For The Love Of Fashion: Fashion's Night Out Hits NYC

As if day one at the tents wasn't tiring enough, last night marked the debut of Fashion's Night Out events across the city. Exhausted or not, there was no way I was going to pass up the chance to experience at least some of what the night had to offer. In an attempt to keep my tour of fashion and beauty hot spots to a manageable few, I decided to hit up some of the higher end department stores on Fifth Avenue (not to buy, of course!) and one boutique downtown. I wanted to be in the midst of the action as New Yorkers came out in droves to experience the excitement of the having retailers all over the city come together in an attempt to get people excited about shopping again amidst the recession. Celebrities also made a point to make appearances around the city to help promote interest. Apparently Victoria Beckham and the Olson twins were out and about, though I didn't get to see them! I met up with my beauty "sister," Adina to browse the goings-on. Here are some of the highlights from my night:

Stop 1: Bergdorf Goodman

Upon approaching the store, we saw a sizeable crowd gathered at one of the store's windows. Designer Zac Posen was spray painting a dress on a model who was posing and hamming it up for the on-lookers. Zac was adorable, playing to the crowd and wearing a tiara, no less! Inside, Badgley and Mischka were on hand to sign Fashion's Night Out T-shirts and pose for pictures. We checked out the beauty floor where we learned a little about Cle de Peau (a brand under the management of Shiseido - more to come on the line!) and scoped out Chantecaille very briefly (two brands with which I am not very familiar). In general, Bergdorf's seemed to be more about the fashion than the beauty.

Stop 2: Henri Bendel

We made a quick stop in Bendel's where I checked out MAC's Style Black collection (at least most of it!) and Adina and I were introduced to the Jouer make-up line (another brand I will be posting on as I learn more about them).

Stop 3: Saks Fifth Avenue

Here we browsed the beauty floor. We stopped by the Giorgio Armani counter and met artist Tim Quinn. He showed us the new mascara range, Eyes to Kill (a line of four volumizing and lengthening mascaras) and we viewed the Fall Manta Ray collection. Tim was incredibly nice and posed for some pictures. I haven't yet tried anything from Giorgio Armani's make-up line, but I am extremely tempted to now (I am currently lemming an Eyes to Kill mascara, luminous silk foundation, and a lipstick from the Manta Ray collection!) After Armani, we met up with Nancy of The Informed Makeup Maven and Adina's friend, Rachel. Nancy and I branched off to browse the Chanel offerings, where I fell in love with a gorgeous berry/wine lipstick that the MA tried on me. I'm definitely going back for Fatale!

Stop 4: Scoop

Finally, Adina, Nancy and I headed downtown to PurpleLab's Huge Lips Skinny Hips party at the Scoop store in the Meatpacking district, arriving in style in the green (not purple!) car that picked us up from Saks. The party was hot! A bartender was on hand to mix up some yummy Lychee Martinis, sexy Veronica Varlow made an appearance, and DJ Lips was spinning a playlist of some great music. Once again, Karen and her team threw a great event! It was also nice to meet up with fellow blogging beauty Aja of Don't Forget the Lip Gloss!

The night was a lot of fun and it was definitely worth getting home a little later than I had hoped! Here are some visuals from the night!