Compiled by Rebecca Temerario

Halloween City
1555 Third Ave. at 87th Street 302-932-9109
Come for the cheap prices, leave with all your party decorations and a costume. Costumes can be purchased for less than $20. With a handful of locations on the Upper East Side and plenty more all over the City, Halloween City is crammed with bloodthirsty cups, decorative spiderwebs and Halloween CDs.

Screaming Mimi’s
382 Lafayette St. near East Fourth Street, 212-677-6464
Laura Wills, owner of Lafayette Street’s Screaming Mimi’s, loves Halloween. At the beginning of October, her vintage boutique is transformed into a Fright Night mecca, complete with an elaborate window display. If you can’t wait for Macy’s Christmas windows, head over to Screaming Mimi’s, where you can try on an array of vintage costumes. They offer everything from Tudor-style gowns to cute sailor dresses.

During the month of October, Screaming Mimi’s showcases a daily “Costume Countdown” on their blog. Wills clearly adores Halloween; Target even approached her for Halloween styling assistance. If Halloween is your favorite holiday, look no further than Screaming Mimi’s, where the staff is wild about the Witching Hour.

Spirit Halloween
766 Sixth Ave. near West 25th Street, 845-397-0915
Be an Angry Bird ($34.99), Spider-Man ($49.99) or your favorite videogame character this Halloween ($34.99). With several NYC locations, Spirit Halloween offers a wide variety of costumes for everyone’s inner ghoul. “Little Monster” costumes are available for babies and toddlers ($9.97 – $69.99). Older customers can enjoy sporting Halloween-themed contact lenses ($29), the Barack Obama or Sarah Palin masks ($19.99) or fake braces ($9.99).

New York Costumes
104 Fourth Ave. near 11th Street, 212-673-4546

Spanning an entire city block, New York Costumes is an extensive costume warehouse complete with Mitt Romney masks ($8.99), strobe lights ($14.99-$19.99) and aviator caps ($24.99). No matter how off the beaten path your intended costume is, you’ll find it at New York Costumes. The store is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year and offers extended hours during October, often closing between 10 and midnight. New York Costumes has one of the largest collection of masks, props and wigs, and carries costumes for all ages, as well as for four-legged friends. The company also offers an extensive online inventory for customers who know what they want before they shop.

Frankie Steinz Costumes
580 Broadway, Suite 309, near Prince Street, 212-925-1373
Costume designer Frankie Steinz operates her Tribeca design studio by appointment only. She accepts customized, one-of-a-kind orders and rents an array of professional-quality costumes at her upscale boutique. She has even outfitted the likes of Kate Moss and Jack Nicholson. Fittingly, Steinz was born on Halloween.

Counteract winter’s cold temperatures with these relaxing remedies

By Tatiana Baez and Rebecca Temerario

Chantecaille Energy Spa
Flower Facial, $155
660 Madison Ave.
212-833-2700

Located inside Barney’s, Chantecaille Energy Spa offers aromatherapy and aromacologie treatments. In addition, Chantecaille boasts its own line of naturally botanical cosmetic and skincare products that are aimed at reducing the effects of inflammation, which can happen to sensitive skin in the winter. The spa focuses on blending Chinese medicine with biotechnology and plant-based pharmacology.

At $155, the spa’s signature Flower Facial combines lymphatic drainage, a massage of the lymph nodes, with deep acupressure massage and a Botanical Healing Mask topped with fresh rose petals. The spa customizes the treatment based on the client’s skin type with steam and extraction provided as needed. For $60 more, you can add a collagen mask.

Completely Bare
Pulsed-Light Hair Removal, prices range
764 Madison Ave.
212-717-9300

Former Real Housewives of New York star Cindy Barshop opened Madison Avenue’s Completely Bare over 10 years ago. The spa offers a variety of services, ranging from laser hair removal and spray tanning to bikini waxing. Completely Bare also offers teeth whitening and cellulite reduction treatments. Their product line can be found at their NYC and Scarsdale locations and at CVS Pharmacy.

For those New Yorkers who escape to more exotic locales in the dead of winter, Completely Bare can help you remove some of the unwanted hair around the bikini line. Their pulsed-light hair removal treatment provides a non-invasive solution. An added bonus is that the treatment can be done on almost any body part. After three treatments, Barshop claims all ingrown hairs will be eliminated. For those still on the fence about the treatment, Completely Bare offers complimentary consultations.

Salon de Tokyo
Body Massage,
$70 for 60 minutes
200 W. 57th St.
212-757-2187

In the winter, when the skies are gray and even a walk to the subway can prove cumbersome and frustrating, de-stress with a tension-reducing massage at Salon de Tokyo. According to devoted patrons, the Salon is a traditional Asian spa crammed into a small office building. While clients can expect a no-frills atmosphere, the masseurs on hand offer an intense de-knotting of pressure points, and shiatsu is said to be their specialty.
Faina European Day Spa
Clay Soufflé Chocolate Mint Purifying Body Treatment,
$150 for 90 minutes
315 W. 57th St. between Eighth and Ninth avenues
212-245-6557

Located in the heart of Midtown, Faina European Day Spa offers an array of services for men and women, such as facials, manicures, pedicures and waxes. Patrons, though, tend to find Faina’s body scrubs particularly refreshing. The scrubs come in an array of scents like lavender, chocolate raspberry and cranberry. Perhaps the most famed service offered here is the Clay Soufflé Chocolate Mint Purifying Body Treatment, priced at $150 for 90 minutes. The clay chocolate mint sugar scrub exfoliates the skin, while the scented body mask and heated blanket hydrate it.

Wei Lang Spa at Devachan
Detox City Body Treatment, $155-$165
425 Broome St. between Crosby and Lafayette streets
646-454-4300

Run by veteran cosmetician Wei Lang, who has over 25 years of experience, Wei Lang Spa is known as a place for skincare treatments to beat the ravaging winter conditions. Conveniently located in NYC’s chic Soho neighborhood, Wei Lang Spa offers a variety of facials that hydrate, detox and purify the skin. Facials at Wei Lang incorporate techniques of microdermabrasion and Japanese pressure point techniques. The Detox City Body Treatment, priced between $155 and $165, lasts one hour. For the price, clients are also provided with a mud body wrap, which is said to extract toxins.

Bliss Spa
Scrub and Color Tanning Treatments, $135
12 W. 57th St.
212-219-8970

Bliss products have become synonymous with fun treatments in even better packaging, which can even be found in Sephora, but Bliss also has three spa locations in the city. Of course, their treatments come with quirky names like “Youth as We Know It Night Facial” and the “Heel-lelujah Pedicure.” For those looking for lunch-hour quick fixes, Bliss Spas even offer “Quickbliss” treatments.

Aside from facials, New Yorkers looking for a boost for their skin can turn to Bliss’ Scrub and Color Tanning Treatment, which lasts 75 minutes. The treatment consists of a skin-smoothing scrub followed by a painted-on application of their self-tanning formula. Bliss advises booking the treatment two days before a special event.

John Sarich believes that it’s time to give back to his community. That’s exactly what he’s doing at William Beaver House, where he has been resident manager for the past five years. A native New Yorker, Sarich had previously worked as a resident manager in Queens.

The William Beaver House’s 47 energy-efficient stories loom large at the corner of William and Beaver streets, in the heart of the Financial District. From the outside, a sleek, low-lighted lobby can be seen, complete with leafy upholstery. The building seems green, but, as Sarich explains, most of being green happens behind the scenes.
Sarich says being green “just made sense.” When he arrived at 15 William St., the building wasn’t green. But, Sarich, who began taking conservation courses at 32BJ’s union hall six years ago, used his ingenuity and on-the-job training to transform the building.

Sarich, a self-taught electrician, retrofitted many of the building’s light fixtures himself. William Beaver House’s carbon-reducing changes are all done in-house. In fact, Sarich is responsible for the implementation of LEED light fixtures, timed lighting and motion sensors. He retrofitted some areas of the building with compact fluorescent lamps, or CFLs.

In reducing the carbon footprint of the William Beaver House, Sarich says he “focused on a cost reduction and dollars-and-cents approach.” Before making the switch to a more environmentally friendly building, Sarich says he “did a cost analysis for payback time” and found that many of the changes were “easily remedied without any capital expenditures.” Ultimately, Sarich’s goal was to ensure that his additions would lead to “a better environment for his workers and residents.”

For example, Sarich points out motion sensors used in back hallways throughout the building, noting that previously, “those lights had been on all day.” The situation had been the same in maintenance rooms, which Sarich estimated saw only about 20 hours of use per day. Now, the William Beaver House is saving energy and money through efficiency.
Through Sarich’s implementation of a steam recovery system, the William Beaver House’s pool operates at an expense he estimates to be two-thirds cheaper. Pointing out the timed lighting in the yoga studio, workout room and squash court, Sarich remembers how residents would play squash games and leave the light on when they left. Today, the squash court lights turn off automatically after two hours.

From 11 p.m. to 6 a.m., the building’s hallway lighting operates with bi-level lighting. Some residents noticed the darker-hued hallways, but once Sarich explained the positive effects of conservation, they got on board. Now, Sarich says, “the building only uses green-seal products.”

The William Beaver House, whose apartments range from studios to three bedrooms, is working on attracting even more environmentally conscious residents.

Sarich has been recognized nationally for his accomplishments as a recipient of an EBie Award from the U.S. Green Building Council. However, Sarich isn’t looking for recognition. As he greets one of his younger residents, who is equipped with a helmet and scooter, he notices that “she’s gotten so big!” It’s clear that Sarich has an interest in keeping New York, and the world, clean for the following generations. “This isn’t about me, it’s about what we’re doing,” he says. Sarich’s green thumb has certainly left an impact on his building, its residents, and the Financial District.