OOTN:Ibiza Pop-Up Party

So…. another Bank Holiday weekend is upon us! They seem to be coming thick and fast at the moment. Last weekend was super-busy with lots of family duties, so I was looking forward to some indulgence this time around.

On Saturday evening, we had tickets for an event at one of our favourite venues. The Riverbank is an amazing restaurant, bar and deli near where we live. It’s very cool and classy, the food is perfection as well, and its beautifully set on the banks of the River Trent – if you’re in the Nottingham area I urge you to check it out! 

In the evening, it holds all kinds of music events, and its Bank Holiday parties have become legendary. They always sell out, so we made sure to book tickets in advance this time!

They were having an Ibiza night, which they do really well. They had some big house music DJ’s – Kenny Dope and Tom Crane- and they cover the terrace area outside with huge tents, get go-go dancers in – the works. The atmosphere they manage to create is brilliant and feels totally different from when you go in for a meal or a coffee during the day.

Anyway, it was going to be an evening of cocktails and dancing with our friends Katie and Rich, Katie’s housemates Gemma and Amy, and my sister-in-law Ella and her boyfriend, Mark. I was in the mood to dress up:  

White leather panelled halterneck dress - Zara

Cobalt suede lace-up heels – Boohoo.com

Grey studded fold-over clutch bag –Primark

I’m one of those sad people that plans my outfits really far in advance (I know, I know, get a life…), and this wasn’t what I originally planned to wear. The dress I was planning on got delayed in transit and didn’t arrive in time, so this one was found on an emergency mission to town at lunchtime!

Zara is my favourite shop, because the quality of their product is so beautiful and they also have a way of making trends into something elegant and timeless. Their tailoring is also faultless – for jackets and blazers, I don’t think there’s anywhere better on the high street.

And when I tried this dress on it was instant love. It’s made of a stretch jersey with fine white leather panels down the front and its so beautifully constructed, I felt like I was trying on a designer dress. 

I love the futuristic shape and material, and the little details like the bronze coloured zip down the back. I looked at this on the Zara website afterwards and the shots don’t do it justice at all. It felt like a love-forever piece, so I had to get it. It was £40 but the quality feel of it makes it seem much more expensive. Its simplicity also makes it versatile –this could be dressed down easily with a denim shirt and flat sandals on holiday.

To add a pop of colour, I paired the dress with my cobalt blue lace-ups from Boohoo.com.  I’d been wanting a pair of bright blue shoes for ages and these ticked all my boxes.

To tie everything together, I added a simple grey clutch which was a Primark bargain. I'm like a magpie for anything with studs! This is also good because it has a hidden chain-strap so you can go hands-free on the dancefloor.

Hair Notes

So I recently dyed my ombre out, but the dye I used went a lot darker than I expected and its now a really dark brown colour, almost black! 

I was shocked initially, but now I sort of like it, its very dramatic. It also blends very well with my new hair extensions, which I have on here. My old set are only the same length as my real hair, so I just use them to add in volume, but this new set are 22”, which gives me a length boost as well. 

All I did here was introduce some movement using my Diva Big Waves styler. This is a really useful tool – it has a waving plate which produces a very pretty mermaid style wave, like an giant crimp which you can see in my OOTN: Ellie Goulding concert post here, or you can lock the barrel together and use it has a giant tong, which gives those massive, loose curls that you normally only get by blow-drying with a round bristle brush. I then added some height at the crown using my Denman dressing brush and a bit of L’Oreal #TXT Volume Supersizing Spray, then pushed up and pinned for lasting volume.

Make Up Notes

I wanted to go really classic and simple with my make-up this time – the traditional smoky eye and nude lips combination! For a long time now, red lips has been my default going out look, so I decided it was time to go back to basics.

My skin was prepped using a couple of new buys that I will be posting about very soon – Soap and Glory Make Yourself Youthful Serum and CC Cream. I started with The Porefessional and some Erase Paste concealer, both from Benefit.

Then, I buffed in some Mac Studio Sculpt as it’s a matte, high-coverage formula, which I mixed with a little squirt of Mac Stobe Cream to make it slightly more luminous. I set this with a tiny amount of No7 Perfect Light loose powder on a fan brush.

I contoured my face using the darkest shade from the Sleek Face Form palette, then added some No7 Instant Radiance highlighter stick to boost my glow!

Skin covered, I defined my brows and then began to get my smoke on!  First I prepped the lids with Dainty Doll Eyeshadow base, and then I swept a wash of neutral shadow over the lid and brow bone with a fluffy brush - the shade ‘Bootycall’ from the Urban Decay Naked 2 palette is great for this. I used various shades of metallic dark brown and black to build up my smoke – Mac’s Satin Taupe as a bridging shade, and then that essential bit of ‘Blackout’ from UD to deepen it all up nicely.

 I sharpened up the line on my top lid with Eyeko Skinny Mini liquid liner pen, and brightened my waterline with some NYX The Wonder Pencil. Lashes were courtesy of Mac In Extreme Dimension mascara and a pair of Eyelure Naturalites.

Lips were very simple -  a coating of Nars Satin Lip Pencil in ‘Biscayne Park’ and then a slick of Soap and Glory Sexy Motherpucker Candy Gloss, which adds a warm golden shimmer to any colour.

And I was ready to go out and enjoy myself!

Getting much more frequent with these outfit posts. Having a workable camera solution has made all the difference. I know I sound like I’m on commission for the Sony QX10 but it really has allowed me to do a lot of different post photography that was previously not an option. Read my full review of it here.