Date Night Style: Staycation at Parq Vancouver

Movie nights and dinners out are great and all...but you know what date night trumps all those? A full blown staycation. I mean, obviously, a vacation would be the best case scenario, but hey that's not always an affordable option. The next best option is the 'staycation'! Right before New Year's, the bf and I spent a night at The DOUGLAS - one of two hotels that now live in the new Parq in downtown Vancouver.

Keep on reading below for a peek inside our luxe night out, and my date night outfit!

This was honestly the first time I've walked into a hotel room and legitimately been impressed with the look and feel of the space. Usually, hotel rooms are a bit underwhelming compared to the photos you see. Not here! Even the hallways were beautiful, done in dark wood, which carries into the rooms as well. A very modern, yet comfortable space. And our view? We were right up and personal with Rogers Area next door! The mini bar was fully-stocked with some local favourites, Yaletown spirits and Thomas Haas chocolate, which I thought was a nice touch.

My favourite part of the hotel room? 100% the bathroom. Look at that marble counter top! Blogger goals, right there. And of course, I was super excited to try out the hand soap, shampoo and conditioners, as I'd heard they would all be from Aesop. With scents that combined mandarin rind, rosemary leaf and bergamot among others, you can't go wrong. Also, loved that lighting.

As for date night beauty: my LipSense lipstick in Blu-Red is a must. It's 100% kiss-proof, and I know I can rely on it to make it through dinner and drinks too. I haven't found any other lipstick I can say that about!

One of my Christmas gifts from the bf: Hermes' new fragrance, Twilly. A perfect night to try it out! This is a new favourite. It's considered a 'powdery floral' scent, with key notes of ginger, tuberose and sandalwood.

A special night like this warranted an outfit that wowed, and I found this super unique sheer wrap LBD on SheIn. Believe it or not, it was only $34! It doesn't have a proper bodysuit underneath, so you'll need to wear one underneath, but I already had a bodycon slip I figured would work perfectly. This dress honestly made me feel like a million bucks on our date night staycation!

First, we headed to dinner at The Victor, a classic steak and seafood restaurant, found on the 6th floor of Parq. We walked across the outdoor roof garden from the DOUGLAS to The Victor - a beautiful walk in the evening. Little white lights lit up the foliage on the terrace and reflected off the rooftop waterway. Plus, it has an exceptional view of the city. A romantic way to start the evening!

It's hard for me to describe just how much I loved the interior of The Victor. The space was elegant and chic yet classic in design, with a dimly lit romantic vibe - perfect for our date night dinner. We both ordered tasty craft cocktails, and then were treated to some of The Victor's house-made bread. Yum! But of course, the pièce de résistance was their specialty steaks. Having worked in a butcher shop during my high school years, I always appreciate a good steak, and this was definitely one of them! We decided on New York Striploins, but I'd be lying if I said we weren't tempted by the Tomahawk to Share or Cowboy Ribeye. Oddly enough though, our favourite part of the meal was definitely the brussel sprouts, if you'll believe it! The bf took one bite and said "WOW!" If you're getting sides with your meal, they're an absolute must.

Stuffed from our delicious dinner, we wandered through the second level of Parq to check out the casino floor. Now I'm not really much of a gambler (like at all), but we figured it would be fun to play a few penny slots before finding a place for drinks. I was super giddy when the machine started going nuts and I went from $5 to $20 in less than a minute! Woohoo! A small win to some, but I was absolutely ecstatic. The bf played another $20 but didn't fair as well as me. Oh well! It was worth the fun. 

Next up was checking out the bars and lounges at Parq. First I wanted to show the bf D6, which I had already had the chance to check out at their media preview a couple months back. There's a full bar, seating and a pool table inside. And behind that chic book case you see above? There's a secret room back there! You can check out my Instagram post here to see what it looks like inside.

Then we moved up to the 'high roller' floor, where the more expensive casino table games are, as well as the Lotus Whiskey and Tea Lounge. It serves high-quality teas during the day, and switches to an impressive selection of reserved whiskeys in the evening. The setting is super elegant, and I loved the low, comfy lounge seats along the bar. We sipped on 12 year old scotch before calling it a night to binge some Netflix!

It was sad to say goodbye to those super comfy robes (seriously - best hotel robes I've ever worn!) and that massive bed. Until next time, Parq! Thanks for the much-needed staycation.

Got a hot date coming up? Shop my date night look here:

Happy Styling! xo

~ Britta

Holiday Entertaining on a Budget

I love hosting parties. Unfortunately, my tiny apartment isn't exactly conducive to that, but I still like to regardless. This year, I did some hunting on Pinterest (of course) to find the perfect cocktail to serve, and ended up coming across the 'Ornamentini' by Inspired by Charm. I loved the presentation. The drink is presented in signature clear ornaments, held in martini glasses. The jewel tone red of the cocktail shines through and looks oh-so-festive!

I changed up my recipe just slightly from what you'll see on Inspired by Charm. The recipe called for an orange liqueur, and immediately I thought of Grand Marnier. It's the liqueur my parents had growing up, and for the last few years, I've been using it in my own cocktails. It just has the most lovely smooth, orange flavour. It tastes great even on its own! It's definitely the more premium of the orange liqueurs though, so I thought I would try to keep my budget under control on the presentation of the drinks to balance things out.

I made a trip to Value Village in search of some cool drinkware, and ended up coming across the incredible contraption you'll see below! I rarely check out the 'home' section of Value Village because I usually go straight for the clothes and shoes, but every once in a while I browse the home section and find something amazing (and cheap!) like this.

It's a 6-part cocktail set that includes a lovely glass cocktail shaker, 4 crystal glasses, and the holder, which houses the shaker as well as hangs all 4 glasses on it. The whole set cost me only $18.98 - which is a great deal, considering the glasses are all crystal. And what a unique design! I'd never seen anything like it before, and immediately when I saw it I thought I could make it work for this ornament cocktail.

I picked up some plastic empty ornaments from Michaels (make sure you check their app for coupons - I got 40% off!), and decided I would use the mini crystal glasses to hold the ornaments full of cocktail mix - kind of like an egg-holder holds an egg. I remembered having some cute striped straws in a cupboard, so I cut a few shorter so they would fit in the glasses, and voila! I also decided to add a couple small sprigs of rosemary not just to the cocktail itself, but in the bottom of each glass, just to give it an even more festive look.

Want to give these babies a try at your Christmas or New Year's party? Here's the recipe:

The Grand Ornament

• 1.5oz Vodka
• 1oz Grand Marnier
• 2oz Cranberry Juice
• 0.5oz Orange Juice
• 1 Rosemary sprig

Just shake together your juices and liquors with ice, pour using a funnel into the ornaments, and add the sprigs of rosemary to your ornament, and in the bottom of the glass!

Happy Holiday Entertaining!

~ Britta

Disclaimer: Grand Marnier and Value Village provided the products featured in this post. As always opinions here are entirely my own, and I only collaborate with brands I truly love!

No Commitment Hair Colour: Joico Color Butters

It's taken me most of my life to realize my hair is just hair. Up until my mid 20's, I didn't even want to cut my hair anything more than what was needed for a trim. But then I chopped it all off - or at least most of it. And I realized I didn't regret it! It definitely was short, but then hey (shocker) it grew back. Then last Halloween, I took the plunge and used temporary hair colour for the first time. It was terrifying at first - I was so worried about messing it up. But then I realized, so what? It's temporary! That stuff was only meant to last a shampoo or two, so it was definitely low risk.

Fast forward to now, Joico reached out with their 6 new Color Butters for me to try out. They last about 10 shampoos, so they're still pretty much no-commitment hair colour, but more commitment than the stuff I used last Halloween. I was a bit apprehensive, but I was also pretty excited to try something new. Who else gets bored of their hair? I figured this would be a fun (and temporary) way to change things up!

Turns out, these Joico Color Butters are literally the easiest hair colours to apply! I sectioned off my hair, putting most of it on the top of my head, leaving the hair below my ears loose. I had some gloves on-hand, so I pulled those out and put them on. Then just dipped my fingers into the tub (I used the Pink colour), and then ran my fingers over a small chunk of dry hair. You can use it on damp or dry hair, by the way. I went from front to back of my head, only doing sections of the hair pink (leaving sections in between colour-less). The idea was that I just wanted a hint of pink to pop out when I curled my hair. Then I just waited 5 minutes, and then showered! That was it!

I decided I wanted the colour on more of my hair, so I ended up redoing the process 2 more times to add to it. If you want more pastel colour, Joico recommends using their K-Pak Conditioner and mixing it directly with the Color Butters when applying to make the colour more pastel. I just used it in the shower as my normal conditioner, and that still seemed to keep the colour more pastel versus too vibrant. I didn't want to go bright pink, so that worked perfectly.

I actually originally tried the Titanium shade, because I thought that would look pretty cool, but for whatever reason it didn't seem to take. I did a test strand and then waited 5 minutes and washed my hair, but no colour was there after showering. I may try that again some other time, but I'm glad I ended up trying out the pink too because that one was awesome. I've had lots of compliments on it since.

One other thing to mention: the Color Butters themselves are very very conditioning! My hair smelled and felt absolutely amazing after using them. Super soft - way more than after my usual shampoo and conditioner. So definitely no damage like you'd expect from some temporary colours. Joico also says you can use these Color Butters to give your professional hair colour more vibrancy in between visits. That would certainly be handy!

The Colour Butters come in Pink, Titanium, Green, Purple, Red and Blue. What colour would you try?

Shirt - Winners | Earrings - c/o Nobis & Grey | Bracelet - c/o Nobis & Grey

Happy Styling! xo

~ Britta

Disclaimer: Joico provided the product used in this post for review. As always, opinions are entirely my own.

Vancouver Fashion Week: What to Wear

Vancouver Fashion Week is just around the corner, and Vancouver Vogue will be in attendance! We are over the moon about it, and with just over a week to go, it's time to start thinking about what to wear. If you're planning to attend too, or are just looking for some ideas for your daily outfits, here is a variety of inspirational fashion from Paris Fashion Week's street style. Think lots of bold prints, shapes, colours; this is the time of year to amp up the intensity of whatever you usually wear!



1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8I will be posting more Fashion Week inspiration up until VFW starts, so stay tuned! Will you be at the shows too? Make sure to come say hello : )Happy Styling! xo~Britta