10 Minutes with Danielle: My #NYFW Recap I Came. I Saw. I Blistered.

Spotted this guy at Lincoln Center and HAD to take a pic of his shirt…lol. #THESHADE

Thank the high heavens that New York Fashion Week is OVER. I need like a football stadium of chill after enduring the last seven days. I remember waaaay before I started my blog when I was doing the Image Consulting program at FIT, I would work NYFW backstage dressing models, wishing that I could not be under the watchful eye of my instructors who gave us a list of mostly don’ts concerning how we were to behave backstage. The more shows I did, the more things I got to see (other than a model’s boobs all in my face). One time I was working an Altuzarra show (eyeballing Joan Smalls and Jourdan Dunn) and word spread that Anna Wintour was on her way to preview the collection before the show. Not only did Wintour look me dead in the eyes and ate my soulsmiled at me, but I was thisclose to ALT (Andre Leon Talley) himself. Now that I’m finally on the “other side,” every season I cover NYFW there’s always some sort of magic like that that happens and keeps me coming back. Even though it can be the most exhausting and eye-rolling-est week of your life, you keep going back for more. Because: fashion.

My room at The Quin

Kicking off NYFW, Dove invited me and a group of other beauty bloggers and editors to have a relaxing overnight stay at The Quin Hotel. Our rooms came complete with Dove PJs, a yummy dine-in menu, and most importantly Dove’s new body washes which are formulated to make skin softer after just one shower. In fact they invited us to take the #OneShowerChallenge in our rooms. Being the overachieving Virgo that I am I actually did it twice—once in the evening with Dove Gentle Exfoliating Scrub (LOVE this and yes, though my skin is already pretty soft, it actually did feel softer after the one shower) and again in the morning with the Dove Deep Moisture wash (another LOVE). I’ve been showering everyday with the body washes since—they’re the perfect accessory to whatever outfit you’re putting on ;)

Following the night it was an early breakfast (complete with Dove shaped French toast) with Lupita Nyong’o’s stylist Micaela Erlanger and dermatologist Dr. Ellen Marmur.

Booty-bumping and kissy faces with my boo Felicia from ThisThatBeauty

Then began NYFW!

Oh but first, I got new hair! My stylist Gabrielle Corney installed, cut, and styled Echelon Hair’s ‘Kinky Straight’ texture for me. I’ll have a full review up soon, but so far I really love it—it’s SUPER thick—almost like 4a/b-ish hair blown out and despite it being so textured, it hasn’t tangled or matted at all and sheds very minimally. It’s “natural” texture has little “crimps” in it, too.

This NYFW though I decided I was only doing maybe 30% of what I typically do (and then still wound up doing 70% lol). In addition to this site I’m also a freelance writer and pick up additional work writing for StyleBlazer.com during fashion week plus I took on another fun beauty project I’ll tell you about as soon as I can. I also decided I was sticking mainly to backstage coverage because as much as I love watching the shows, there’s a ton of time taken in not only getting to them, but waiting for them to start and then waiting for the mass of people to leave while I’m concentrating on not tripping over anything. Ain’t nobody trying to be #fashionroadkill

And speaking of waiting—there’s also TONS of waiting in between shows. Like huge 3-4+ hour gaps and since I don’t live in Manhattan (I like my rent nice and within my price range, thank you very much…lol) it makes no sense to make the ride home when I know good and well if I get home there’s a 99.9% chance I’m not going back out. So what I do many, MANY times because I get SO inspired (okay crazed) over some of the stuff seen at the shows and most importantly the STREET STYLE (ahhh my favorite) is I find myself inside the nearby The Shops at Columbus Circle killing time and making purchases. Which is exactly why I was excited when The Shops asked me to take part of a fun challenge where they gave me a $250 gift card and let me loose in the mall. Would I blow the whole thing on one purchase or would I have a “more is more” approach and get as many things I could with the balance.

It was so much fun especially because I got you guys involved on my Instagram and Facebook giving me yays or nays on potential purchases. Here’s a couple of things I spotted…

C. Wonder

J. Crew

J. Crew

J. Crew

Cole Haan

Sephora

Sephora

I wound up buying a few things (the long black blazer pictured above from H&M and slip-on sneakers) and still have money left over for a quick fashion fix later…lol.

Friday I had a dentist appointment so not much going on fashion week-wise other than submitting stories on backstage beauty how-tos. Saturday came and it was brunch with Beautiful Textures at Cafeteria where I got to pow-wow with so many of my blogger and editor pals in an intimate setting. We talked about natural hair, curlism, and how men react to our hair.

Then I was off to cover Mara Hoffman backstage and then the Reward Style blogger party. I was sleepy before 6PM…lol.

With the crew (l to r: Christina from Love Brown Sugar, Danielle from Hello Beautiful, Jessica from Glamazons Blog, Kela from Kela’s Kloset, Danielle from StyleBlazer, Lexi from Lexi with the Curls, and Ty from Gorgeous in Grey

Sunday was another jampacked day. I hit backstage at David Tlale where Motions Salon Hair Care Celebrity Stylist Ursula Stephen was keying her first show. There are not enough words to describe how much I LOVE Ursula and the Motions team. You can get the scoop on the look she created for the show here. Then I got to take in the David Tlale show which was all just so amazing and the models made me instantly want to do leg toning work at my next visit to the gym…lol. Then off to Custo Barcelona’s show before heading backstage at Vivienne Tam with the CATWALK by Tigi team.

Monday and Tuesday were catch-up days for me to answer tons of business emails and also to submit more trend stories plus posts for this blog.

And then Wednesday, my last day of NYFW though it officially ended yesterday, was another whirlwind day. Swimming lessons in the morning, running back home to wash and blow dry my hair, work, and then back out to the tents. I stopped by the Motions and ESSENCE Fearless Style Lounge at Salon SCK where the fabulous Clint took my Echelon “Kinky Straight” hair from Diana Ross status to super sleek using the Motions Straight Finish Heat Styled Sealer in like 15 minutes. He was SO good and so fun.

Then because I stupidly wore brand new moto boots out, I had a fashion emergency consisting of some blistering on my heels so I had to go buy new shoes but thank GOODNESS The Shops is SO close by to Lincoln Center because I was able to pop in and grab some slip-on sneakers and be on my way. Also thank GOODNESS I had my Band-Aid Friction Block stick in my bag (I got it in a Fashion Week survival kit curated by celebrity stylist Mary Alice Stephenson some time ago) because it helped sooth my poor blistered heels. You can also use it to add a little “traction” so to speak between your skin and shoes so they don’t rub against your skin. Ideally I should have put it on BEFORE I put on the moto boots but I wasn’t thinking.

After my feet were back in commission, I headed over to the Chelsea Arts Tower for a quick cocktail at the Cosmo Emerging Designers Fashion Show before having to quickly leave to make it backstage to cover The Blonds. I LOVE covering The Blonds every season. I always know I’m going to be fully entertained with the beauty looks and the fashion. I also love it because I ALWAYS get to see all my blogger and editor faves all in one place—it’s like a big ole fashion reunion :)

My last stop for the night was over to the US Weekly “Most Stylish New Yorkers” party at the Paramount Hotel. The Nivea team invited me and some other amazing bloggers to attend as their guests. It was such an amazing time! The night before they sent me some Nivea goodies to help me get ready for the night and there were lip balms and lotions at our table for me to touch-up. I got to meet some New York Housewives who were really sweet and then within like 15 feet from us was the cast of Orange is the New Black getting turnt UP! All in all it was a wonderful experience but I was so exhausted that I was in an Uber heading to Penn Station by 10PM to head back home.

Cast members from Orange is the New Black mid-Anaconda-ing

The contents of my fab gift bag from the US Weekly party

New York Fashion Week is an exciting time of year—especially if you’re a huge lover of fashion and beauty like me. But if it’s also something you’re working, it can also be an extremely exhausting and seemingly never-ending event–shoot, sometimes you don’t know where your next meal is going to come from. And as much as I might complain about lack of sleep and my burning feet, I do it. I do this for my culture (to quote Jay-Z) …lol.