Yesterday was Saturday and it started just like any other, with me going to the market before brunch and a long walk around the city peppered with visits to a series of stores. A phone call mid-afternoon from my friend, Ashley, was the first step down a long path that led me to a radically different hair colour.

I went to visit Ashley at 186 Davenport Salon, who was getting a haircut. I sat in the empty chair beside her and, what happened next was a series of subtle events that eventually led to my new red hair. Firstly, I learned there was a Groupon happening that fateful Saturday – 40% off colour was on the table looking tempting. Secondly, I turned my head  ever so slightly to see the cool-looking girl beside me getting her long hair dyed radish red and I became immediately jealous. Having been obsessed with Rihanna for quite some time, and knowing her affinity in making Drake swoon, I too wanted in on the red hair party. Finally, the group of well-experienced stylists descended their opinions on me – “your eyes will pop”, “you’ll look fiery”, “your blonde looks old anyway” – and I was sold.

Here’s what happened next:

So now it’s Sunday and I’m sitting in Starbucks shaming myself for the lack of thought I put into such drastic decisions. Insecurities are simmering to the surface like, “I guess it’s OK to look like Sharon Osbourne for a bit” and, “I feel like Sarah Goldfarb in Requiem for a Dream“. Suddenly, I’m well-aware of what it would feel like to be a “ginger” – a mere 1% representation of the world’s population, the brunt of everyone’s jokes and a victim of schoolyard bullying.

PSYCH!

The above thoughts would be true if I were actually scared of change, which I’m not. I mean, they’re thoughts to consider but the truth is, my eyes DO pop and two men – one rastifarian and one geeky one – have already checked me out. Score! Besides, I get to play with new shades of makeup and liken myself to babes like these:

 The finished product…

Do you think I should regret my decision to go red?

I anticipate a LOT of maintenance to keep this colour looking fresh. Next up? Products I need to do just that.

#yolo

Kevin Murphy is an Australian hair stylist-come-manufacturer of wicked products like Angel.Wash and beach-y effect creator, Hair. Resort. Spray. Now he’s invented and distributed a BRILLIANT product called COLOR. BUG, better described as “coloured hair shadow”.

First thing’s first: this trend is fucking AWESOME. Gone are the limits of blonde, brown and red, and here are the days of wearing whichever damn colour you wish.

Kevin came to Toronto to share his story, and I heard it over a plate of delicious steak frites at Le Select Bistro. Before I left my house, I paid early homage to his new trend by crushing up an eyeshadow and finger-painting my hair blue.

Over lunch, we had a great conversation about Color Bugs then headed downstairs to the uni-sex bathroom sink for an impromptu styling session.

Here’s the final product inspired by Thakoon and made possible by Kevin Murphy.

COLOR.BUG is available at Kevinmurphy.com.au , which you can also visit to find a salon with availability near you. 

The best indication that I had let my hair grow too long was the fact that I was too embarrassed to sit in front of anyone on the TTC. Surely nobody would notice my overgrown, cow-lick affected hairline, but I was becoming heavily aware of my too-long short cut. I’m rarely one to get the same cut twice, so I started asking friends for their recommendations of salons which have never seen my face. Two of my best friends recommended TAZ in Yorkville (Toronto), so I hurriedly made the call and they graciously accommodated me.

My stylist was Duyen Huynh. She’s been at TAZ for two years and is a relatively new stylist, though she’s definitely “one to watch” in L’Oreal Professional‘s eyes. What stood out the most was how intimate our conversation was about what I like, dislike, and want my hair to be before the use of scissors was even contemplated. Anyway, it was immediately obvious to me that I was in good hands.

My chubby little hands capturing Duyen spinning Edward Scissorhand magic.

Duyen showing me the ropes of my new cut. She left the ends wispy to inhibit more movement and maintain a hint of femininity. (You too can have a flattering boy’s cut if you ask your stylist to do the same trick w/ the ends). Her good listening skills pay off for her clients.

All done and flaunting it like a proud peacock down Bay St. I usually leave my hair product-less, but Duyen introduced me to one called Evo Box o’ Bollox to amp up my hair’s volume at the roots for a hint of punk or glam, whichever I wish.

If you live in Toronto, or ever visit from out of town to get a fresh cut, I can safely bet you’ll find satisfaction with Duyen at TAZ. 

Here’s how you can reach her:

TAZ Hair Co.

11 Yorkville Avenue

Toronto, ON, M4W 111

tazhair@rogers.com

416-922-6060

tazhair.com

Trend Update:

Add tons of texture to your eyes with a graphic eyeliner, and play with plaid or striped patterns on your nails. Let your lips swing from day to dark with two attentive shades of colour.  

Nails: Try alternating vertical and horizontal stripes, like the nails at Victor & Rolf for SS12 from Paris Fashion Week, and like Melissa from Tips Nail Bar did here for FASHION. If stripes aren’t your thing, try polka-dots or colour blocked tips instead.

Lips: Polarize your Fall lipstick rotation with two new colours: nude and deep violet.

You can choose from going full-blown Twiggy, or you can take liner less seriously with a singular line of strong black kohl.

Housekeeping

Declining parallel to the mercury in thermometers is the moisture level in your skin. You may have started to notice dry patches of skin around your mouth or on your cheeks, or dull hair and legs less soft to touch. Start preparing for the worst now by beginning to feed your hair and skin plenty of hydration.

I like Super Sweet Clean Face & Eye Cleanser ($32, www.theshoppingchannel.com) because it removed my makeup by returning all the moisture and nutrients the world has kidnapped from my dermis. Plus, it smells EXACTLY like the purple Flintstone’s Multi-Vitamins I used to chomp on every day.

If you’re showering extra long and hot these days, you owe it to your hair to give it a daily bath in nourishing oils. I find I need very little of L’Oreal Professional‘s Mythic Oil, but I especially like its name.

Finally, don’t forget to throw our your old mascara and replace it with a new, less bacteria-enriched tube. If you’re ever confused about when you’re old one’s gotta go, try sticking to a twice-per-season schedule.

4 seasons x 2 tubes = 8 per year.

Happy Fall, dudes.

Weird

I like Kreayshawn, I really do. I like Gucci Gucci as much as the next person, and I like her super geeky best friend. But this duo-texture, double-colour wig, awkward apricot lipstick (pretty, but misplaced on her), and earwig inspired eyeliner looks disgusting.

Take it easy, Nicki. Obviously you wanted Super Bass to be the anthem of summer 2011, and it worked, but the second I saw this green wig on you I almost barfed. Your verse was better than Jay-Z’s on ‘Monster‘, and your super butt gets you plenty of extra attention so there’s no need for you to look like the Smoggies.

Stop it, Gaga, just stop it. I think you’re over this phase now, and onto some fucked up teeth, but you should go back to ‘Just Dance‘ for a while.

Well

If she asked me to, I would move into the Haight-Ashbury with her. Otherwise, I could just spend my nights looking at Lana Del Rey‘s purple smoky eyes while playing Video Games.

Janelle Monae was born with perfect bone structure and a femininely small face to offset her obsession with appearing boy-ish (I borderline share this with her), but her thick brows, smoky lids, and low-lying pink blush give her a glimmer of girlish-ness too.

I don’t LOVE Ke$ha, in fact I’ve never paid her the time of day, but I like her cameo in Toronto’s very own Phil Villneuve‘s dance party video  and her silver sparkles against a nude face. I also like her un-primped brows. Carry on, Ke$ha.

Ajak Deng

Ajak Deng is 19, from Australia, and owner of the ‘Grand Supreme Most Full Lips Overall’. I love the high-arch on her upper lip – Angelina Jolie, eat your heart out.

Daphne Groeneveld

I remember stepping off the train in a Dutch village called Zwolle and stopping to stare at travel posters on the wall. The models had far-set eyes and mouths to off-set the gap in between. Daphne Groeneveld may have been that poster child – she’s 16 years old, ranked #15 on models.com, and winner of ‘Best Full Lips on a White Girl’, in my books.

Abbey Lee Kershaw

In France, diastema, or spaces between the teeth, are referred to as “dents de bonheur”, or “lucky teeth”. Maybe that’s why ALK was offered $100,000 as an exclusive for Chanel. I’m offering her the title of ‘Second Best Space’ and that’s not unlucky, either.

Lindsey Wixson

Lindsey Wixson‘s defective teeth are a trait that photographers like Terry Richardson dream of. Lindsey easily scores ‘Best Space Overall’, and I can’t get enough of her.

Georgia May Jagger

Forget height. Madonna tried, but Georgia May Jagger succeeded in making her space the sexiest (and most lucrative) thing in the world.

Constance Jablonski

Thin lips need not be discounted, especially when they belong to the 6th most influential model in the world, Constance Jablonski.

Zuzanna Bijoch

Zuzanna Bijoch makes a frown and pursed lips actually look pretty.

FASHION Magazine – Afternoon Beauty Fix

FASHION sent me to Montréal Fashion Week  for a whirlwind 3 days backstage interviewing makeup artists and hair stylists. I also got to visit two brothers who call Montreal home and enjoy some delicious French-y food too. Here’s a round-up of what I saw backstage in Montréal.

Montreal fashion week backstage beauty: Denis Gagnon, Barilà, Annie 50, and Anomal Couture

Montreal fashion week backstage beauty: Martin Lim, UNTTLD, and Travis Taddeo 

The Kit Magazine

Literally the moment I got off my flight from Montreal, I headed to the re-launch party of The Kit Magazine, another great magazine I work for. The Kit, previously a purely digital beauty magazine, was acquired by TorStar and has blown up to have a digital issue, a print edition, a bi-weekly newsletter, an amazing website, and, of course, a Facebook and Twitter account to kill (ok, I kill it – social media’s my job). The Kit‘s a free download – head to the website and check it out. 

So, on September 8th (my birthday!!) we ate some delicious cupcakes and washed them down with white wine in massive glasses to celebrate a successful re-launch. Look out for weekly print editions of The Kit in every Thursday’s Toronto Star, and in other Star pubs across Canada. I work with an epic team at The Kit, so it was fun to spend some time away from our computers together.

After that, my sweet-ass friends took me to NAS to celebrate my birthday at the Molson Amphitheatre. After Montreal and The Kit party, NAS was amazing but Lauren Hill blew it and we left before she hit the stage. 

TIFFing with CBC.ca/LIVE

The TIFF, I was blogging and Tweeting for CBCLive, which was a blast. We started off the week at Strombo’s Hazleton Takeover. It was a bit of a scene, I can’t lie. I mean, Jon Hamm touched me, I gushed to Sloan‘s Chris Murphy about my massive adolescent crush, Bono dropped by, and so did Gerard Butler, Kiefer Sutherland, Woody Harrelson, Paul Giammatti, and the list goes on.

Throughout the rest of the week, I interviewed filmmaker, Guy Maddin, went to the Hello!Canada party, moseyed over to Hamilton for the Canadian Country Music Awards, and came back in time for the premiere of Cover Me Canada.

It’s been fun, but I miss my beauty. I’m back!

x

If you know Spinsterish, you know that I love to pull inspiration from the runway. This year, I especially fell in love with the “new” smoky eye we saw at Zac Posen in vibrant peacock blue. Mr. Posen has persuaded me to perfect the smoky eye, tweaked for 2011 with a little bump of colour and a dash of unruly-ness.

I’m going to teach it to you how to do it too.

First, some inspiration from my favourite model, Lindsey Wixson:

To give you an idea of the dark, metallic hue we’ll create, look to Chanel’s Fall Vernis collection:

Now let’s try it on ourselves!

Go ahead and try blue, you know you want to.

I thought a healthy diet, thorough cleansing, and the odd makeup-free Sunday was the recipe for perfect skin but, when summer started, so did the breakouts along my jawline. I initially blamed heat and humidity for an increase in oil production, but my skin actually felt dryer than normal. I ceased use of all products and even took to Twitter to whine. Moments later, I received a reply from Pure + Simple spa with a very helpful proclamation: “100% natural oils are good and you’re probably in need of microdermabrasion.” Feeling defeated by my own failed attempts at facial clarity, I headed there to find out more.

If your only reference to skin “resurfacing” is the episode of Sex and the City in which Samantha emerges from her chemical peel red and raw, you may be fearing something that’s not scary at all. Microdermabrasion is actually “controlled peeling” at the discretion of your aesthetician and a critical step in disrupting the cycle of irritated skin. Each skin cell has a sebaceous gland, which produces sebum, or oil, to protect our dermis from damage. When we neglect to provide our cells with sufficient hydration, the circulation of sebum within the cell is interrupted, causing congestion and blackheads. Then, if you don’t enlist the help of microdermabrasion, you actually prevent old cells from repairing and new cells from moving. It’s a vicious cycle and exactly what was causing my skin’s dry-yet-oily disposition, according to my Pure + Simple facialist, Tamila Kostiuk.

While most microderm treatments use finely ground aluminum crystals to slough off skin, Pure + Simple uses natural salt crystals that dissolve easily in water and cause less post-treatment irritation. In addition to a diet of organic fruits and vegetables (they reduce inflammation and prevent breakouts), you can repair damaged skin with three to six treatments and a monthly facial for hydration and maintenance. Immediately following my facial, and for a full month afterwards, the darkened areas around my mouth were lessened, and my skin’s overall level of dewy-ness was one I’d never experienced before.

Visit FASHIONmagazine.com to see my product recommendations for doing-it-yourself at home:

CLICK HERE