Narcissism Central

Talk about extra-spicy yummy mummies.

Have a look at this classic West Java style in hair and makeup as done by Lily, one Sunday in November for four of her gal pals. They were dancing up a Yapong number for the Road to Asia Festival at the Japanese Cultural Centre, Toronto.

Lily of the Valley has installed two side-by-side gorgeous red glass pedicure sinks in our front room.

Semi-private pediroom with southern exposure for a warming experience

Mounted flush to the floor, with spiffy brushed metal taps and instant hot water to boot, our new pedi sinks let clients recline with a trashy magazine in our leather Indonesian planter’s chairs while their esthetician works high magic upon their feet.

Plumb miraculous; stunning red glass sinks just drain away to who-knows-where

We were lucky. The team who did the work had initially told us it couldn’t be done. Normally you need to mount sinks and taps on a wooden box or counter to allow room for the valves and drains and such.

But we challenged our master plumber to devise a way to mount everything flush on the slate tiles. He did a trial run at his home first, then phoned and told us he’d figured out how he could do it. It took him and his partner almost a whole day to complete the installation through our insanely thick floors (4 inches to be exact, consisting of 3/8″slate, 3/4″ plywood, original hardwood flooring and subflooring).

Simple to sterilize and refill with water at a temp to suit your feets' mood

But the sinks look fabulous and work perfectly. Clients love them, our girls love them and, best of all, we avoided those deeply tacky throne-like chair/sink pedi thingies found in most salons.

Call us to book a test drive with a friend.

After a lengthy stretch of searching for a new esthetician, and turning away clients (Perla was fully booked every day), we are delighted to announce that we have made a great hire.

Christina Kim, who recently moved to Toronto from Western Canada, began with us on September 3. She was busy right from from day-one and we are taking appointments to make her even more so.

Christina is highly skilled and professional in manis, pedis and waxing, and possesses a most agreeable personality.

She’s pulling especially great reviews from those with painful, itchy callused feet for her ability to painlessly and fastidiously render that toughest of areas back to something approaching normal.

Christina is working full-time and still expanding her client base, so if you’re in need of some well-executed pampering, give us a ring at 416-913-3854 to book your appointment with her.

You will not be disappointed.

Lily has a chair available for an experienced hairstylist with plenty of clients. Must be great with colour, have a positive attitude, be extremely reliable and responsible. Not much to ask, right?

If you’re the above, contact Lily at lys@rogers.com

Commission gig.

We were skeptical.

Is this SpaRitual nail polish, we wondered, another one of these lame, but allegedly healthy, alternatives to the thousands of high-performance,  petroleum-based beauty products we all know, love and use with abandon daily? Will it shine as effusively? Will it stay intact as long under duress? Will the colours appeal to our tastefully-minded customers, not to mention us?

Well, we ordered a sampler to test out on ourselves, expecting little. A week later, with no touch-ups, we are amazed to say we all still have perfectly painted nails. Toenails too.

SpaRitual has truly astonished us. It’s tougher than typical polish and it’s gorgeous. And our customers are all lovey-dovey at first sight and cooing the praises of the colours on offer, which include many in the au courant plummy ranges.

So we’ve taken on the plant-based SpaRitual line as our one and only salon standard, replacing our previous crude oil-derived nail polishes. It’s much healthier, prettier and — priced at just $11.99/each — highly affordable. Even the nail polish remover is vegan. What’s to hate?

Here’s another screen grab of some of the over 100 colours we have in stock now for retail sale and for use in our manis/pedis.

Let’s face it: With the average Western female adult absorbing up to an astonishing 2 pounds of man-made chemicals into her body through her cosmetics annually, it’s high time to look at this whole beauty thing with a far better informed eye. And that’s precisely what SpaRitual has done.

They’ve blended function to form splendidly too: All polish bottles feature the sleek, patented Plum Cap™ with a signature brush for ease of opening, smooth control and a delicate finish. Designed, of course, by Ferrari of Italy.

We’re utterly impressed with this company and can’t wait to get more of their products into the shop — they’re coming soon. Check out the SpaRitual site here, and check back here often for updates. There will be many in the days and weeks to come.

From the Lily of the Valley 2008 Xmas Party

Lily and Jordy, all asnuggle

The strong, the sexy, the vodka

Triple trouble

Lily with the man who keeps her svelt, while Alex lurks behind

Femmes not-so-fatale

Lily was born in the city of Bandung in Java, Indonesia into a family of four girls and a boy. You could say — and we will — that she comes from good hairstyling stock; her uncle was a very successful salon owner and helping him out as a kid was what initially planted the seed of salon ownership in Lily’s mind. As she was busy becoming hair-obsessed, Lily also discovered in herself a bizarre passion for chemistry during middle school.

Canadian invasion

Lily immigrated to Toronto in 1994, and immediately enrolled at the Marvel Beauty School in Yorkville. After graduating, she took a job in a busy salon in Chinatown. Her intention was to master Asian hair, which is much trickier to work with (from texture, colour and manageability standpoints) than Caucasian hair. Nights, she’d take clippings of her clients’ hair back home and try out different colours and techniques to achieve specific looks, keeping track of the results in a logbook — all that chemistry would now start paying off.

After three years of 10-hour days there, she moved uptown to try out her chops on the general population, and commenced building a loyal and eclectic clientele. One evening in 2005, she was walking along College St., and saw a retail space for rent in an old house at Palmerston Blvd.

The rest is pure legend.

Lily loves a challenge — be it a bad cut, botched colour job, bleach damage, impossibly curly or just time for a whole new look. However vexing and complex it may be, bring her your hair drama and she won’t rest until you love what she’s done.

To book an appointment with Lily, call 416-913-3854.

Finally, after three years of talking about getting this beastie up and running, Lily of the Valley salon unveils its portfolio blog (it took five minutes). In it you will find great shots of great hair we’ve done, a living forum where our clients and the curious come for reliable advice and answers on hair, hair colour, nails, waxing of all imaginable body parts and tips on keeping yourself looking like you must’ve fussed forever to get that way (but didn’t). We’ll also talk up any deals we have on, new products and services, stories of beauty gone fabulously right and catastrophically wrong.

Our pledge

Narcissism Central will always strive to be relevant, deep and black, with bits of red, white and orange.

So welcome, dammit. Dive in, have a look around, send us your questions and stuff and we’ll respond accordingly. We’re treating this venue like it’s our own newborn, and we’ll be feeding and changing it daily, so check back often and hold on to your follicles, ’cause this is going to be a sensual, beautiful, sexy ride.

Don’t be a stranger,

Lily S.

Proprietor, Lily of the Valley