CRAVE CRUSH the urban girl's blog to all that you CRAVE

We CRAVE a Fabulous Party Dress

December 27, 2010 by Nina | Comments (0)

There is much to CRAVE this holiday season. From the candy canes to the beautifully wrapped gifts to all the fabulous winter fashion, we’ve got you covered. If you’re like us you’ve been thinking about the perfect party dress since Thanksgiving so here are a few of our thoughts.

The little black dress never sounded so good. Even though Seattle is facing snow flurries there is no better way to ring in the new year then with a fabulous little black dress. Proven to provide an extra boost of confidence that you can dress up or down. We CRAVE Theory for their blend of sexiness and sophistication when it comes to that little black dress.

There is no better way to summon fun and ring in the New Year then with sequins. Whether gold is your color or you prefer a more toned down silver sequins are flattering and truly liven an outfit. There are two ways we wear sequins. The first is a fun sequin dress. These come in all shapes and sizes, try a trendy one-shoulder. Our second favorite way to incorporate sequins is with a sequin covered jacket. These are perfect to wear over simple one toned dress and also come in many fun colors.

If you’ve been keeping tabs on all the trendiest styles then you already know that one shoulder dresses are all the rave right now. One shoulder dresses are flattering, edgy, and very fashion forward.

Whatever your style you can find all these suggestion in our CRAVE featured boutiques.  We want to know what you wore to ring in the new year!

5 Must Have Beauty Products this Season

November 21, 2010 by Nina | Comments (0)

We love make-up and we’re quite certain that MAC must have been channeling CRAVE when they launched their pinky-plum lipstick “CRAVING“. As the holidays approach we want to know what YOU are craving this season when it comes to beauty products. Here are our top 5 favorite beauty must-haves.

Essie downtown brown Nail Polish: A creamy chocolate brown with deep red undertones. The perfect Fall-chic color. Dress it up for a big night out or for casual everyday.

Laura Mercier Makeup Primer: This dry, windy, cold weather is not kind on any skin. We Crave clear luminous skin and always count on Laura Mercier to help us get there.

Stila Plumping Lip Glaze: Let Stila help you pout like you mean it! Infused with powerful plumping properties you’ll have kissable lips in no time.

Nars Highlighting/Blush Duo: What do you do in a season with no sun? Fake it with this amazing Blush Duo featuring blush hues that are unanimously praised for their universally flattering and natural-looking color. When combined with versatile bronzing powders or highlighting powder, you’ll get a one of a kind quintessential glow with ease and convenience for all skin tones.

Oribe Hair Care – Supershine Moisturizing Crème: A luxe reinvention of leave-in conditioner Orbie infuses hair with radiant shine leaving hair satisfied even the thirstiest hair while calming frizz. Who doesn’t CRAVE radiant hair in any season?

What beauty products do you CRAVE?

Gear up for Fall with Fashion Network-Seattle

August 27, 2010 by Nina | Comments (0)

‘Tis the season for falling leaves, Pumpkin Spice Lattes and great fashion. Fashion Network Seattle is the spot  to fall head over heels for fashion. Fashion Network Seattle offers  fashion-related content in the Seattle Metro Area. By  promoting  local designers, photographers, models, industry professionals and local boutiques, Seattle is in the know about everything fabulous. Fashion Network Seattle is not all grunt work; they also get to cover local fashion events, produce/host their own events, and create their own content around fashion and beauty. Shalonne Foster is the face of Fashion Network-Seattle. She oversees the creative direction of all editorial and video content and serves as editor for our coverage. Through her love of people and fashion, she has built an amazing network of connections to the professionals in the fashion industry in Seattle over the past year. She sat down with us and gave us an inside scoop into her world of fashion.

What is the inspiration behind Fashion Network Seattle?
Fashion Network-Seattle (originally Seattle Fashion TV) was started after I attended Paris Fashion Week and returned home to realize that there was a lack of a platform for local talent to showcase their work.  The business draws inspiration from companies like: Vogue, modelinia, Nolcha and Showroom NY.

What style advice do you swear by?
Strive for perfection, even if you fall short, you are still doing alright.

What advice do you have for women everywhere?
Do not underestimate the value that you bring to the table.

What can we expect from Fashion Network-Seattle in 2011?
We are striving to make progress in creating and bringing together Seattle’s fashion industry. One of the ways we plan to do this is by creating more content and covering more events (both locally and nationally), which will ultimately mean more exposure for local talent.

What is your favorite accessory?
Shoes!  One can never have too many and they are the perfect way to take risks in your wardrobe.

Where do you like to go with your girlfriends for an after work treat?
Shopping of course- there are so many great options like: Michael Cepress, Lizzy Parker, Sustalux, Baby &Co, Blackbird, Pretty Parlor,The Frock, Red Light, The Shops at the Bravern and of course Nordstrom.

Where/how do you draw inspiration for the topics on your site?
Many of the articles come from questions that I have asked or have been asked. Our team is also very curious, creative and smart so we never stop asking questions and we write to solve them and provide answers, or at least theories and spark conversation. One of our brand pillars is to educate, so we also spend a great deal trying to educate locals on fashion and break down the wall between the fashionistas and the masses.

So instead of picking up this month’s Vogue tune into Fashion Network Seattle for the latest fashion video, articles, editorials and blog entries.

We CRAVE a Fabulous Party!

August 19, 2010 by Nina | Comments (1)

After three hours of CRAVEable cocktails, manicures, massages, cupcakes, delicious food, stylish clothing from our favorite local boutiques and amazing women we are happy to report that the CRAVE Summer party was a huge success! There’s nothing like an Ultimate Girl party after a long day at work and the view from Shilshole Bay Beach Club was unbelievable! Women were cheerfully greeted at the door with smiles and swag bags filled with samples and sweet deals from event sponsors and vendors. Guests then perused the shopping area and eagerly added new purchases to their bags from a variety of vendors including Queen Anne Dispatch, Olivine Atelier, Opal, Clarisonic, Babeland, Calidora, Charme, Foamy Wader, Shoetini, Cracker Jack Contemporary Crafts, Coy, Fabbys Shoes, Sabrina Love Handbags, Dr. Vicki Fidler, Sacha Blue Underwater Photography and more. To add to our shopping addictions, DealPop and Seattle Picks showed us the best deals in town and signed us up for their mailing lists!

Whether guests started with Oasis Salon & Spa and got a free manicure or made their way over to Spa Scotta to get Shellacked, indulged in hair styling and make- up by Swink Style Bar, got airbrushed makeup by Smashing Divas, or got a new faux glow courtesy of Divine Sunless Tanning, guests left feeling refreshed, well-manicured, bronzed, pampered and pretty!

Taste buds were also intrigued with a delicious BBQ chicken dinner served patio side overlooking Shilshole Bay, and for a serious after-dinner sugar rush guests indulged in a delicious dessert bar brimming with New York Cupcakes, Salted Caramels from Fran’s Chocolates and yummy Wink Cupcakes! Girly Girly Wines also hosted a wine tasting bar for guests sipping pleasure! (Our favorite was the Pinot Gris!)

The entire crowd was inspired to kick up their work out routine after demonstrations from Sassy Fit and Happy Hour by Marissa. At one point the entire room was dancing to the music as Marisa demonstrated her signature Strip Tease workout with a group of guests!

The party was a smashing success! Everyone looked fabulous, no one fell down the stairs in their skyscraper high heels, the good vibes were rolling all night and everyone we talked to had a great time! If you attended the event last night, THANKS for coming! And if you weren’t able to make it, we hope to see you there next time!

Pictures of the event will be posted on Brick House Photography’s website by the end of the week! Check them out here.

Indulge and Unwind with Girly Girl Wine

August 16, 2010 by Nina | Comments (1)

There is nothing better then a midweek wine soiree with your girlfriends where you can unwind from the stresses of the world and indulge in a delicious glass of wine. Girly Girl Wines had exactly this in mind when designing their brand. Girly Girl Wines is looking to create a lifestyle that can compliment a woman’s daily life. The best part? Girly Girl will also donate a portion of it proceeds to fund breast cancer research, a cause which hits home to millions of women.

Karen Ward, Director of Operations at Girly Girl Wines has been immersed in the world of wine for years. She has grown up in the wine industry and has worked for a winery for over 7 years. She drew inspiration from her past and realized that the wine industry was missing a huge target; messaging to women. Girly Girl Wines changes the wine game by inventing a wine brand women can incorporate into their lifestyles and their time with their friends. Girly Girl Wines spotlights four wines; Chloe, Kayla, Mia, and Ferrah. Chloe is the sweet girl next door, Kayla is always up for an adventure, Mia loves the lap of luxury and Ferrah is the sporty spice of the group. Can you guess which name corresponds to which wine?  We had a chance to sit down with Karen and pick her brain about these awarding wining vinos.

Can you talk to us a little bit about your passion for wine? My family has been involved with in the wine industry since 1987. I came to work for Washington Wine and Beverage company in 2001 after I graduated from college. I’ve been with WWBC for almost 10 years now and I can’t imagine working outside of the industry. I love people, the events, and of course, the wine.

What are your most popular/best selling products? Our best selling product is our Girly Girl Pinot Gris. It’s a great bottle of award winning wine and is great for the summer months to sip on with your girl friends.

Who is your role model/mentor? My role model…most people would think this is cheesy, but my role model/mentor is my Father. He’s been the driving force behind my ability to achieve the goals and dreams I have set forth for myself. He has always given me the motivation and drive to be successful and I couldn’t be more thankful to him for being that driving force in my career.

How do you come up with inspiration for the cool vision/flavors of Girly Girl Wines? I met a lady by the name of Laurie, who actually hand paints the girls that I have on my bottles on wine glasses. I thought that it would be a great idea to actually have a wine brand called Girly Girl Wines with her images to pair up with her wine glasses. I did a full business plan for the brand and ended up winning the 2008 Seattle University Business Plan Competition and convinced my Board of Directors that this brand can go places. This brand is based off women spending their time with the girl friends. As a woman who enjoys drinking a nice glass of wine, I still spend a lot of time at the grocery store trying to figure out what wine I’m going to buy because everything just seems to blend together. My intention with Girly Girl is to make a fun brand women can relate to, with award winning wines while benefiting women causes.

What can we expect from Girly Girl Wines in the upcoming year? We’ll be continuing to make award winning wines, donating a portion of our proceeds to women’s cancer research and by this time next year will hopefully be in major retail stores through out Washington and Oregon. We haven’t decided yet, but there may even be a new addition to our line of girls for the 2010 harvest.

What are you looking forward to most about the CRAVE Summer party? I’m looking forward to meeting new people and making some great connections in the business world. There’s nothing better than meeting new people you have something in common with while trying to help each other out in the working world. This is my first CRAVE Summer party, but I think it will be a blast and I hope to make some new friends through this event.

Come meet Karen at the upcoming Girls Who Wine Spray Tan Party or check them out here.

Add a Little Spice with Babeland

August 14, 2010 by Nina | Comments (0)

Every woman deserves to indulge while feeling sexy and passionate. Claire Cavanah and Rachel Venning couldn’t agree more. The two ladies  opened the first Babeland store in 1993 in response to the lack of women-friendly sex shops in Seattle. Babeland provides  high quality goodies for women who want to explore their sexuality. The store prides itself on not only providing a pleasant place to shop and top quality products but information and encouragement for women. Word got out quick about the fabulous nature of Babeland. The store’s popularity with both women and men has led to three more stores in New York, plus a thriving and educational website. Babeland even offers regional private parties and workshops for bachelorettes, birthdays or general inquires. Add a little spice to your life and checkout Babeland. We’re excited to have them at the CRAVE Summer Party Wednesday!

Quench your Summer Thirst with Fuze Beverages

August 12, 2010 by Nina | Comments (0)

There is nothing more perfect on a summer day then a crisp, cool, fruity, refreshing beverage. Fuze can quench any summer craving.  Fuze comes in many shapes and sizes varying from teas to non carbonated fruit beverages. Best of all, they are enriched with vitamins! Fuze was created in a basement by a beverage fan with 20 years experience. The Fuze team was able to create a brand that has a great image, unique taste and major health benefits. Summer means longer days and shorter skirts which means Fuze has you covered. Fuze wants women to feel good and look good by delivering quality ingredients and tips on staying fit. They even have an online trainer to give you the scoop on healthy living.

Check out Fuze at the CRAVE Summer Party or on the Fuze website!

Smile you’re on camera!

August 10, 2010 by Nina | Comments (0)

A picture is worth a million words . Well Brick House Photography left us  speechless. Danielle Bortone-Holt, owner of Brick House Photography, has had a passion for photography since she picked up her very first Fisher Price camera at age 3.  Brick House Photography places a high emphasis on quality, attention to detail and personalized service. Danielle Bortone-Holt captures beautiful  portraiture, commercial, and fashion images. Simply put, Danielle can make anyone look fabulous! She will even take care of the nitty-gritty tech stuff like burning your pics on a disc or helping you upload them to a computer. We sat down with Danielle Bortone-Holt, chatted about the CRAVE Summer Party and got the scoop on Brick House Photography.

What do you love most about photography?

Being able to make people find a new beauty in what they thought ordinary.

Where do you draw inspiration for each of the photo shoots you do?

Plant life, Pop & European culture

What is your business model?

My business is centered on the service of providing images for each client. I use image enhancing technologies and techniques to provide results that exceed my customer’s expectations.  Blending artistic and technological skills, relying on word of mouth and networking for my customer base and my reinvestment of 50% of revenue in business are the foundation of my model.

What advice can you give an aspiring photographer?

NEVER take negative criticism personally, especially when it comes from another photographer.

What mistake have you made that has shaped who you are today?

Let’s just say I will not work without a legally binding contract ever again.

What is your signature fashion piece?

I’m obsessed with using my wide angle to shoot fashion shows, and I adore purposefully using lens flare.

Who is your role model?

My Dad.  He is always positive, tries to make friends with everyone and has an impeccable work ethic.

Life is full of creativity, beautify, and fun. Capture it all with Brick House Photography.

Try something new with DealPop

August 9, 2010 by Nina | Comments (0)

We all know that good deals are hard to come by. Well DealPop has made it a little bit  easier to snag a good deal for any occasion. DealPop is local and offers fabulous deals for the best places to eat, drink, and have fun—right in your neighborhood. The best part of DealPop is that it helps you  find little hidden gems near you that you may have missed. Whether it’s a cozy little bistro, an awesome show,  or that one place that has every cool shoe in the universe DealPop is your ticket to fun.

Marie Langhout,  who is part of the DealPop dream team,  sat down with CRAVE and gave us the 411.  The scoop is simple; DealPop finds a quality business, works their magic, and we get a great deal out of it. Users can rest assure that they are in good hands because DealPop is part of WhitePages.com which has been helping people connect with businesses online for more than a decade.  Hear more about what Marie has to say below!

What is the inspiration behind DealPop?
DealPop was born out of WhitePages’ 10+ year history of serving both people and business search customers on our website.  We have more than 20 million unique visitors to our site on a monthly basis and we were looking to take the next step in connecting customers with the merchants they are searching for.  With DealPop, we can bridge the gap between customers and small businesses by providing great deals to users and giving small businesses the exposure they are looking for to grow their businesses.

What can you tell us about the upcoming DealPop merchants? Should girls everywhere be excited?

We’re excited to continue to bring DealPop fans a great variety of deals from salons, bars and restaurants to help them uncover those great undiscovered places right in their own neighborhood. In the near future, we will be running a “week of sweets”, which we know everyone will love, in addition to having just wrapped up our very first fashion week! Over the next few months we will be  launching in NYC, West LA and the San Francisco Peninsula, so we’re looking forward to bringing ladies in those fantastic cities great deals as well!

What piece of advice do you have for women who are looking to start their own company?

We like to live by the mantra of “fail fast” and use as many metrics as possible to quantify the work that we’re doing. If we see something isn’t working like we thought it would, we change it up.

Build lasting and meaningful relationships with people who know more than you do. Always be willing to listen and learn. Don’t be afraid to ask for a connection, and don’t be afraid to ask questions.

What business lessons have populated your mind while launching DealPop?
There are a ton of different directions we can go with DealPop and WhitePages, the whole team is really excited about the future of this product.  Right now, we’re laser-focused on building fantastic relationships with our high quality merchants and making the customer experience as simple as possible, but we have some great ideas in mind for the next phase.

Some key lessons we’ve learned while building DealPop?

1)      Small business owners are busy folks!  We’ve streamlined our process greatly so we take as little of the merchant’s time as possible when crafting our deals.  We take care of the ecommerce, advertising and even creative aspects of their deal so they can focus on their core business.  Our goal is to make it as simple as possible for them to do a deal with us and get a lot of great new customers in the door.

2)      Users love to share.  We built DealPop from the ground up with sharing in mind.  The growth in social networks like Facebook and Twitter has been astounding and we’re working like mad to make the sharing process as seamless as possible for our users, even with some incentives in place for sharing!  Users who refer new customers to DealPop earn points they can use like cash on future purchases.

3)      Providing experiences for people can be really fun.  We did a Pike Place Market promotion a couple weeks ago where we offered a pizza deal at the Alibi Room, an improv comedy show at Unexpected Productions in Post Alley and a ghost tour in Pike Place Market all in the same week.   It was really great to see our users on Facebook and Twitter buy the deals and share with friends to take part in the night of fun.  People were inviting their friends out to the comedy show with them, buying blocks of tickets at a time and snatching up the Ghost Tour tickets as a spooky way to round out the night in their own city with friends.

You can learn more about DealPop at the CRAVE Summer Party or check them out at DealPop.com!

Fun. Playful. Refreshing.

August 7, 2010 by Nina | Comments (0)

Meet Alexa Allamano owner of Foamy Wader, an online fashion jewelry boutique. Those of us that have experienced  playing in sea foam know it is fun, playful, and refreshing. Foamy Wader jewelry is no exception. The vibrant gemstone jewelry can be found online and we are pleased to be featuring Foamy Wader at the Annual CRAVE summer party. We had a chance to chat with Alexa about her chic collection and find out what inspires the designer along with some insider faves.

What is the inspiration behind the beautiful Foamy Wader pieces?
I draw inspiration from film, music, nature, art, quotes from friends or from the stones themselves.  Sometimes the best inspiration comes from going rock hunting.

What is the story behind the name Foamy Wader?
The name “Foamy Wader” comes from wading in sea foam or the suds of a soapy fountain.

What is your business motto?
There is no wrong; only perception.

What advice would you give aspiring fashion/jewelry designers?
If you are passionate about your art then make it and put it out there.  People will respond in turn.

What do you consider your biggest accomplishment?
I feel most accomplished when I am serving return clients.  It speaks volumes when someone is happy with your work and wants to continue to support your business.

What is your favorite jewelry piece?
The pieces I wear most often are the ruby “paper lantern” earrings, “sayuri” necklace or the “demand satisfaction” necklace.  My favorite designs are the “tiny bubbles” and “siren cluster” necklaces.

Who is your fashion Icon?
I absolutely adore Katherine Heigl’s style.  I’ve been a fan of hers since the “Wish Upon a Star” days.