We are so proud to announce that New Leaf won TWO awards at the Rhode Island Monthly's Best of RI party Wednesday night....

-Readers' Poll Best Salon East Bay (THREE years and counting...Thank you faithful New-Leafers...You rock!)

AND

-Best Salon for Brides

We were all so excited to attend the party. Here's how it went down... Amy received a letter saying that New Leaf has won something. RI Monthly keeps everything else a big secret. Working in a salon, we are very good secret keepers. We hold the key to lots of 'stuff', if you know what I mean. But we still hate secrets, especially when we are on the other end of things. So we closed the salon early, dressed to impress,  and all headed in to the Providence Performing Arts Center (Rhode Islanders...PPAC:)

After some cocktails and apps, we headed in for the presentation of the magazine and for some special awards...

Stacy & Ashley...

Pam & Danielle

Allie, Michelle, Nicole & Amy G

The unveiling of the 2010 cover...

They announce a few featured winners like Frank Coletta (Best TV News Anchor), Siena (Best Restaurant and Best Italian Restaurant) and good ol' Buddy Cianci (toupee-less & winner of Best Radio Personality, emphasis on personality).

Then they send everyone off  for some dancing, drinking and eating and hand out the magazines as we leave the theater.

Here are the girls rifling through the magazine to see what we've won...

Imagine Amy's delight to see the photo and the Bridal Lounge feature on the Best Salon for Brides category. Woo Hoo!

A sneak peek until the magazine hits the shelves...

Readers' Poll....

New Leaf's Bridal Lounge feature...

The stage was packed...the complimentary martinis were luring everyone up on stage. The Love Machine was a New Leaf fav!

The girls...

Courtney & Nicole

Danielle & Allie

Pam and Courtney Anderson, from RI Monthly Magazine who helped with the photo shoot in the issue...

Filming for the Fox's The Rhode Show...to see the full video of the night, click HERE

Pretty neat view from the stage...can you imagine performing in front of all these seats?!? Nerve wraking stuff!

Courtney, New Leaf's Bridal Coordinator & Amy, the proud owner and the brain behind the business;-)

The girls...from left: Michelle, Jennifer, Stacy, Courtney, Amy Silva, Nicole, Amy Gonyea, Ashley, Nikki, Jamie, Jenn, Allie

A few were missing (tear drop sound effect)...Melanie, Stephanie, Mary, Yadira and Cynthia were at the party in spirit. Danielle and Pam were present, but we think were hiding in the martini line;)

A BIG HUGE THANKS to our amazing clients for their loyalty, their support and  for just being the best clientele a salon could ask for. We always say it so special to win the Readers' Poll category (it's the 4th year:) because it means the 'people have spoken' and we love that. Thank you, thank you, thank you. We literally could not do it without you.

Now for the sappy part ...A big thanks to Amy Silva, our fabulous owner and truly, the brains behind the business. We love working for you, you provide us with a fantastic clientele, a great space, a fun environment, and you are always keeping things fresh. It's a great thing to walk into work feeling so proud. We know it's not easy but you take it all in stride and we thank you because you can't ever hear that you are appreciated enough. If she were blogging right now, she'd  be thanking us but we have the keyboard now:o)

If you've been to New Leaf recently, you know of all the exciting visual changes/renovations that are taking place...New Leaf is turning over a New Leaf so stop in anytime to say hello!

Rhode Island Monthly Magazine's 2010 "Best of RI'" coming to newstands soon...Check it out to see even more East Bay favorite spots!

It's that time of year for our annual LOCKS OF LOVE DAY at New Leaf!  Kelley Richardson, a faithful New Leaf-er and Martin MIddle School teacher in East Providence, helped to round up 10, yes 10, brave ladies to donate their long locks for  wigs for kids and women battling cancer.  

 Here are the 10 brave souls who went for the 'cut'...even Kelley and her daughter Maeve went for it (far right).

 The before...whoa! Some of these girls had some H-A-I-R...It takes an average of 6 donated ponytails to make just 1 wig. These 10 ladies probably made at least 2:o)

Another great reason for this particular group of ladies to donate their ponytails? Most of the girls have been 'untouched' by haircolor. Both organizations will accept hair that has been colored, but not bleached. These days, it's very hard to find women who DON'T color their hair!

The reason? The donated hair has to go through so much processing to make each wig, so bleached hair sometimes disintegrates. Don't fret, you can still donate the hair!  Locks of Love can still sell the 'unusable' hair to help offset the nonprofit organizations overhead costs.

A few of the makeovers from the day...

Before:

After:

Before:

After...Look how LONG it still is!

This was an amazing transformation...Cheryl, a math teacher at Martin Middle School for 25 years, was not planning on joining the girls for Locks of Love Day. Then, a few teachers were going through old yearbooks and she quietly noticed that SHE was the only person whose look had not changed one bit. It was time for a change.

Before:

After:

We wish we could have seen the kids' reactions the next day at school!!

This is little Miss Maeve, Kelley's 3 year old daughter. She wanted in on the fun too.

The before:

After:

Nothing says 'summer' than a beautiful little girl with an adorable bob.

Maeve's practicing her modeling moves...Don't we all love to swing our hair after a great cut?

Before:

After:

Three ponytails were donated from this cut! What a change...we couldn't bump Kelley out of the way to get our paparazzi shot:-)

To recap, the group before...

And AFTER!!!!!!

Kelley says the girls were feeling pretty fine walking into school the next day. We are proud to say, there were some very nervous girls but absolutely NO tears after cutting!

Thanks Kelley for rounding up the ladies to donate their locks. The girls didn't need too much coaxing...once they heard their Martin Middle School classmate was diagnosed with cancer, donating their long hair was the best way to show their support.

To find out how YOU can donate (it's time for your summer cut, right?), click on Locks of Love and Beautiful Lengths. See you soon!

What is the new 'it' accessory of the summer? A shiny manicure! Pick your color...from natural neutrals to bold and bright.

At New Leaf, we hear that the number one reason for NOT getting a manicure is : "I ruin them too fast!" Say no more....

SHELLAC has come to your unsightly naked nails' rescue!

SO what is it? Shellac  is a hybrid of traditional nail polish and UV gel polish. Unlike soak-off gels it comes in a polish bottle and unlike traditional polish it cures/dries under a UV lamp. What we really like is there is NO BUFFING. There is no damage to the natural nail in the process. So how does it work?

Shellac paints on like polish - base coat, color, top coat - and is cured in a UV light so there is zero dry time. The colors are hypo-allergenic, and "3-Free" - no formaldehyde, toluene or DBP. Shellac comes in a range of 12 varieties of shades, from pretty French pinks and whites, to siren red and rich darks. The colors are CND's top 12, and more are to be added.

The formula is thin and flexible like polish, so it not only looks natural, it provides strong natural nail protection with a resilient mirror finish that resists dullness and chipping, even during the most rigorous activities.

Ok, so for all you manicure groupies we have out there, this polish begs the question: How in the world do you remove it?

Just a quick 5 minute soak and you are ready to change the polish color...Hip-hip-HOOray!

We have been testing it in the salon, and we mean, TESTING it. Our nail technicians go insane with the stylists here at New Leaf. It's  unintentional, we swear, but we pretty much sabotage their craft of nail artistry after our manicures. As stylists, we are the worst 'business cards' for beautiful manicures because we manage to destroy them in record time--Let's just say we are pretty rough.

We are proud to now be the BEST 'business cards' for this amazing SHELLAC service! Our Shellac manicure is still beautiful after 14 days of shampooing, typing, texting, gardening, you name it, we have done it.

SHELLAC...

cost: $28 (seen $40-45 elsewhere...)

time: 45 minutes

removal: 5 minutes

 perfect polish: pricless!

 Click to book online with Nicole, Mary or Cynthia today...See you soon!

The New Leaf girls are trying to turn over a new leaf. Bad pun but it's true.

What's going on in this picture? And where is New Leaf Hair Studio?

It's the New Leaf girls getting ready for summer at Colt State Park, that's what!

We know this blog is a bit out of context but we thought it might be fun to shake up the blog a bit...Why not expose ourselves to New Leaf-ers who might want to know what we are up to outside the studio?

Working in a salon, we are always focused on making people look beautiful. It feels good to look good, right? What better way to look and feel good than through abuse? Kidding, totally kidding. Sort of.

We are participating in Shaun Pacheco's 'Fitness Challenge...Shaun just opened a fantastic fitness facility, Generations Fitness, in Somerset, MA. It offers all sorts of classes--Beach Run, Beach Pump, Beach Yoga. If the word 'beach' is used to trick people into excercising, it worked. We're in. Oh, there is this one class that's called Total Body SHRED. Scary, but it sure sounds like we'd be ready for bathing suit season after that class.

Here is Shaun...

Shaun also happens to be married to our fab front desk staffer, Michelle.

Being married to a personal trainer has its perks, but I bet there are some not-so-perky things like... devouring a pint of Ben and Jerry's must be pretty HIGH on the 'self-loathing shame' scale when you glance up to see your fantastically fit hubby. Luckily, Shaun is one the nicest, most positive guys we have ever met.

We are 7 days in, meeting up in Colt State Park a few times a week while Shaun whips us into shape. And we must admit, it's FUN. No, we swear. It almost doesn't feel like exercise....until climbing a set of stairs the following day... Shaun is trying to teach us how to eat. That could take some work but we'll keep you posted;-)

Our goal? Get healthy. Oh, and maybe not hiding under a beach blanket this summer. Vain, we know, but who are we kidding here?

Stay tuned for more of New Leaf's antics...

Smashbox just launched it's 'Naked Beauty' collection and we are just insane for it! So summery and the natural look is perfect at any age.

That made us think...Does your make-up bag confuse you? Are you slightly embarassed to admit how OLD some of your make-up is? Maybe you just have too much make-up and you just don't know how to sort through it all. Amy G. to the rescue!

Schedule a COMPLIMENTARY 30 minute "cosmetic bag clean up" with any service and learn some new techniques and tips while you are at it. Call 401.254.9333 or book 'SPRING' online with your next service ...Offer good through 5.31.10.