Tricks and Treats

Vintage faux-fur coat, headpiece, and fur boots, all from Screaming Mimi's.

Halloween is around the corner, and it always involves two of my favorite things: dressing up, and eating a ton of sweets. Yesterday night I stopped by Screaming Mimi's to hang out with all my favorite girls, and to celebrate their biggest season with a little dress-up party. If you have no clue what you want to be for Halloween yet, I suggest you stop by the store ASAP for some instant costume inspiration. You'll be overwhelmed with ideas, and as an added bonus, one of the gorgeous Mimi's girls will help you complete your outfit.

When I walked in the store I immediately fell in love with the gigantic fur Viking helmets that were on display, and decided to go for a prehistoric ice-woman look, partially inspired by the Chanel Fall 2010 show. I grabbed the largest, hairiest faux-fur coat on hand, and Nicollette found me a pair of vintage fur boots to complete the outfit. I had to take off the hat after a few minutes, cause it's ridiculously warm, but I stuck around to see everyone else's outfits--you can see them all on the Screaming Mimi's blog.

Dozens of different masks that are available at Mimi's

The best of the headdresses, including the furry one I'm wearing

Alice, taking a turn in the headdress

An alternative version with raccoon tails

At the end of the night, Laura gave me the sweetest trick-or-treat bag filled with Jacques Torres chocolates!

As if my week couldn't get any sweeter, I also stopped by The Little Cupcake Bakeshop, which just opened on 30 Prince Street, for a tasting of some of their new cupcake flavors. My friend Jonathan and I worked our way through four different flavors: Cotton Candy, Tiramisu, Blue Velvet, and Pumpkin Spice, paired with giant Illy cappuccinos. All were exceedingly moist and we were both surprised by which flavors we ended up liking. I'm not much of a fan of tiramisu as a dessert because of its strange texture, but I actually found it quite tasty in cupcake form. I think we both decided that the fall-appropriate pumpkin cupcake was our favorite, even though we were both in sugar shock by the time we tasted it. The shop is the first carbon neutral bakery in New York, and is family-run in the truest sense--both shops are owned and operated by the four LoBuglio brothers, who also get help from their large extended family. I will definitely be back, as soon as I've fully recovered from the copious amount of sweets I've consumed this month.

-Tiffany