Good Morning!  I am currently recovering from weekend 1 of Coachella (aka Party Chella) in bed with my laptop and some coffee because I am riding the struggle bus today.  In all honesty, I’m not really sure why since overall the weekend was pretty mellow but I guess turning 35 means my ability to bounce back from a weekend of parties is not as stellar as it once was.  Oh well.

This past weekend kicked off Festival Season with weekend 1 of Coachella and about 4 dozen brand sponsored parties & activations (read all about that HERE).  The past few years I have made the first weekend my weekend of parties & events and choose to attend the festival weekend 2 which gives me flexibility to attend the events I want to attend and enjoy the festival all day without feeling rushed.  In years past there have been about a dozen or so mainstay parties that are always well attended, have great gifting, hosted bar, and are nearly impossible to get into.  This year I found more parties with a Vegas style guest list (but no hosted bar, pop up shop instead of gifting, and questionable crowds) and invites to the most popular events coveted items reserved for the blogger & celebrity elite.  Despite the shift this year I did find myself making the rounds from Thursday thru Sunday…

Thursday night kicked off the weekend with an invite only party at Melvyn’s sponsored by Playboy, Indian Motorcycles, BMF Media, and Heineken.  There was a red carpet with Playboy Bunnies for photo ops, a couple of Indian motorcycles, and plenty of people watching.  We didn’t stay too long since a long weekend was ahead but it was worth popping by to support my friends at BMF.

Friday I met up with Jillian and Zoe to visit the Juicy Couture pop up at The Saguaro.  There was a braid and beauty bar by BeGlammed, pink bandanas, samples of the new Viva La Juicy Rose fragrance, and plenty of La Croix to keep festival goers hydrated.  We all got a little braid action before heading to the Revolve pop up shop at The Arrive and an ice cream break at Ice Cream and Shoppe.

After our “lunch” of sweet corn ice cream in pretzel cone (aka The Darling Special) we made our way to the Amuse x Prism Party & pop up shop at the most beautiful mid century home in Palm Springs.  We met the sweet owner of Prism Boutique in Long Beach, grabbed some fun pins, enjoyed a few cocktails, and had our hair done at the Dry Bar cabana.

Dress

Saturday started with a trip back to the Juicy BeGlammed braid bar for a full milkmaid braid situation because it was hot AF and I was over my hair.  We then made our way to the BMF Lucky Lounge at Ingleside Inn for massages at the HomeAway tent, custom bandanas from Lucky Brand, and a few cocktails from Deep Eddy vodka.  The BMF/Ingleside party is always a favorite of mine and it never disappoints.

Saturday was a busy party day so we didn’t stay long at Lucky Lounge before making our way to Colony Palms for the annual Cabana Club party that PopSugar has hosted for the last 3 years.  Hands down, this is my favorite event each year.  PopSugar always puts on a fashionable event with great food and drinks plus plenty of gifting.  This year we noshed on ahi poke, glass noodle salad, sliders, and hummus and sipped vodka cocktails like the PS I Love You & Cabana Cooler.  Nordstrom & Ulta were this year’s big brand partners and gifted makeup, custom makeup bags, gift cards to Ulta, and screenprint canvas bag.  PopSugar also had a gifting lounge with items from the Must Have Box including phone chargers, crossbody bags, and Lisa Sugar’s book.  I am already looking forward to next year….

Dress // Sandals (similar HERE) // Sunnies

Chris & I ended the day with a few cocktails at Desert Gold at The Ace Hotel.  It was nice to just chill out after such a crazy day…

Then there was Sunday….honestly, I was pretty ready to just chill out after such a long weekend so day 2 at Lucky Lounge was all I needed.  Brooke and I met up with a few friends for more cocktails, massage, and relaxing to end the weekend.

Dress // Sunnies // Sandals (similar HERE) // Bag (similar HERE)

And now I rest…until next weekend…

XO, Niki

PS – Thanks to Brooke & Zoë for being my weekend photographers!