Make-up, Martinis, Mind-numbing Boredom

By Margaret Lyons in Miscellaneous on Aug 23, 2004 12:41PM

Chicagoist finally caved and went to check out Sheque (pronounced "sheek"), the only-for-the-ladies make-up and booze fest hosted every month. Talk about a clambake (that's our answer to the third question, by the way). For $25, or $35 at the door, you get entry to hottt Chicago bar (this month: Crobar), all the mysterious Vox concoctions you can drink, and an eyebrow wax, manicure, massage, haircut, and make-up application. Sounds pretty good.

Well, except for the Crobar part. In the interest of full disclosure, we got comped a "press pass," so we're not actually out any money, unless you count dignity dollars, in which case we're a little light this week. It's not that Sheque isn't a kind of cool idea, or that we at all dislike manicures or free booze, it's just that it didn't really work. We spent the entire night waiting on line, and though the crowd was more tolerable than we expected, it was still a bit more high-maintenance than the circles we run in. Only two people were cutting hair, and there were at least 30 women in line for it—even if people only got 10-minute haircuts, the event only ran from 8-11 p.m. Speaking of haircuts, it's got to be some kind of health code violation to cut hair at a bar. There were stray hairs swirling everywhere, off the balcony, onto the bar below. It was pretty narst. Add that narst factor to a weirdness factor of women getting full body massages in the middle of a club (clothed, but still laying out on tables and stuff), and you've got yourself one awkward night. Pass the Vox, except don't, because that's just a fancy word for lighter fluid.

We only managed to make it to the front of the line for one beauty service, and while our eyebrows look pretty awesome, it's hard to imagine anyone bothering to go back to a Sheque event. The quality of service was really good—women seemed to be pleased overall with their make-up or massages or whatever—and between the copious amounts of alcohol and shitload of free samples, it was roughly worth the $25, but there was just something fundamentally unenjoyable about the whole process. Maybe if there had been more beauty pros or something, we would have had a better time, but in all, you're better off doing some shots with your girlfriends and heading to a salon.