Left to Right: Christina S., Shannon L., Erin R., Melissa B.

Flirty Fashions, a popular Rochester Hills boutique, recently opened its doors at a brand new location in the Mall at Partridge Creek.

Specializing in fun and trendy clothing in both misses and teen sizes, Flirty Fashions carries casual items, formal and semi-formal wear, accessories and outwear too.

Diane, owner of Flirty Fashions, pulled out all the stops for the Grand Opening event last week. Party-goers sampled champagne and cocktails, hors d’oeuvres and a chocolate fountain.  In addition to the yummy treats, guests indulged in creating their own bath scrubs in ice cream scents such as vanilla mint, strawberry sprinkles and chocolate.  A DJ was in the store, spinning great dance music to keep the party hopping too.

Adding to the Flirty Fashions experience, models were hired to pose as live mannequins in the window and through out the store.  The models changed looks several times over the course of the evenings and introduced guests to the latest looks and trends.

Take a look at the fun & fabulous styles from the Flirty Fashions Grand Opening Event:

While Flirty Fashions is not a large store, it carries a surprisingly large variety of items that will suit just about every taste and every budget.  Whether you need a quick clutch or accessory, a new top & jeans or want to get dressed to the nines, you’re sure to find something here.   Their looks are trendy, but tasteful.  As a mother of two teen girls, not only would I feel comfortable buying a few items for myself, but I feel confident my girls would love to shop here as well.

The Mall at Partridge Creek is an excellent location for the new Flirty Fashions store.  The open, outdoor setting will add to the ambiance of holiday shopping this year.  With the wide selection of shops, beauty salons and restaurants, it’s the perfect destination for some “girl time.”

Win It!

A $50 Flirty Fashions Gift Certificate!

Entry Requirements

Leave a comment below telling us how you’d spend $50 at Flirty Fashions.

The Fine Print

No purchase necessary to enter.  Open to legal residents of the United States, 18 years or older. Winner will be selected randomly through http://random.org. Detroit Mommies writers and contributors are ineligible to participate. Entries that do not follow all of the entry requirements will not be considered. Detroit Mommies is not responsible products shipped from outside vendors or sponsors.  The contest will close on Thursday, November 10, 2011 @ 11:59:59 p.m. EST and winners selected on Friday, November 11, 2011. Winners must respond to Detroit Mommies within 24 hours or an alternate winner will be selected.

***UPDATE***

Thanks to all who entered.  We’d love to have prizes for everyone but, alas, there is only one winner.

Congratulations to Sara H. – winner of the $50 gift card!

Flirty Fashions was kind enough to sponsor the $50 gift card for this sweepstakes and compensate me with a store credit for attending the event and writing this post.  All opinions here are strictly my own.

Do free make-up consultations, live entertainment, goodie bags and free limo service sound like a good time?  Then make plans to don your most fashionable dress and mark your calendar for Thursday, October 6th!  From 5 – 9 p.m. local ladies will be hitting the town in style for Sass in the City.
Here’s a fast of some of the treats in store for the ladies:

• Bloomingdale, Ideology & Stone for You
• Dessert buffet & hot beverage bar. Free in home, design and construction consultation giveaways
• Bonjour Cupcake
• Free mini cupcake with any purchase
• Capelli Salon & Spa
• Runway fashion show every 1/2 hour displaying our work with a live DJ. Drawings for free giveaways all night!
• Catching Fireflies
• 25% off all jewelry, serving up sweet treats & free gift with purchases over $30
• EB Cosmetics
• Free makeovers, product specials and light snacks
• Kimi K Salon & Spa
• Hair and make- up refreshers, goody bags with sample products (while supplies last) and 20% off all retail items for the evening
• Lucido Fine Jewelry
• Get your free “bling ring!”
• ME Beauty
• Stop in to take your turn pole dancing with Vixen Fitness!
• Modern Art Jewelers
• First 200 ladies to the store get a free boa!
• O’Connor’s Public House
• Ladies get a chocolate-covered strawberry!
• Sanders
• Sing karaoke and earn a $3.00 gift card, free chocolate make-up kit with $10.00 purchase & special Girls’ Night Out candy bars for $1.99!
• Simply the Best $10 Boutique
• Stop in for giveaways and mini massages
• Sole Sisters
• Performance by the Satin Dolls, giveaways, massages by Capelli Salon & Spa
• The Boudoir Loft
• Get a free style and makeover
• Tracy Jane Jewelry
• Mini makeovers by EB Cosmetics, free earrings with the purchase of either a necklace or bracelet. Also, refreshments will be served
• Via Linda Salon
• $15 blow dry style, $10 eye brow wax, $20 make-up eyes and lips. 20% off regular price products and raffles!
• Whoo UR Upscale Resale
• 20% off storewide

For more information, please visit the Downtown Rochester website.

photo by Courtney Velasquez

When I was growing up, it was such a thrill to receive my two older cousins’ outgrown clothes. Their “hand me downs” we more special to me than anything my mom could buy me in the store.

I didn’t have siblings, so I relished in the story, the character, and the previous life these clothes had already lived. Would they make me any wiser? Any more beautiful?

As I grew older, wearing last year’s fashions somehow lost its appeal. Gradually I was no longer the recipient of these pieces of walking history. In an unconscious sense, I suppose I felt I was “too good” for those clothes.
Life went on and I grew up.

As I matured and had children of my own, one thing became abundantly clear to me: if I didn’t do my part to preserve this planet, a small part of it was going to disappear. It would be easy to think, “I can’t do much, so why bother?”
But, “Why not?”

I did the things most people do: recycle in those plastic containers that sit helplessly in the garage. My newspapers never see a trashcan. Nor do any magazines. I buy in bulk so there is less waste. The list goes on. But my mind came back to clothes. What about those?

As I thought about it, buying new clothes almost seemed criminal. For my family, not necessarily for anyone else’s.
Should we really buy new ones when there were stores everywhere that were packed with used ones needing new homes?
My mind began to race of all the things we didn’t need to buy new that were sold used.

Recycling in a completely unique way. It wasn’t really the way everyone was doing it. It was the way I chose to do it and I liked it.
I’ve found the most unique things in my quest to reuse things others don’t need. I look mainly at thrift stores and am amazed at the most beautiful and one of a kind things I’ve given my family. They’ve given us stories that “off the rack” type things just don’t offer.

Those clothes I used to receive from my cousins have come full circle now. We live many states away now and I’m sure have different styles. But it was through them that I developed a love for “other people’s stuff.”

I love fingernail polish and every time I am at Target, I grab a new color.  I also love to paint my daughters nails…they are 4 and 6.  One day we’ll do purple, another day we’ll do orange and sometimes we go for a softer color like pink.

They also love to get their nails painted and stay very still and are careful not to get a smudge.  It’s fun for them, fun for me and a sort of bonding thing we do.

Some celebrities have been criticized for putting nail polish on their toddlers.  Kingston Rossdale was spotted with yellow polish recently and Suri Cruise has been spotted in red lacquer.  I too don’t have a problem with kid’s piggies and paws sporting a fresh coat of paint, but ask me about make-up on kids and the hair on the back of my neck starts to crawl!

It make me sick to my stomach when I see a child with make-up on.  About a week ago my daughter had her dance recital and some of the little girls in her group had a hint of gloss and a touch of powder and/or blush and that didn’t bother me, but I looked over at a younger group of girls and just about fell off my rocker!  A few of the girls had on red lipstick, mascara and heavy, heavy eyeliner…it looked pathetic!  It also looked weird!  How cute they would have been in their natural state.  Oy!  What are these parents thinking?!

What do you think about polish on children or makeup?

It’s finally starting to get hot outside and the jean trend is moving right up with the heat.  Moms everywhere are going for the cropped jean because of the sturdy fabric and comfy fit.  You can buy a pair that have already been cropped or you can go the frugal route and DIY (do it yourself).  You can do one wide roll like (#4) or you can double role like (#1, #2 and #3).  Also, you can throw them on with a pair of platform sandals and a flowy top, flats and a tee or a tank and flip flops.  The possibilities are endless!

1.  Mossimo Supply Co. for Target $13.98

2.  Levi’s Boyfriend Jean at Sears starting at $17.49

3.  Cropped embroidered straight jeans by the Gap $69.99

4.  Joe’s Jeans 23″ Wide Raw Hem Kickers at Sundance $156

1. Gray and off-white cotton turtleneck- $12.99 Target
2. Charcoal Gray Hoodie by Mossimo- $27.99 Target
3. Converse black One Star- $29.99 Target
4. VGS Stud Flap Pocket jeans- $29.99 JCPenny

Fall is all about layering and finding clothes that are both comforatable, yet classic and put together are what I am always looking for as a professional mom on the go.

I was at Target the other day and came across the cotton turtleneck shown above and picked it up in a few solid colors and the gray and off white striped one shown above.  I already had a gray hooded sweater (Ralph Lauren) and a pair of black casual tennis shoes (Lacoste).  The only other thing I needed to complete the outfit was a cute new pair of jeans, so I headed over to JCPenny (I’m trying to stretch the dollar these days)and surprisingly found a really cute pair of jeans (shown above).  They reminded me of a pair of jeans I got two years ago at Nordstrom’s.

So, the original outfit cost quite a bit more (because of the name brand pieces) than the one shown above for a lot less.  The outfit turned out to be cute, comfortable and well put together without feeling any effort.

Courtney is the ultimate multitasking mom!  She runs  three blogs Giftfully Simple, The Digital Mommy and Detroit Mommies , is a Social Media Marketing Consultant and has 3 girls under 6 years old.  Courtney is the founder of Detroit Mommies.  You can follow her on Twitter @theappleofmyeye.  She has worked with companies like Johnsons & Johnsons, Dove, e.l.f., Stride Rite, Sorel, 20th Century Fox, The Palace, Melissa & Doug, Panera and Tiny Prints (to name a few).  Courtney is a Purex^® Insider and a Max Mom for Office Max.

Purple is huge for fall, so I went over to my favorite place to find unique treasures, Etsy, and looked for some purple fashions to share with you:

This dress is hand made out of Hemp and organic cotton jersey.  It is made to order and comes in this season’s hot shade of Imperial Purple.  I love the pockets!  Pretty Birdie

This is a great transition piece!  Worn with a tank or tee in the summer or in the hotter climates and then with a long sleeve tee or turtle neck and with or without a blazer or jean jacket.  It’s up to you to have fun with this piece…be unique!  Pretty Panda

Looking to go with the trend, but in a more go with the punch, add a bit of color to a gray or black outfit, then this bag is for you.  Bayan Hippo

Courtney is the ultimate multitasking mom!  She runs  three blogs Giftfully Simple, The Digital Mommy and Detroit Mommies , is a Social Media Marketing Consultant and has 3 girls under 6 years old.  Courtney is the founder of Detroit Mommies.  You can follow her on Twitter @theappleofmyeye.  She has worked with companies like Johnsons & Johnsons, Dove, e.l.f., Stride Rite, Sorel, 20th Century Fox, The Palace, Melissa & Doug, Panera, Tiny Prints and Ford (to name a few).  Courtney is a Purex^® Insider and a Max Mom for Office Max.

Every year I pull out my bottle of Vamp nail polish by Chanel, cut my nails short and apply two layers on my hands and toes.  I have had this bottle of polish since 1994 and it is still going strong and still in style after all these years!

Uma Thurman wore it in the movie Pulp Fiction and if I remember correctly, Winona Ryder wore it too.

Chanel’s Vamp had $1 million dollars in sales back in 1994, the first year it was released, and was discontinued and then re-released in the mid 2000′s.  It’s a part of Chanel’s Le Vernis Nail Colour line of which there are 18 shades.

Courtney is the ultimate multitasking mom!  She runs  three blogs Giftfully Simple, The Digital Mommy and Detroit Mommies , is a Social Media Marketing Consultant and has 3 girls under 6 years old.  Courtney is the founder of Detroit Mommies.  You can follow her on Twitter @theappleofmyeye.  She has worked with companies like Johnsons & Johnsons, Dove, e.l.f., Stride Rite, Sorel, 20th Century Fox, The Palace, Melissa & Doug, Panera and Tiny Prints (to name a few).  Courtney is a Purex^® Insider and a Max Mom for Office Max.

I was at Target one day and they had these long sleeve Mossimo Tissue Tees on sale for $7.  It has started to get cooler outside and since last year was our first winter in Michigan and I was pregnant at the time, I needed to grab a few long sleeve tops.  I grabbed three of the Tissue Tees in black, teal blue and purple (purple is hot for Fall).

After wearing the two tissue tees I had purchased and loving their long fit and super soft buttery feel, I wanted more.  I went back to my local Target and they were slim on sizes, so I headed over to Hull Rd. and found a gray and white one to add to my collection (the white one needs to be worn with a tank because of the thin fabric).  The only other color they had was a mustard yellow that made me look washed out, so I just got the two.  Had other colors been available, I would have grabbed them up because these tees are great!

They have since gone off sale, but at $9.99 they are still a SUPER buy!

Courtney is the ultimate multitasking mom!  She runs  three blogs Giftfully Simple, The Digital Mommy and Detroit Mommies , is a Social Media Marketing Consultant and has 3 girls under 6 years old.  Courtney is the founder of Detroit Mommies.  You can follow her on Twitter @theappleofmyeye.  She has worked with companies like Johnsons & Johnsons, Dove, e.l.f., Stride Rite, Sorel, 20th Century Fox, The Palace, Melissa & Doug, Panera and Tiny Prints (to name a few).  Courtney is a Purex^® Insider and a Max Mom for Office Max.