VAIN Blog

Style in Still Life. Photo by Genevieve Pierson for Seattle Sound magazine.

Check out the September issue of Seattle Sound magazine for an awesome Fall fashion spread featuring hair by VAIN downtown + Ballard senior stylist Jenny Slay and makeup by VAIN’s resident makeup artist Christine Cherbonnier.

The photo shoot took place at some of VAIN’s favorite independent art spaces (including, you guessed it, VAIN’s gallery adjacent to our downtown salon), and the result is a series of striking images + sculpted style sure to inspire your next hair or makeup appointment, appearance at an art gallery event, or city night out this Fall. So take a look and witness VAIN’s hair.makeup.art power in print!

Seattle Sound’s “Style in Still Life” Fall Fashion spread is in the magazine’s September issue, currently on newstands around Seattle.

VAIN note: due to a completely avoidable typo/brain lapse on our part, Jenny Slay’s VAIN start date was incorrectly listed in the issue by, oh, ABOUT NINE YEARS. Jenny Slay has been with VAIN since 1998. An actual decade. That, along with her amazing hair skills, is why she’s our senior stylist. Duh.

For several years now, VAIN owner/founder/styledriver Victoria Gentry has volunteered for the YMCA as a part of the Patsy Collins Adventure in Leadership program.

What is the mission of the program?

To empower girls during their middle school years to feel confident in themselves, take an active role in shaping their community, and work towards a positive future for themselves and the world.

I asked Victoria about her experiences there, and the benefits she’s seen firsthand:

“PCAL provides a unique experience for young women to develop leadership skills in a supportive environment free of peer pressure, competition and ridicule. It is quite remarkable to watch how quickly their confidence grows when they truly, finally are able to find their own voice and really put themselves out there without fear. Once someone has had that experience and realizes what is possible even when they go back to ‘real’ life they have a new perspective on just how valuable their ideas are and feel empowered to put them out there and into action!”

“I have met some of the young women years later and they have said that this camp with all the hard fun and challenges really was a profound and life changing experience.”

We’re proud of Victoria for being a part of this program! If you’d also like to show your support, donations can be made to the YMCA. As Victoria said, “GO PCAL!”

DIY dye: good on your hair, not so good splattered on your stuff.

We have a lot of clients get their DIY hair supplies + advice at VAIN, so we wanted to share the love online with you, our loyal VAIN Blog readers. A client we’ll call “Pink Tips” wrote in with a common DIY complaint from home hairstylists: when your hair isn’t the only thing that gets dye on it. Let’s hear it directly from PT:

“Ok, so I re-pink my hair at home. I have gloves. I have the special black button up shirt. I have the tinfoil. I am always very careful … but EVERY SINGLE TIME it seems like I get a tiny splat of pink on the bathroom wall or floor or a towel hanging 8 feet away. Any tips for using veggie dyes at home without turning your entire house the color of your hair?

Great question, P.Tips. We went to VAIN Ballard stylist + DIY specialist Rachel for answers, and here’s what she had to say:

“Squirt the veggie dye slowly and carefully onto a regular comb and comb into your bleached parts. Foil and such makes it more difficult. If you get pink where your hair isn’t bleached don’t worry, it will not stick. Still wear your gloves and shirt though.”

So there you have it- a comb’s the key. Thanks for asking, Pink Tips! Hope this helps keep the splats contained.

Do you need DIY hair advice? Send your question to vain(at)vain(dot)com and we’ll do our best to get an answer posted.

First look at Saturday’s painting of the VAIN wall. Photo by Lindamy Vu.

Thanks to everyone who came down to VAIN this weekend to check out the DVS crew putting up their new pieces on our outside wall. We’ll be posting more pictures here soon so check back!

The VAIN graffiti wall downtown is so money. Photo by Angela Dawn.

Today from 8am to 8pm at VAIN downtown, the famed DVS crew of graffiti artists will be painting four new pieces on VAIN’s outside wall. We’ve told you about the history of the wall before, and this latest chapter should be just as good. So if you find yourself on 1st Ave today, stop by and check out some amazing graffiti art in action. It’s going to be a scene out there.

The VAIN graffiti wall is on the north side of VAIN, facing the parking lot- 2018 1st Ave between Virginia and Lenora.

The VAIN bikini wax: a gift for yourself so good it needs its own name.

We’re celebrating VAIN’s new waxing specialist Belinda and her magical VAIN waxing services with a contest for all you creative (and hairy) types out there. Come up with a new VAIN name for “bikini wax” and you could win one of these fabulous VAIN waxing prizes!

To enter, send your idea for what we should call the VAIN bikini wax to vain(at)vain(dot)com, subject line “VAIN bikini wax contest”, with your full name + phone number. One entry per person and nothing dirty, please- this needs to be something we can actually use. Just ask yourself: if grandma called VAIN to get her downtown action tidied up, is this something she could say out loud?

Winners will be selected by VAIN vote and announced at the end of the month. Winning waxing services are good for any body part that Belinda can wax… and that’s just about anything. So get ready to win + wax. Good luck!

Belinda Leybold offers waxing services at VAIN dowtown- 2018 1st Ave. Call 206.441.3441 to book an appointment if you can’t wait to win.

Pretty lady: the ever-evolving Bijou, who already looks way different than this. Photo by My Vu.

Today marks VAIN downtown stylist Bijou’s last day at the salon- she’s leaving Seattle for world travels before landing in a new US city- and we’re already missing her skills and style (ok and her smile. Well it’s true!). Bijou not only consistently evolved her own look, from punk rock bride to Miss Nikki Sixx, from modern pinup to black-haired bladerunner, but also consistently delivered some pretty incredible hair transformations to her clients with her awesome hair skills. We showed you an example in a Hot Hair post earlier this year, but if we tried to show you every cool cut, pretty bob, big blowout and perfect trim she’s given we’d be blogging all day long. And we’ve got hair to do! So: Bijou, you have been a true example of expressing inner style and not being afraid to switch it up, and VAIN thanks you for it. All the best from us to you!

If you’re a client of Bijou’s, fear not! Our front desk staff can set you up with another stylist who’s right for your hair, your style, and your budget. They just might not be wearing a Motley Crue shirt. Call VAIN downtown at 206.441.3441 to make it happen.

On Monday our stylists were treated to a rare treat - 6 hours of hands on training with Pureology educator Phillip Wilson.

Why was this event so important? Wilson is respected internationally as a premier stylist and educator. He prides himself on innovation and creating cuts that inspire the next generation. Recently, he was voted one of the most influential hairdressers of the past 100 years by Modern Salon Magazine.

“With more than 25 years of exploring all facets of beauty Phillip Wilson has become an industry icon. Launching his career in the trendy west end of London and training with grand masters from all over Europe, Wilson was able to interact with fashion elite, and royalty.”

Needless to say, everyone was spellbound during the workshop. Phillip was charismatic, charming, and above all else, talented. Currently he only offers 6 of these events a year worldwide. It was an honor to have him join us at VAIN, and incredibly informative as well.

The stylists in attendance will be holding a follow up session next week to review the wealth of knowledge they acquired. The techniques he presented were groundbreaking, and a glow of inspiration follows in the wake of his visit.

All of us hope to see Phillip again somehow, even if we have to follow him around the globe to do so! Thank you to everyone who attended and put in a long, challenging day of learning.

Greetings from Portland, where I’m on post-birthday holiday (I’m old, I’m over it), enjoying my new brownie hair color (thanks, Erika), and plotting some tax-free shopping. I’ve done pretty well so far: amazing palazzo pantsuit, check. More books from Powell’s that I won’t have time to read, check. MID-PRICE DIGITAL CAMERA TO TAKE PICTURES OF HOT HAIR HERE AND AROUND THE WORLD WITH, CHECK (ok maybe not around the world but up and down I-5 for sure. Roadtrip!). So look out, all you DIY divas, hot-haired 9-to-5-ers and weekend crimpers: I’m coming to take your picture for VAIN Blog infamy. Get ready.

-Rebecca P.

Each month at VAIN Ballard we’ll be unveiling new works of art by featured jewelers. This month we begin with pieces created by Sarah Loertscher.

Loertscher is a graduate of the BFA program at Ball State University, with a focus on metalsmithing. Before moving to Seattle, she also completed a two year fellowship at Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina. Now she brings these years of study and experience distilled into the new works of her Structure series.

We spoke with Sarah today as she installed her pieces, and inquired as to the inspiration behind them. She told us that they’re based on her interest/obsession with rocks and crystalline structure, and how a few straight lines can rapidly turn into a chaotic mass. When constructing a piece of jewelry, she either repeats a basic line into a tangled structure or distills a form down into it’s own structural supports.

The result of this chaotic, tangled idea is gorgeously constructed wearable art. Her jewelry will be available for sale throughout the month of August. We invite you to come view the pieces premiering tomorrow evening, or anytime in the coming weeks.

Solidly shining,

VAIN Ballard

If you take a look in the VAIN downtown gallery space you’ll notice the recent addition of some fabulous jewelry from local Seattle artist Julia Garrels of Metalwing. Julia is a former tenant of VAIN’s art studios above our downtown salon. Two years ago she helped create Ballard Metal Arts where she has since been creating her colorful, bold, and often humorous enamel jewelry pieces (much to the enjoyment of our friends in Ballard). Here is a peak at some favorites of the bunch:

Aubrie shines. Photos by Lindamy Vu.

Bacon-n-Eggs Skull & Crossbones Necklace,
Heart Earrings, and Unicorn Necklace.

We also look forward to upcoming Metalwing work, which Julia informs us has been progressing into larger wall pieces. Very exciting!

You say good-bye, I say hey Sarah Murphy- nice picture: Mudhoney in action.

VAIN’s very own Sarah Joann Murphy, photographer royale and She Who Makes Things Happen For Stylists & Clients Alike at both VAIN locations, has a series of her awesome live music photos on display at Ballard’s Tigertail bar starting this week.

Her pictures are part of You Say Good-Bye, I Say Hello, a group show of live performance shots also featuring the work of talented photographers Jenny Jimenez and Laura Musselman, curated by music writer & KEXP DJ Hannah “Rocket Queen” Levin.

The show opens with a reception open to the public at Tigertail this Thursday, August 7th from 7—10 pm with members of local band The Cops on DJ duty. VAIN will be there in full force (just look for the hot hair- that’s us) and we hope you will be, too. See you by the rock shots!

Tigertail is located at 704 NW 65th in Ballard. Photography on display through September 30.