Nick Verreos Judges Cutest Dog at Artist Knox Luxury Grooming Pet Salon Party!!

Nick says Woof Woof!!!!Woof: Nick Verreos and his dog, Benny (wearing House Of Dog accessories) at the Artist Knox Luxury Pet Grooming Salon Launch Party

This past Saturday, I was invited to the Grand Opening Charity Party of Artist Knox Luxury Grooming Pet Salon, benefiting SPCA-LA. The weather in LA was a gorgeous (and very hot) 85 degrees, so I donned my dress shirt, vest and tie--and my silver sneakers--and threw Benny, my beautiful King Charles-Dachshund dog, in my car, and I was ready to go! OK, just to clarify, before I get any nasty emails--I didn't really throw Benny in the car--he sat on "Daddy" David's lap.Nick Verreos, Karen "Doc" Halligan and "Groomer Has It" Season 1 Winner, Artist Knox

Artist Knox, is the winner of Animal Planet's "Groomer Has It", and this is his salon, naturally! I was excited to go to a red carpet event where I could bring Benny, as opposed to leaving him alone tearing up my silk jersey gowns. Also, I wasn't just attending, I found out that I was also the Guest Celebrity Judge and Host (OK, so they were using the word "celebrity" very loosely!) for the party's Cutest Dog Contest. Drag Dogs: Wig-wearing (don't ask) dogs at the Artist Knox Luxury Pet Salon Party

As soon as I arrived, I was greeted by Artist Knox and one of the judges from the show, Dr. Karen "Doc" Halligan. Dr. Halligan is currently the Director of Veterinary Services at the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Los Angeles (SPCA LA), where she oversees the health and well being of all the shelter animals and routinely performs surgical procedures.
Gremlins Cute: A party guest and her dog (love the tie!)

The pet grooming salon, located on Cahuenga Boulevard, right in the heart of Hollywood, was a buzz with lots of dogs of all shapes and colors, as well as their Haute Hollywood Mommy and Daddies. I immediately put Benny down and he went to town, smelling and getting to know all the other dogs. He loved hanging out with all the other dogs and had a fun time. Tu-tu's and Summer Dresses: Young guests and their colorful tu-tu wearing pets

There were lots of teen and pre-teen actors at the party, who brought their dogs too. I thought I was at the Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Awards but the bring-your-pet version! I ran into actress Kaycee Stroh, from Disney's High School Musical, as she approached me and told me how much she "loves" Project Runway. I told her I loved her too! High School Musical Meets Project Runway: Nick Verreos and actress Kaycee Stroh, of "High School Musical"

The party was catered by one of my favorite restaurants in Los Angeles, La Velvet Margarita, which just happens to be next door. They also had set up a bar in the back in case guests felt compelled to have some afternoon cocktails. The Velvet Margarita back patio, also served as the "stage" for the Cutest Dog Contest I would be judging.
DJ Nick: Nick Verreos hosts and judges Artist Knox Luxury Grooming Pet Salon Cutest Dog Contest

There were lots of cute dogs for me to chose from. In true Project Runway form, I, of course, made the dogs--and their owners--do a runway strut, in front of all the guests. After much deliberation (Ok, it took less than 60 seconds) , I decided that actor Jorge Pallo's (who starred in "24") puppy was the winner! ...And The Winner Is: Nick Verreos gets licked by winning puppy

He was the cutest dog, besides mine of course (Benny was not eligible since I was the sole judge, thank you very much!). Congratulations to Jorge and his "Cutest" puppy! When I announced the winner , he (the dog) licked me all over! (see photo above). I think Benny was jealous because he was mean to me all day after that!

Nick Verreos and Heather Chantal Jones of "America's Next Top Model" on Video!!

FIDM Three Days of Fashion: Los AngelesGreen Microphone, Green Pants: Nick Verreos chats with host Blaine Vedros, and over 200 students at FIDM LA "3 Days Of Fashion"

Well, I just can't get enough of model Heather Chantal Jones! As you may have read in a previous posting, last week I was invited to San Diego to make a special appearance at the FIDM San Diego Campus and Cycle 9 "America's Next Top Model", Heather--I call her Chantal--Jones, drove down from Los Angeles, and joined me in the fun. This last Friday, neither her nor I had much to travel (since we are both Angelenos) when we reprised our 'Three Days of Fashion" appearance in the sunny Los Angeles Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising/FIDM Campus.Next Up For Bid, A Turquoise Silk Jersey (20 yrds of it!) gown with Grecian draping, copper sequins and built-in bustier: Nick Verreos and model Heather Chantal Jones at FIDM LA "3 Days of Fashion"

Being that this event was in LA, everything is done on a "grander scale", and when I showed up to the stage, there were over 200 kids, plus parents and school administrators, crowding the expansive 5Th Floor "Conference Room". When I made my entrance , it seemed like EVERY student had their cell phones perched atop their heads taking photos. I was nearly blinded by the flashbulbs and trust me, this doesn't happen very often. Not for a little ol' designer like myself, and certainly not for a "Project Runway" reality show alumn.

I did a fun interview with cutie host Blaine Vedros (love him!) and then, of course, I brought out Chantal for some runway modeling of my NIKOLAKI collection. She wore the "Carrie Ann Inaba" silk jersey gown (which Carrie Ann wore on last season's "Dancing With The Stars") as well as other gowns. We even captured video of the event.
Below are the videos. Enjoy!

Model Heather Chantal Jones, of Cycle 9 America's Next Top Model, modeling NIKOLAKI dress worn by Carrie Ann Inaba:

Model Heather Chantal Jones, modeling NIKOLAKI Spring 2009 and Nick Verreos discusses his inspiration:

Take Care, Garnier

Last Thursday I attended the Garnier event in Hammersmith along with many of my fellow lovely bloggers. We were told all about their new product launches, such as the Pure Active skin care range with 2% salicylic acid, and learned about their existing lines. I will not bore you all with too many details as many people have blogged about this already, but be prepared for honest reviews of many of the products we were given in our generous goodie bags, as well as others I have been using in the past months :).
Pandadoesmakeup and I :).

As we arrived we were treated to a lovely buffet and some much needed cold drinks as it was boiling outside!Sorry these photos are so rubbish, but I was quite busy chatting and scoffing.. teehee.

We then sat down to a presentation about Garnier's aims, ethos, and of course products. Their main philosophy, as we often hear in their adverts, is to take care of yourself, others and the world around you. To do this they say they harness the power of science to extract the most effective ingredients in nature. I actually really liked this statement, perhaps because I did predominantly biological sciences at university and nature vs. science is close to my heart, and it is great that they can be combined effectively. For example, instead of extracting ingredients from rare orchids they have isolated the key ingredient and have developed a way to synthesise the same ingredient in the lab, thereby still providing us with natural ingredients, but not impacting the environment by chopping down fields of flowers.After the presentation we were let loose on all the goodies and had the opportunity to try out many of Garnier's range as well as ask questions and mingle.

Here is a photo of all the girlies together :).
Afterwards, many filtered off to catch trains and such, but a few of us made our way to Pizza Express for a lovely supper.

I had such a brilliant day and just want to say a massive thank you to the Garnier team for hosting this event and being so generous as well as all the girls for being so friendly, and the gorgeous Nathalie for all her help and advice!

xxx

20 questions..

Swatches...

A couple of people had asked for me to swatch the items I bought. Above I have swatched the Barry M Dazzledusts in Mushroom (a lovely taupey shade, Pink Gold and Lavender). They are all finely milled as always with DD's and the colours are gorgeous. I can't wait to try them out and show you.

Above I have swatched the Miss Sporty Liquid Eyeshadow in Intrigue...it is a lovely mettalic green colour and has a kind of gold sheen to it which can be seen when the light shines on it. I will be doing a review on this very soon.

Next I have swatched the Famous By Sue Moxley eye pencils in Amber (dark brown) and Citrine (a bronzey colour), then the Barry M Shimmering Eye and Lip Pencils in 3 (Pale Pink) which is a good dupe for Benefit Eyebright Pencil and 5 (Gold Pink).

Hope this was helpful!

Massive haul!

So as promised, here is my post on my shopping trip this morning (turned out to be a massive shopping trip and I got very carried away!). I got the following goodies:

• Barry M Natural Dazzle Bronzer


• Lancome Tropiques Mineral Smoothing Bronzer (Ocre Bronze)


• Barry M Nail Paint in 119 Baby Pink, 303 Bright Purple and 279 Bright Pink


• Barry M Dazzledust in 51 (Mushroom), 31 (Lavender), and 3 (Gold Pink)


• Barry M Shimmering Eye and Lip Pencil in 5 (Pink Gold) and 3 (Pale Pink)


• L'Occitane Lip Gloss in Rose Petal


• Famous By Sue Moxley Eyeliner in Amber and Citrine


• YSL Rouge Volupte in No.1 and No.3


• Miss Sporty Lipstick in 009 Innocence


• Miss Sporty Liquid Eyeshadow in 800 Intrigue
  

I will be doing reviews on all these products over the next week or so so if there's something you're really interested in, let me know and I will review that first. I also picked up a gorgeous electric blue silk dress from Coast. I love it coz I can dress it up or down.

I also got a lovely summer dress from Monsoon (their Fusion range). It's a dark coral pink colour and can be worn with or without straps. It has heavy beading all over and is very flattering on. I love it!

Lastly, I got a bracelet and necklace from Accessorize (I spent ages in there and almost bought 3 other things!It's a fantastic shop).