Fashion Fights Poverty (FFP) will host DC’s first ever “fashion swap” on Saturday, July 18, 2009 from 12pm to 5pm at the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel.

The event will allow guests to consign former favorites, refresh your wardrobe with “new to you” items by “swapping” with fellow guests, or donate items to Covenant House Washington, an organization that provides shelter and protection, food, clothing, counseling and job training to Washington, DC youth. Local DC consignment shop Current Boutique will be onsite to consign quality items that can be resold. Guests will also enjoy hair styling demonstrations by PR at Partners and hair treatments by Phyto hair care. 

FFP is calling on all environmentally conscious fashionistas to join our efforts to reDuce, reUse, and reCycle. The fashion swap will serve as an outlet for the DC community to share quality items that may no longer represent them but may benefit others.  “Each one of us has the ability to help those less fortunate than ourselves, regardless of how big or small that contribution,” said FFP President, Chris Belisle. “This is who Fashion Fights Poverty is, and we hope those who participate in this particular activity will know it can be fun, too!”

How does “Fashion Swap” work? The swap begins with attendees leaving their unwanted articles of clothing, shoes, and accessories on tables based on clothing size range or accessory type. Guests will choose whether to offer their garments for consignment, trade, or donate them.  Attendees will then dive in and find their next “new to them” items from the pile.

• If offering items for consignment, garments will be entrusted to Current Boutique. You may choose to donate your consignment proceeds to Fashion Fights Poverty.
• If trading, guests may interact and make trades with other guests.
• FFP encourages all guests to donate items to Covenant House Washington. At the end of the event, clothing not consigned or swapped will go to the Covenant House.

For entry into this event, all guests must bring an item (clothing, accessories, or shoes) big or small. Please RSVP to rsvp@fashionfightspoverty.org.

Having rid my whole house of all chemicals this past weekend, I am truly on my green journey, so how stoked was I to find these sweet deals at Wal-Mart a few months ago. Seed Supply Co. offers some super cute organic cotton clothing for the green queen on a budget, or just the gal whow doesn’t want to pay too much for comfortable clothes.

As I sit here writing this post, actually, I am wearing the tank top and asymmetrical skirt. I have three skirts, two tank tops, one V-neck shirt and one dress from Seed Supply Co. Obviously, I dig paying $10 bucks or less for organic clothes.

The dresses come in a variety of colors. Mine is brown. Retails for $10. I did notice that mine shrunk a bit in the wash, but I bought a medium and I think it was a little small in the back anyway. Now I just wear leggings underneath as the fit across the bust is fine.

Lots of colors. I have orange and red. Retail for $5. Super soft and quite form-fitting. If you want a loose fit, I don’t think this is the right option for you, even if you go a size bigger.

I have two black skirts and one fuschia. Awesome. The shortest part of the skirt reaches my knees, but I bought and 8/10 (yay!) This seems like it’s just the style of the skirt, but I love it and works well during my massage sessions. Retails for $10.

First, unlike many bloggers, I write all reviews. Good or bad, if I get product I write about them. It may take me six days or six months, but I write about it. Many bloggers don’t write posts on products they hate, stating that it’s better for the company or the PR rep; they don’t want them to get mad. I call a bit of BS on that.

I’m not working for the beauty company or the PR company, nor do I have designs on doing so. I write for you, the reader and quite frankly, we all know damn well that some products just stink. They’re over-priced, the quality is poor, the portions don’t match the price point or they’re glamming onto “eco, organic or natural” when the only ingredient that falls under that header is water. Would it make sense to write a bunch of fluffy pieces just to appease some PR intern? Not on this blog.

I’ve had companies not send product when they read my review policy, which clearly states “good or bad, you’re product will be reviewed.” That’s their right. There is no journalistic ethic that prevents bloggers from posting honest reviews. I was a journalist for more than 10 years and if I wanted to write happy, clearly biased pieces I would have become a magazine writer. Instead, I wanted to write on my terms under my conditions. Thus, I blog. Which leads to…

Second, I don’t post for pay when it comes to beauty reviews. I’ve had companies ask and I tell them to take an ad out, instead. Really, there’s no point in paying me. If it’s no good, I’d take the money and still write it’s bad, so someone would get a little upset. So OBE don’t play that.

Third, almost all the product I write about have been sent to me. In truth, this is not a big deal. No hybrid cars, no eco solar powered home, just products. All know my review policy and if they take the time to read my blog, will know my style of writing. Having spent years as a beauty business owner, a short stint as a perfumer and two years working with small beauty businesses as a consultant, my belief is that if you’re selling product, it’s open season and my experience with the product is not tainted simply because you foot the bill. Sometimes I actually buy stuff myself, which is why getting it free makes no difference to me. Either way, it would still get reviewed the same way.

Each blog is the property of the person writing it. They choose the terms under which they review and post. I don’t have to agree with everyone’s policy, but I wanted to make it clear to you, what my policies are. Perhaps sometimes I may review a bit harshly, but frankly, I find too many companies not spending enough time or energy in properly pricing, marketing and producing quality products. Hoping that we, as consumers, will be pulled in with “active ingredients” or “eco-friendly” or “organic” without looking at the substance.

Especially when it comes to this niche of beauty, there’s a lot of BS, and where other writers applaud all that’s green or spout biased theories not based on research or oft times common sense, I hope I at least make going green kind of fun and appeal to the rest of us who want to go natural, not because the earth is coming to an end, but because we just want to make our small part of it less toxic.

And that, as always, is my Brooklyn-style two cents. Feel free to leave yours in the comments.

The Right Brain’s reply:

Thanks for a very intriguing question, Kitten. So far, we’ve not been able to find a definitive answer in the scientific literature but we did uncover a couple of interesting tidbits in the Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists.

Nourishing nails

First, it is known that nails are more flexible when the water content is higher. And when you’re nails are more flexible they’re less likely to chip and break. But surprisingly, oil alone does not have much effect on nails. Researchers treated nails with mineral oil showed no increase in flexibility. But when they applied mineral oil to previously hydrated nails their flexibility was increased.  This finding suggests the oil itself is not strengthening the nail against breakage, but that the oil can lock in water.

Another experiment showed that an oil and water mixture (specifically a phospholipid-water preparation for those of you keeping score at home) did boost nail flexibility. The researchers theorized that oily material that can bind and seal water in the nails are helpful in improving flexibility (and therefore, strength.)

Second, the same article also pointed out that some materials can penetrate the nail but there was no indication that penetration and strengthening were connected.

The Beauty Brains bottom line

Oil can help keep nails moisturized and keep them strong by making them more flexible so they’re less likely to chip and break. But it appears that using lotion should be better than oil alone, unless you’re hydrating your nails first and then using oil to seal in the moisture.