely house.

In a few minutes, we went from creating a puddle at the front door to our upstairs therapy rooms. I was getting a 90-minute massage, and Detroit had opted for a skin wrap and facial. As my masseur left the room to allow me to undress, he asked if there was anything else I needed. “A clothes dryer,” I mumbled jokingly as I shook off my wet sandals. “Sure! We have a clothes

dryer.” Amazing!! I gave him my pile of dripping garments and asked him to go collect Detroit’s — yay, we’d have dry, warm clothes after our treatments!!

I mention the dryer story to emphasize that the service at Duke Morgan was exceptional. My massage, even though it understandably had to be cut a little short, was nothing short of phenomenal. It cleared my thoughts completely — what sidepour??

Once we bid adieu to the kind folks at the spa, we left that sanctuary of calm to at last venture up Magazine Street.

This thoroughfare is known for its fashionable and quirky boutiques and also has restaurants and coffeeshops galore, the vast majority of which are of the local, non-big-box variety. It’s a darling street to just stroll along and window-shop — had the cozy feel of a kitschy college town.

Can’t say we did much there, besides some shopping — I bought a funky pair of sunglasses — and perusing fashions and antiques. We were totes mellowed out from the spa treatments, and hot from the intense humidity, so we stopped at a cute coffeeshop for iced beverages and chilled. Too soon, we had to head back to the Quarter to get ready for our dinner … back on Magazine Street!!

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Of fleas and fighter jets

It’s Hump Day, when all my thoughts turn to the weekend … last weekend (and, actually, the one before, but more on that later).

Saturday, specifically, was packed with fun stuff to do, starting with The Dallas Flea. Kind of ashamed to admit it, but this was my first time attending the vintage-tastic artisan market, which had the effortlessly cool feel of an Etsy bazaar. So many cute wares to check out — jewelry, broken-in cowboy boots, one-of-a-kind clothing and accessories — in the (albeit super-warm) bottom floor of the South Side on Lamar building.

One of my favorite hawkers was snarky social stationary maker Southern Fried Paper (above), which was selling delicate, dainty cards adorned with blue language. I opted for an assortment of charming wine bottle tags, including one that reads, “Wine: How classy people get shit-faced.” Niiiice. And so true!

After shopping, I stopped by the Sprinkles truck (top) for a red velvet cake — my fave flavor by far.

Later that day, after a sumptuous, Dan Landsberg-tastic dinner at Dragonfly (second one this week!), I hit the sweets portion of the No Tie Dinner and Dessert Party at the Frontiers of Flight Museum. Now, I was born lacking a sweet tooth, but the selections here, from some of the city’s best dessert makers, were irresistible!

The crowd filled most of the gigantic venue, which was clearly selected for its ability to accommodate expanding waistlines, ha! Under a ceiling of suspended prop planes and jets, I sampled snacks from Tiff’s Treats, Salum and Nothing Bundt Cakes, whose lemon bundt just slayed me. Fantastic! And it was an OBS (open-bar situation — I’m trademarkin’ it, bitches) with a DJ present, so you know this Diva ended up on the dance floor! Great time for a great cause — AIDS Services of Dallas. I will aim to next year attend the savory portion of the proceedings!

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