A shot of style

Media Credit: Christin Palazzolo Kristy Andreason, owner and stylist of The Moxie pours a cocktail for a client. When people come to the Moxie, they can enjoy a drink from their full-service bar, as well as take care of all of their salon needs. Andreason opened her beauty bar during the summer of 2007.

Media Credit: Christin Palazzolo The Moxie is reminiscent of a large, metropolitan bar. It has strong retro-themed décor with mood lighting, vinyl chairs and matching decorations. Andreason chose all of the decorations herself. The Moxie is definitely designed to appeal to the cocktail crowd with its swanky design.

Media Credit: Christin Palazzolo As Eugene's first cocktail lounge and hair salon, The Moxie has a full-service bar on one side, and full-service salon on the other. While getting your hair done or manicures and pedicures you can enjoy one of their unique cocktails or even order from their food menu, which offers a great variety.

Media Credit: Christin Palazzolo

The phone rings. Kristy Andreason, owner of the Moxie Salon and Lounge, answers cordially, flipping through her business's date book.

"Our appointments are booked almost two weeks in advance," she tells an inquiring customer.

Andreason is the personification of her business, the Moxie. Her silver, sparkling shoes match a similar top, pulled over her black dress and stirrup black tights. Painted red toenails peak out from the shiny sandals. Andreason's hair is platinum and styled.

She opened her salon, or what she refers to as a "beauty bar," during the summer of 2007. She says her dream has always been to own her own salon. With the Moxie, she was able to incorporate traditional beauty services with alcoholic beverages.

"I think it's about time Eugene had something that meets a higher level of going out and entertaining and not being your typical college bar," she says.

And the Moxie is anything but typical. Customers commonly remark on how the salon reminds them of Los Angeles, Calif., or another large, metropolitan area. Its décor has a strong retro theme; the mood lighting contrasts in an appealing manner with the salon that occupies half of the Moxie's space.

Cloth shades dominate the windows, allowing light to be adjusted appropriately for each portion of the day. Customers lounge on black vinyl chairs and couches. One area is curtained off, appealing to an intimate yet stylish allure the bar pulls off nicely. The wall above this area has green, black and eggshell-white decorations climbing up toward the ceiling.

"It reminds me strongly of a fashionable rock climbing wall," remarks one customer.

Andreason chose the décor herself and says it reflects her personality and tastes.

"It looks a lot like my house; if you went to my house you'd notice that I'm the owner of the Moxie as well," she says.

The Moxie is fashioned to appeal to the cocktail crowd. They do offer a variety of bottled beer and a limited selection of wine, but the emphasis is on their specialty drinks. Names such as the Strawberry Blonde, the Color Correction and Platinum Pear-tini dominate the specialty drink menu.

But even the most discerning beer drinker will appreciate a frosted pint glass.



Andreason says the majority of customers are looking to meet two needs at once: to receive some much-deserved pampering after work and to drink a tasty beverage simultaneously.

She does stress the Moxie has a wide variety of clientele.

"We get students, little old ladies, older couples doing art walk," she said. Though most of her customers are women, Andreason says men are also interested in being pampered: "Men are loving coming in and having a beer while they get their hair cut," she said.

The Moxie is also a restaurant and like its décor, the food is based on what Andreason likes and what she thinks other women will find appealing. There are several appetizers, lunch ideas, salads and full entrees.

Andreason says she's usually bartending during the day, with two additional bartenders helping when she's not working.

The bar portion also tends to pick up a little later on Fridays and Saturdays. Andreason says the crowds usually arrive around 11 p.m., but the bar tends to also attract an earlier, happy hour crowd.

Happy hour is Wednesday to Friday, 5 to 8 p.m., and knocks the price of the Moxie's martinis down to an affordable $5 while Speakeasy Microbrews are a mere $2. Thursdays are also ladies' night, with a nightlong Cosmo specialty for $2 dollars.

In addition, the salon has four stylists, not including Andreason, who says she only styles by special request from friends and relatives. The four stations are usually filled by 1 p.m.

Salon services include pedicures, which Andreason says are especially popular right now, manicures, hair cuts and colorings, weaves and perms. There are no chemical nail services, such as acrylics, or waxing. Basically no "smelly stuff" Andreason said. "That's not very relaxing."

And the whole premise behind the Moxie is to be relaxing: a fancy drink in hand while nails are being painted or toes being given that extra dose of attention.

The Moxie is located in downtown Eugene at 201 W. Broadway and is open Tuesday through Saturday.

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