My Fashion Night Out in New York

Imagine you're walking down 5th Avenue in New York City...the glitz, the glamor, the fashion, all enticing you to spend, spend spend! That was my experience this past Thursday on Fashion Night Out. I was a good girl though, living on a budget.

I did however want to share the experience with you, although it's a bit late. I wanted to tell you about it before I got into the details of my Total Beauty Tour.

This past Thursday's Fashion Night Out in NYC was truly a fashion diva's night of excitement. People were swarming the stores looking for that special deal, new product or freebie. Since I'm working off a newly created budget, a list minute shopping spree wasn't exactly in the plans. So I focused on the "freebies" and the taking of my own personal inventory. By that, I mean collecting info. in the form of photos, of all the items I intend to buy.

I wanted to share some of what I discovered at the participating stores I visited at this year's Fashion Night Out. My first stop was Sephora, where I received a complimentary airbrush makeover with the new TEMPTU Airbrush Makeup System (only available at Sephora). I absolutely love how easy the technique is and how it makes the skin look almost flawless. It virtually eliminates the need for concealer! Unfortunately for me, I had a make up application the day before that caused my skin to react. However, the airbrushing results were stunning, none the less. Here are videos I had taken of me getting the makeover:

TEMPTU is surprisingly only $225. Two makeup pods are $55 and last approximately 4 months with daily use.

Next stop on Fashion Night Out was Tiffany & Co. What I love about Tiffany is that they cater to almost any wallet size. There's something for just about anyone.

To add to their class and style, Tiffany & Co. celebrated Fashion Night Out by giving away complimentary iced tea, iced coffee, and these little cakes designed like a signature Tiffany box:

Tiffany also had a candy station where the "sweet at heart" assembled bags of assorted candy in the signature Tiffany colors, blue and white. I'm the biggest candy lover so I didn't realize that I hadn't photographed my candy bag before I ate everything in it...

After Tiffany & Co., I stopped by Channel, Coach and Henri Bendel. Coach had 2 artists available to design a $180 canvas bag with custom artwork. One of the artists specialized in graffiti. Here's a pic of one of the bags he finished:

Now, I may get backlash for this next statement but whatever...If I spent $180 on a bag, I don't want ANYONE coloring in on it! Besides, I save that job for my son. Enough said.

At Chanel's people were designing their own signature handbags for a couple hundred dollars. I didn't stay long.

Henri Bendel had a number of cool things going on including stations to create your own designer bangle, designer sandals and fragrances. There was also a raffle going on where 3 prizes were raffled off: a beauty box, dinner for 2 and I think dance lessons. . . yeah

Oh, how I wanted that beauty box! Bendel offers some very fashionable and unique items. Here are just a couple that caught my eye:

Aren't these the cutest rhinestone earphone covers?

I just love fashion costume jewelry!

So that was my experience with Fashion Night Out 2009. Of course the exclusive events were reserved for the rich and famous but I had fun on my scale.

I'd love to hear from you. Give me your thoughts on the stores, prices and events I mentioned! I think I'll budget in a shopping spree for 2010!

In a couple of days I'll go into the details of the stops I made on the beauty tour last week so check back!