Win Tix to Lucky Shops!

Shecky's Girls Night Out & The Famous Goodie Bag

To be honest, I normally don't get that excited about goodie/gift/swag bags anymore. They're usually filled with a bunch of junk and tiny samples of things I don't need and don't want, relegated to some corner of my loft, creating even more clutter for my patient husband to glare at – making me feel slightly guilty, but not guilty enough to actually get off of my comfy couch and toss them. Do you know how hard it is to live in a virtually closet-less NYC loft when your livelihood is shopping and fashion? Poor me, I know.

In fact, the goodie bags at Fashion Week were beyond disappointing. Like, yawn disappointing. Except for some really amazing Redken shampoo that I almost threw away because I'm purely a Pantene conditioner girl who hardly ever shampoos her hair (my dry locks have been saved by cute shower caps, thank you beauty gods). Other than that one bottle of shampoo that actually made my tangled, dry hair really soft, the loot was a major letdown.

However, the Shecky's Girls Night Out goodie bag lived up to its much talked about reputation. So, for those who aren't familiar, Girls Night Out is a huge shopping party where you buy tix to get in ($45 each in NYC, though because I'm press I get the good honor of attending for free – thank goodness for small perks) and then get to shop about 100 emerging designers at prices up to 75% off. In a nutshell, a sample sale of indie designers (my version of heaven). Plus, you get free drinks and goodie bags (um, whoever thought up the concept of giving women free drinks so they would go wild with their credit cards was genius and I worship at your stylish and entrepreneurial altar).

But back to the swag. Usually you get those barely existent samples, but not in these goodie bags. Nearly everything was a nice, big full-sized version that added up to well over the cost of the $45 ticket. Now sure, you might say you'd rather have bought other things with that $45, but I still think this was a good deal. You get to go shop with friends in a party environment and not have to worry about being hit on by guys, save for a few cute bartenders.

So what was in the bag?

Full sizes of:

-Skin Milk Facial Scrub
-Redken Full Frame Mousse
-Redken Satinwear blow-dry lotion
-Redken Ringlet curl perfector
-Redken Straight straightening balm
-Redken Fabricate texturizer

Plus, three books I'd actually like to read:

Before the Mortgage: Real Stories of brazen Loves, Broken Leases, and the Perplexing Pursuit of Adulthood

ADDICKTED: 12 Steps to Kicking Your Bad Boy Habit

Letters of a Portugese Nun: Uncovering the Mystery Behind a 17th Century Forbidden Love

And the following:

-Softlips vanilla balm
-Goody Stay Put hair bands
-Savvymiss.com lip balm
-A small sample of Givenchy Mariage perfume
-A one-day pass to Crunch gym (anyone want it?)
-1 Hanes Perfect Panty (I'll be the judge of that)
-1 Vagisil wipe (eeew; my favorite part of this is the instructions that literally say: "Use each towelette only once and then throw away." Um, I like a good bargain as much as the next girl, but is anyone really THAT cheap that they would re-use?!)

And you get the actual bag itself, which is good for toting home groceries, not that I buy groceries, but I could..

I also bought some really cute gifts and things for moiself like:

-A cute picture frame and brag book from With Love, Jen Warren (perfect gifts for my mom as she just became a grandma)

-Three fab dresses and a cute top from the LA-based Girlfoolish (I was too lazy to try these on in person as Shecky's is packed to the gills with girls, but got lucky – once I was home, all three dresses and the top fit perfectly and I'm wearing them to death)

-Angel wing earrings from a designer I can't remember (for only $10!)

So, despite being so packed that it can be hard to shop and there often being a line around the NoLita block, the goody bag, opportunity to shop great emerging designers at sample sales prices (with our girlfriends) and "free" drinks make this is must-attend in my book.

Shecky's is now in more cities than just New York. Scope them out if you'd like to attend here.

NYC Shopping Events This Week

Tonight I'm heading to one of my fave shopping events in the city: Shecky's Girls Night Out. It's a roundup of a bunch of indie designers selling their goodies at sample sale prices. Plus, you get a goody bags and free drinks. It's a rough life. Will post pics and more afterwards so those of you who can't make it can get a peek.

Then on Friday I'll hopefully be checking out the Manhattan Vintage Clothing Show, which I'm super excited about. I'm a big vintage addict and have never been, so it should be a good time. Will post pics of that as well...