My October Picks; Shiny Shoes, Lipsticks, Running, Chops & Halloween!

How quickly has October come around? Last thing I remember was waking up on 1st January slightly hungover, craving fruit juice and fresh air and making myself lots of promises for the year ahead. Fast forward 9 months and we're here. Have I achieved everything I set out to? Let's talk about that in December shall we? I still have 3 months ok!

Let's talk about October and all the autumnal excitement that it brings! For once I'm excited about autumn arriving, I feel like I've been spoilt with summer this year, plenty of holidays and fun, so much so I'm ready for thick knits, woolly hats, hot chocolates-a-plenty and multi-coloured leaves! I mean don't get me wrong, I would also be more than happy to head down under to have summer all again, but my time will come.

Anyway so here's what I'm feeling this October!

These shoes (LOVE) - at the beginning of summer I treated myself to some new converse which are metallic silver snakeskin and they sound awful but they are awesome, but I'm ready for something new. Last week I went to a DAWN (digital advertising women's network) Event and one of the key speakers, a woman called Ali Hanan and she was wearing the below shoes. She paired them with slack, black trousers and a black top and it looked great. Especially as the night's draw in, the weather gets more miserable and cold, these are the perfect bit of sparkle in your life.

Superga Rose Gold Flatforms £65

This lipstick (LOVE)! So those of you that know me know I'm not a huge make up expert and I'm not a massive fan of lipstick, however after trying out a few of my friend's collections I asked for Mac Taupe Matt lipstick for my birthday last year and have pretty much worn it every social occasion since. So in New York I decided I needed to add to my lipstick collection. I didn't stray too far out the box, the colour I went for is very similar to Taupe but perhaps a bit lighter with an element of pink in it. Now for me personally, these aren't cheap but my last one has been going a year and there is plenty more to give, so it's ok! Here it is...

Mac Velvet Teddy Matt Lipstick £15

And I got a liner to go with it, following an excellent sales assistant guiding me in the right (or wrong) direction. I have yet to try this out, but this weekend is fast approaching so it will be given a test run soon.

Mac Spice Lip Liner £13

This next pick will come as no surprise given some of my previous posts but...

Running

This is probably one of my favourite times  of the year to run, the outdoor temperature isn't as sticky and warm so I sweat less which means I don't have to wash my hair as often and Autumn is just so pretty outside, especially in the parks. Talking of parks, I'm running the Royal Parks Half Marathon with work in October so I get to experience some of the greatest parks in the world. Let's not talk about how my training is going, moving on.

So this one is a little unusual, but for me (no judging please) this happens around once a year and I dread it but I always think I'm looking forward to it.

A hefty, healthy haircut.

A year of straightener, hair dryer, bobble, sun and sea damage means my hair is long but completely gross and the majority of the longness is dead. So I'm going for the chop, it will need an inch or two, but I'm going to keep telling myself it will look great and maybe that will convince me.

Before I bore you all this is my final October pick and I've saved the best until last...

Halloween!

I love Halloween! I actually (not kidding) cried one year because there were no Halloween plans and I couldn't believe I wouldn't get to dress up. After dressing up every single Wednesday for 3 years at university as I was part of a sport's team it's the one opportunity in the whole year I get, so when I don't get this opportunity.. Well I think you can understand my sadness. Anyway so this year, a friend of mine has planned her birthday for that weekend and sent out the Facebook invite, she hasn't mentioned Halloween or dressing up and I'm hoping this is merely because she hasn't put two and two together. Safe to say I'll be letting her know shortly. I have a few ideas of costumes and I need the opportunity to get creative so she better not let me down. 

Bring on October...

Xoxo

Ps. I wrote all about New York, finished it and added in links and then it deleted, so once I can bring myself to re-write it you will see it. 

Ibiza | Babes, Yachts & Tapas

Hellllllooo IBIZAAA!! ☀️☀️

The long awaited girls trip was finally here. You maybe reading this and thinking, you've had more than enough girls trips how is this long awaited! Basically the uni girls and I had wanted to go to Ibiza since we pretty much first met at uni, 2015 was the first time we thought we could have enough money to enjoy the worldwide recognised party island, but unfortunately life came first and none of us had the time to organise or money to enjoy! But we were dedicated to making sure 2016 was our year!

We booked the flights early this year for a bargain price but our organisation wasn't as in tune for booking accommodation as we only managed to sort this out a few weeks before we departed and due to most of us going on copious holidays throughout the year our holiday spending fund was lacking. But there was no turning back, we were going, finally to Ibiza....

We arrived at midnight with a plane full of girls applying a face full of make up ready for their first night. We looked at them in horror, were they serious!? We'd just endured a full day of work, there was no chance in hell we were hitting in infamous strip or any drinking establishment for that matter. We were going straight to bed, we've changed! Were we too past it for Ibiza? No, clearly we were just too sensible 😒

After a well-earned sleep, we woke up around 11am thanks to our black out blinds! We ripped open the shutters and were treated to bright blue skies and a hint of the marina. 

We quickly packed our beach bags desperate to work on our last chance tan before summer came to an end and headed out for an explore and breakfast.

This was the lane next to our Air BnB apartment! We were located within Dalt Villa, kind of within the grounds of the castle in the Old Town area of Ibiza.

We spotted a great place to refuel with great seating and an even better view of the marina! We stuck to tradition following all of our trips to Spanish towns and started the holiday with tomato tostadas, orange juice and a cafe con leche.

Definitely time for the beach, we walked through the town and made our way to Playa d'en Bossa - a popular beach away from San Antonio but still full of party-goers! It was perfect, until we got approached by our first club promoter. The first of many might I add. A real pain in the arse.

After a lunch of salad (budget and healthy) - body prep for Harriet's wedding - we decided to make our way back to get a froyo ready to head somewhere for a few drinks before dinner and to hopefully we a sunset. We got a boat back (€3) which took us into the marina of the Old Town.

After gaining a full-time obsession for Llallao (frozen yoghurt) and passing it on route back to the apartment we could hardly resist! Obviously I topped mine with dulce de leche, crumbled Oreo and Smarties! Not my healthiest decision but definitely the right one!

After a quick shower and change into clothes that would make up look the most tanned we headed out in search for tapas. Look at the beautiful-ness we were dealing with!

We found a cute little tapas bar on the marina. Great spot for people watching and watching the sun go down! Plus we had the most amazing waiter who happened to have a very Northern British accent but was actually fully Spanish having been brought up in Tenerife, he just had a load of Northern friends.

After dinner we went on to ogle the super yachts that seemed to shotgun the front row at the marina, before being invited onto one of them. We were told to come back later for a private party! Now this did ring alarm bells, but how often do you get to experience a super yacht? And safety in numbers right! 

Whilst we waited we headed to a leafy Spanish lounge bar for a couple of mojitos and mint sheesha.

This was our evening's party boat... Amazing!! To be honest it was a rather strange scene, we had to leave our mobiles and ID at the 'reception' but we were given free drinks all night. In the end we realised it sounded to good to be true so we didn't stick around for fear that they may take us to Bermuda or somewhere we didn't plan to be heading! Also please note there were hundreds of other people on the boat so it wasn't too odd!

The next day we were up bright and early and we awoke to skies that were ridiculously blue but I think the below pictures shows how beautiful Ibiza is.

We spent the day at a different beach which was slightly closer called Figuertas. The actually beach seemed slightly dirty and there were a few unruly characters, so we didn't stick around too long instead heading for a long lunch in the shade as we enjoyed some protection away from the sun. 

That evening we headed across the Island to Cotton Beach Club in Cala Tarida with more than enough time to experience the sunsets Ibiza had to offer. 

Safe to say we were not left disappointed, plus the sushi was incredible as was the wine. 

We were up early the following day to head across by ferry to Formentura. I don't think I'm going to write anything, the pictures speak for themself. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful...

After our perfectly timed sunset ferry home we got ready for dinner where we planned to eat even more tapas. You can never get enough. I think I have eaten my body weight in tapas this year. Had to use the filter!

We made an excellent choice to head over to a completely different beach and it was well worth the hike and sweat to get there. Talamanca Beach was small and very Spanish and the surroundings were beautiful.

We had a lovely day at the beach with plenty of swimming and lunch at a beach restaurant and ate the most amazing goats cheese salad. Before heading back to get ready for Ushuaia where Aviici was performing, but not before a few selfies. 

It was soooo so so good! The atmosphere was ridiculous and we had an amazing night! If you're ever in Ibiza, make sure you book tickets to Ushuaia and have the best night ever.

After a another day at Talamanca Beach (luckily it had luggage storage for our suitcases) it was time for our final stop - Experimental Beach, only 5 miles from the airport but with incredible views and the most insane sunset!

I think it's clear to see our last evening in magical Ibiza was pretty special! We then headed on our way to the airport for 1am and managed to bag some seats for a few hours kip as our flight was at 4am and we all had to work the next day!

Until next time Ibiza - next stop; New York xoxo