I don’t think I’d be jumping the gun by saying it’s very nearly party season. I first voiced this suggestion just before Hallowe’en and was brutally rebuffed. Apparently it is Not OK to think about Christmas before November. Got it.
Now, though, it is surely smooth sailing ’til December 25th. So my party season blogs can finally begin. Yay.
This year, fancy dress seems to have had a bit of a resurgence. I’m a huge fancy dress fan, so this is great news for me. But let’s be clear: I do not mean anything with ‘sexy’ in the title. Sexy Cat is not fancy dress. Neither is Sexy Elf, Sexy Bunny, or anything else of that ilk. Remember Amanda Siegfried in Mean Girls: “I’m a mouse, duh”? Exactly. Don’t be that girl.
My first fancy dress of the season was for bottomless brunch at STK with my friends Mimi and Nicola. I went as Harley Quinn. Harley’s look is a tricky one – it’s really more face painting than make-up – so I booked an hour with Secret Spa.
We started with a white base. My friend who was watching this all happen later told me watching me turn totally white was terrifying. Good. That was sort of the point. Then there’s the red and blue eye make-up, then bright red lips. We ummed and ahhed for a while about whether a deliberate smudge was a step too far. It wasn’t. We did the smudge.
Since Tanele from Secret Spa is amazing, she also slightly contoured me. Because no-one wants an ugly Harley.
The hair was one I’d made earlier. For some reason still unknown to me I had a platinum blonde wig lying around the place, so I dyed the ends using Pimps And Pinups High Voltage in red and blue. It’s literally paint for your hair so is amazingly pigmented, but also amazingly messy. RIP, towel. Tangle split my actual hair in two and braided it tight to my head. This was pinned at the base of my neck, and the wig jammed on top. If you have thinner hair than my crazy monstrosity you may not need to braid.
I’ll admit my clothes were a fairly poor effort, but with hair & make-up that strong I think I got away with it. We arrived for brunch and I saw at least five other Harley’s. Naturally I think mine was the best.
Olivia x
P.s. Brunch at STK was Next Level great. Promise me you’ll try the truffled eggs.
