Share the Chic!

Throughout the month of October, one new Cincy Chic Facebook friend will be randomly selected to win a cut, color, and makeup application from Lucid Salon. We’ll contact the winner and ask them who told them about Cincy Chic. That person will also win a cut, color, and makeup application from Lucid Salon, too! Click here to visit our Facebook page! So, what are you waiting for? Share the Chic!

Contest runs from October 1-31. One winner will be randomly selected at midnight on October 31 and contacted via e-mail.

These participants attended a Cincy Chic ladies night last week where they were asked which Sex and the City star they were most like. Read their responses below and vote on your favorite for each star. The winners for each character will get four free screening passes to tonight’s "Sex and the City 2" movie screening!

Charlotte
Shelly Bloom Most like Charlotte because, “One man is better than the next!”
Carly Schweet Most like Charlotte because, “I have dimples and class like her!”
Natalie Lindquist Most like Charlotte because, “She’s compassionate!”

Samantha
Susan Long Most like Samantha because, “I love the way she dresses!”
Vickie Magliano Most like Samantha because, “I have personality, I am wild and sexy!”
Tawnia Duermit: Most like Samantha because, "I love younger men!"
Tara Bedele: Most like Samantha because, "I’m a cougar!"
Amanda Bentley: Amanda is most like Samantha "for all the obvious reasons!"

Carrie
Rachel Murphy: Most like Carrie because, “She turned me onto my favorite drink. The Cosmo!”
Asheley Wessling Most like Carrie because, “I work for a lifestyle publication and I can run in heels!”
Danielle Delaine Most like Carrie because, "I’m looking for my Mr. Big!"
Tia Kuchik Most like Carrie because, "She’s whimsical and I love her adventurous style!"
Hannah Cunningham Most like Carrie because, "Of her love for fashion!"
Kelly Knafel Most like Carrie because, "I live a fast paced life just like her!"
Kelly Niemeyer Kelly is most like Carrie "for all the obvious reasons!"

Mr. Big/Miranda (only one entry was submitted for each character, so the favorite between the two in this category will win)
Mr. Big Tom Cunningham Most like Mr. Big because, "I’m big!"
Miranda Charlsetta Smith Most like Miranda because, "I’m a workaholic!"

Heading into her third decade, Cincy Chic makeover winner Megan Blunt needed a fresh look. Or at least her sister thought so when she nominated Blunt for the makeover.

"I was stunned that she had entered me but was excited to be selected for the experience," Blunt says. So she headed to Tuscany Spa-Salon for a day of transformation.

For her new look, Blunt chartered into unexplored territory with a color treatment for her hair. "I was really nervous to color my hair since I had never done that before, but [the Tuscany staff] put me at ease and promised that it wouldn’t be too drastic — just a fresher look," Blunt says.

Tuscany stylist Tammy Fitterer guided Blunt into that unexplored territory. "I decided to take her hair color one level darker and added a nice, rich brown to it in order to warm up and deepen her natural color," Fitterer says. "I put a caramel highlight throughout the top portion of her hair just to brighten up her face."

Beyond the brightening, Fitterer framed Blunt’s face with a side-swept bang and shorter layers. She also cut about four inches off Blunt’s hair to give her a shorter ‘do.

"They definitely turned this ‘hair color virgin’ into a believer!" Blunt says. "I think I’m hooked!"

Blunt also met with aesthetician Lynsey Morrison for a lip wax, makeup application and eyebrow touchup. (Blunt had recently had her eyebrows waxed.) "I tweezed what needed cleaned up that had grown in since her waxing and trimmed the length of her brows for a more cleaned up look," Morrison says.

And the makeup application provided a more dramatic look for Blunt, as she doesn’t wear much makeup on a daily basis. "We did a heavier makeup application with eyeliner and more eye shadow," Morrison says.

After all of her services, what was her favorite part of the day? "The best part of the makeover experience was the wonderful staff at Tuscany Salon," Blunt says. "They made me feel very relaxed and I think we all had fun together."

To learn more about how you can give yourself a day of pampering or to set up an appointment, check out the Tuscany Web site at TuscanySpaandSalon.com.

Or nominate yourself or someone you know for a complete makeover with Tuscany! Send an e-mail to makeover@cincychic.com with a picture and a small explanation for why your nominee is deserving of a complete makeover. One winner will be chosen each month.

PHOTO CREDITS

Photographer: Kate Messer

Models: Megan Blunt

Location: Tuscany Spa-Salon

In addition to her full-time job, local lady Janice Ison looks after two farms, so day break is really the only "break" she gets in her day. "Heaven knows that most days the last thing on the agenda is having time to do anything beyond basic hygiene for myself," Ison says.

Ison’s daughter Stacey recognized her mom’s hard work and nominated her for a makeover from Cincy Chic, and when Ison won, her immediate surprise quickly turned into excitement as she started to think about what new experiences she wanted to try. So she headed to Tuscany Spa-Salon for a day of transformation.

Her most drastic new experience fell in the hands of hair stylist Lora Mein. "I did partial highlights with an all-over color … because Janice was 100 percent gray," Mein says. So Ison’s makeover took her from gray to a medium brown with caramel highlights.

Beyond the coloring, Mein kept Ison’s length so that she still could pull back her hair in a pony tail, but she added layers to provide more shape but easy maintenance. "There was a definite difference seeing myself in ‘color,’ with a fun hair style that will work great with both work and leisure times," Ison says.

To add ease to Ison’s look after she was away from stylist expertise, Mein gave Ison some blow-drying tips. "I’m using the tips the hair stylist gave me for blow drying my hair each day and already contemplating my next color refresher," Ison says.

Besides a hair transformation, Ison went to Lynsey Morrison for a Jane Iredale makeup application and Emma Benkirane for some highbrow treatment. Benkirane used the increasingly popular threading technique to give more shape to Ison’s brows and to clean up a little above her lip. "It was fun to try new things. I never heard of the ‘threads’ before for hair removal," Ison says.

For more information or to schedule a day ofrelaxationfor yourself, head to TuscanySpaandSalon.com, call (513) 489-8872 or head to 11355 Montgomery Road in Loveland, Ohio. Or nominate yourself or someone you know by e-mailing makeover@cincychic.com with a picture and a small explanation for why your nominee is deserving of a complete makeover. One winner will be chosen each month.

PHOTO CREDITS

You’ve heard it before: To help others, you have to help yourself sometimes too. Easier said than done, though, right? Well, Cincy Chic found a woman who puts others first and offered her the opportunity to make herself a priority for a day.

Respiratory therapist Lisa Yates constantly works to give others the breath of life (literally), so her sister nominated her to win a Cincy Chic makeover experience that would turn the tables and give Yates the chance to sit back, relax and just breathe. "[My sister] recognizes my hard work and wanted me to have a day to myself," Yates says.

So Yates headed to Tuscany Spa-Salon for her day to shine. Hair stylist Brittany Borchard brightened Yates’ day — and her look — with some highlights. Borchard also kept the length of the locks while giving Yates a more structured style with some layers.

Her new ‘do was Yates’ favorite part of the experience, and the gift keeps giving as her new style makes it easier to brush and style, she says. "I don’t really have to try as hard because there’s not as much weight on it," Yates says.

In addition to Borchard’s styling work, Yates’ day of pampering included an eyebrow wax and tint from esthetician Tamara Saling. At first the drastic change came as a shocker to Yates, but the look is growing on her (no pun intended). The shock came because of the change, but that change wasn’t bad, Yates says. 

Yates even enjoyed her "15 minutes of fame" with all eyes on her, including ones looking through the lens of a camera. With a photographer capturing the experience on film, Yates took the opportunity to escape from reality into reality — TV that is. "I watch ‘America’s Next Top Model,’ so I pretended like I was on the show," she says.

To learn more about how you can give yourself a day of pampering or to set up an appointment, check out the Tuscany Web site at TuscanySpaandSalon.com.

Or nominate yourself or someone you know for a complete makeover with Tuscany! Send an e-mail to makeover@cincychic.com with a picture and a small explanation for why your nominee is deserving of a complete makeover. One winner will be chosen each month.

PHOTO CREDITS

Photographer: Kate Messer

Models: Lisa Yates and Brittany Borchard

Location Tuscany Spa-Salon

Life has dealt Cincinnatian Heather Ray quite a hand. At 12 years old in 1982, soft-tissue cancer in Ray’s left leg caused doctors to amputate at the hip. Cancer resurfaced in Ray’s life when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006. A double mastectomy and eight months of treatment later, Ray was pronounced free of cancer.

Over the next two years, Ray faced divorce and lost her job as the vice president of a local company. The day after she lost her job in May 2008, she found lumps in her lymph nodes and her right femur. The cancer was back. Yet again, she beat the cancer with determination and positivity added to her treatments, but just six weeks after given a clean slate of health in March, Ray discovered pea-sized lumps in her neck and a palm-sized lump on her sternum. Tests showed that the cancer was back for round four.

Last Monday Ray found out that her bone and CAT scans came back cancer free. She defeated cancer yet again, but she will continue treatments, possibly for the rest of her life, Ray says. Despite her multiple bouts of cancer, Ray looks at herself as lucky.

"I am the luckiest person in the whole world, and yes, I was diagnosed with cancer, but it’s made me such a good person. I’m a better person," she says.

To add to that idea of luck, Ray was announced the winner of the Cincinnati.Com/Cincy Chic Breast Cancer Beauty Makeover Contest at Cincy Chic‘s Bras with Flair on the Square event last Wednesday. Ray’s pampering package included free products and services valued at $3,000 from Tuscany Spa-Salon, La Silhouette Lingerie and Soho Boutique, among other companies.

Cincinnati.Com received 70 nominations for the award, and after reading the 500-word essays, representatives from Cincinnati.Com and Cincy Chic narrowed the finalists to 10. Online readers were then given a week to vote for a winner.

Last Tuesday and Wednesday Ray took advantage of her winnings. From eyebrow waxing to a cut and color to a massage, Tuscany’s professionals worked their magic on Ray. The treatments, as they do with the majority of cancer survivors, have wreaked havoc on her complexion and hair. So the makeover is exactly what she needed, she says.

While Ray appreciated and enjoyed the entire pampering experience, her shorter haircut, enhanced with dimensional highlights serves as one of Ray’s favorite parts of the experience. "Considering I’ve lost half of it and it’s growing back in, my hair’s just kind of a mess from chemotherapy…. The time that they took to really look at my hair and decide what it needed to really give it some fullness was really, really what I needed," Ray says.

After receiving Tuscany’s salon and spa services, Ray visited La Silhouette for a professional bra fitting as well as a new bra. "They brought me all these bras, and we got the ‘perfect fit,’ as they say — very sexy," Ray says. 

To complete her new look, Ray headed to Soho Boutique to be dressed for Cincy Chic‘s Bras with Flair on the Square fashion show that took place last Wednesday. While a pretty pink dress fitted Ray’s fancy, the dress didn’t quite fit her, so she and owner Amy Maynard accessorized a brown halter-top dress with a pink scarf.

After a full day of pampering, Ray headed to Fountain Square at 7:30 a.m. the following day to help support the fight for the cure for breast cancer. Along with other volunteers, Ray spent nearly her entire day promoting both Spin for the Cure that will take place Oct. 10 and Bras with Flair on the Square event.

While she continues cancer treatments as a single mother without a job, Ray works to make sure nobody else has to fight the same battle, and she lives by her own words: "Cancer’s not a choice. Fighting it is."

PHOTO CREDITS

Photos courtesy of The Cincinnati Enquirer

Top left photo photgrapher: Gary Landers

Top right photo photographer: Ernest Coleman

Bottom photo photographer: Amanda Davidson

Sometimes only having 24 hours in the day is just not enough! A professional woman’s to-do list eventually gets so long that something has got to be cut, and unfortunately "me time" is the first to go. This is just what happened with this month’s Cincy Chic makeover winner.

Cincinnati native Jennifer Van Horn spends her days working full-time at a law firm downtown and the rest of her waking hours with her husband and two children, leaving no time for her personal beauty routine. After finding a thread on Facebook that directed her to the Cincy Chic makeover page, Van Horn sent in an e-mail pleading her case. 

"I hadn’t had a haircut in a long time, and with money so tight and work and kids, I couldn’t have done it without Cincy Chic," Van Horn says.

On the day of her makeover Van Horn met with her personal glam squad at Tuscany Spa-Salon and had a cut-and-color conference with her stylist.

"[Van Horn] came in with long hair, past the middle of her back. She had quite a bit of regrowth, showing her natural color. The lower part of her hair was previously highlighted blonde. Jennifer and her husband wanted to maintain her length as much as possible," Tuscany General Manager Liz Reaney says. 

After cutting four inches from her locks and adding light long layers, Van Horn’s hair stylist added a full head of heavy blonde highlights to balance her hair color from root to tip.

"[The stylist] did a really good job on the highlights," Van Horn says. "I was really happy with the results."

Also added to her long layers was a soft side bang and face framing layers. Van Horn’s completed coif was achieved by using a round brush and dryer for a smooth look.

Aside from her new and improved blonde tresses, Van Horn had her eyebrows shaped by the threading process. (Eyebrow threading is an alternative to waxing for those who are sensitive to wax or just want to try something new!) She also received a makeup application using Jane Iredale Mineral Makeup. Van Horn’s overall look was not changed drastically but she left the salon looking younger and fresh with a more up-to-date look.

To learn more or to set up an appointment, check out the Tuscany Web site.

Nominate yourself or someone you know for a complete makeover with Tuscany! Send an e-mail to makeover@cincychic.com with a picture and a small explanation for why your nominee is deserving of a complete makeover. One winner will be chosen each month.

PHOTO CREDITS

Photographer: Breanna Gaddie

Salon and spa services courtesy of Tuscany Spa-Salon

Veronica Heckel, a 16-year-old native of Hamilton, Ohio, stumbled across this makeover by chance — literally. Her mother won the makeover in the raffle at the Cincy Chic Red Pink and Blue charity fashion show. After having the luck of the draw, Heckel’s mom decided to pass the luck (and the pampering) on to her daughter, and Heckel gladly accepted.

Upon entering Tuscany Spa-Salon for her makeover, Heckel faced a service she had never faced before — eyebrow waxing. Heckel met with esthetician Tamara Saling for a short consultation, and the two decided to keep Heckel’s look natural.

“Veronica has beautiful, full brows," Saling says. "To open her eye area, I simply did a little shaping and added a small arch to give her a natural and classic look."

Next, Heckel met with stylist Brittany Borchard to determine what cut and color combo would work best with Heckel’s hair and face shape. Heckel’s previous hair color had grown out a bit, leaving her with dark roots. 

To freshen up her look, Heckel and Borchard collectively decided to add blonde highlights, and low lights with a touch of red to add dimension.

For Heckel’s new cut, Borchard added a few face-framing layers to add youthful movement to the hair but only trimmed off about an inch from the bottom, Borchard says. "I can’t live without my long hair!" Heckel says.

Iredale Mineral Cosmetics made for the finishing touches as Borchard applied Heckel’s makeup. Borchard went for a light and natural look that was flirty but age appropriate. After applying a light foundation and a little blush, Borchard used earth tones on Heckel’s eyes and a pale lip gloss as the icing on the cake. 

After her transformation was complete, Heckel walked out of Tuscany looking like a different person and loving her new look, she says. "I felt really pretty afterward," she says. "My favorite part is probably my hair. If I could get my hair done every day I’d be perfectly happy!"

To learn more or to set up an appointment, check out the Tuscany Spa-Salon Web site.

PHOTO CREDITS