Coffee can grill: yay or nay?

What self-respecting Brokelynite hasn’t—at some point—gone for conditioner instead of shaving cream, or for baby powder in a deodorant-less pinch? Sometimes, in a moment of need, we make do with what we have. Or we just can’t bring ourselves to pay full price for… anything. Enter AltUse, a Website of home-grown DIY wisdom and thrifty tricks turned into an enormous list of alternative uses for everyday household items. The clear, user-friendly site lets you search by item or need—by “vodka” or by “keep flowers fresh.” Old standards like baking soda, rubbing alcohol and vinegar are recurring elements, but then there’s how to make a spiffy new bulletin board from a year’s worth of cork collecting. That starts to get exciting. (more…)

Beyonce's Cadillac Records hair

The new Beyoncé Cosmetology Center at Phoenix House—offering recovering addicts seven months of cosmetology training—sounds like so much fun it’s almost worth faking a Sudafed addiction to get in, especially since beautifying is a “lucrative” field, according to Beep Marty Markowitz. Really? How lucrative? We spoke with some borough stylists to find out.

It all starts with a NY State cosmetology license, which requires 1,000 hours of class time and $10,000 to $15,000 in tuition, on average, though government financial aid is available. Here’s what Brooklyn hair-care pros can expect to earn after that: (more…)

Dead Horse Bay, photo courtesy of Brit in Brooklyn. (Click photo for more.)

Whenever we Brokelynites want an out-of-the-way vacation destination, we just pop over to our little secret Mediterranean island for cabana boys and mai-tais.

Seriously? We’re lucky if we can afford a trip across the GWB, but we’ve been tipped off to a site that could transform even a Jersey-cation from a mall tour to a chance to see the antenna that sparked the Big Bang Theory or the fabled Gates of Hell. (more…)

Photo by Daniella Zalcman

Ready your crucifixes: some witches are coming to the Slope. Starting tomorrow, Mar. 4, the Brave New World Repertory Theatre—they of The Tempest on the Coney boardwalk and To Kill a Mockingbird on the porches of Ditmas Park—is launching another site-transforming production. This time, Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. And the two-week run will be as atmospheric as it gets, held in Park Slope’s Old Stone House, a replica of the 1699 original from just a few years after the real witch trials ended. (more…)

Red lips have been the perennial go-to since Cleopatra. Perhaps that’s because anyone with enough nerve can really rock a true red—it gives contrast to the fair and pop to the dark-skinned. In winter, being swaddled in bulky coats and hiding hat hair becomes a statement with a properly-hued pout. Here, reviews of five lipsticks available at our local Duane Reade, rated with a little help from a crimson-lipped friend. Just go easy on the eyeliner, in the name of all that’s holy! (more…)

See Prospect Park's Lullwater Bridge on the Green Tour

Why sit in traffic on the top deck of a big red tour bus through Times Square when you can take an Afro-Caribbean tour through Bed-Stuy, Fort Greene and Clinton Hill? Borough-natives Stacey Toussaint and Sheila Collins are offering the ethnic tour as one of their Inside Out Tours through Brooklyn. The walking and bus tours highlight some of the borough’s more off-the-beaten-path historical spots and cultural themes. Besides the Afro-Caribbean tour, the pair offers a Brooklyn gospel tour, green tour, Sunset Park ethnic-food-tasting tour, Brooklyn after-dark and, of course, the Hip-Hop tour. (more…)

It’s hard to convey the paranoia we flea-marketing, curb-side-spotting, Craigslisting folk feel about bedbugs—with good reason. Now is prime paranoia time: we’re having too many guests over (at various stages of cleanliness), cranking up our heaters and (if we’re lucky) signing January 1st leases. Not only are the bugs a major itch in the butt, but they can end up costing a butt-load too. Most exterminators will try to charge between $50 and $200 to inspect your place (or they’ll do it free and work their up-sell). So, whether you’re looking at new places to live or suspicious of your unwashed neighbors, it’s definitely worth $15 to try out the latest DIY detection system (courtesy of Wired Magazine), before calling in the pricey pros. (more…)

Alexa Von Tobel, 26, left Harvard b-school early and raised over $1M to launch a web site.

Would you take financial advice from someone who dropped out of Harvard Business School in the middle of a recession to start a web site?

It might not be a bad idea. Alexa Von Tobel is a not-even-30 dynamo who managed to raise $1.1 million from major corporations to launch LearnVest.com, an online personal financial planner for women, a kind of Cosmo for checkbooks.

Alexa’s over the bridge in Manhattan, but we’re writing about her because our readers are creative types who love to dream up iPhone apps, start blogs, open online stores and the like—and while you can do all of those things by the seat of your pants, Alexa’s experience in developing a business plan and raising funds is indispensable to anyone hatching a new venture. (more…)

photo from zibbet.com/Frankenkitty

There are loads of iconic Brooklyn shots on sale around town, but this cotton-candy-colored take on a Coney Island landmark called to us with its dreamy, almost toy-like look. It’s one of the photos Brooklyn’s Mari Lowery is selling under the name Frankenkitty on the new Etsy rival site, Zibbet. As her handle suggests, Lowery has a sardonic eye, but she does the creepy doll thing without making you cringe, venturing into the established genre of spooky mannequins and bunny-costume photos with refreshing grace. The richly toned yet under-saturated images, coupled with animated compositions, make the pictures more compelling than the run-of-the-mill, was-your-childhood-that-awful shots.

Photos are $25 for an 8-by-8-inch print. Act fast if you want to get your photo-loving friend a print in time for the 25th—your last day to order is Wednesday, and the photographer will ship it next day or priority (you will have to email her at mari@marilowery.com and pay the extra charges).

Recently, we received a note from a reader looking for some “dance classes (specifically ballet and/or hip hop) for beginners out there that are affordable and tons of fun.” Aimee recently quit her gym membership, and wanted a pay-as-you go place to shake it. We came up with a good number of choices that cost under $15 a class.

First of all: like yoga, many places offer the first class for free. Surfing intro offers is an alright approach. The problem is, most dance classes are progressive and instructors make efforts to isolate and develop different body areas over the lessons’ course. That means going to six different Ballet classes may not equal a single six-week course. On the other end of the investment spectrum, you can save a lot by plunking down a large sum for a punch-card. (If you don’t think you’re going to use all 10 sessions on the card, you can try pairing up with someone else in the class, though at most places that will be an outlaw move.) (more…)