How Me & My Bestie (Barely) Survived NYFW17

Ahh, another February New York Fashion Week season has come and gone. To most, NYFW seems like a seven day well dressed party filled with glitz and glam, celebrities and designers, beautiful bloggers and fashionistas snapping away. It can also be a nightmarish blurred week of not sleeping, sprinting back and forth all over the concrete jungle, making sure your iPhone has a full charge, staying warm in 20 degree weather featuring sleet, hail and snow, finding time to eat, & yet efficiently networking at parties, shows and events. Although, I must say Milti & myself have been having quite a fun time running around attending the events at NYFW.

For those of you whom don’t know Milti, he is my extremely outspoken, always on his phone, never not working, fabulous BFF who you have no choice but to love because he will make sure you can never get into your favorite restaurant again if you don’t. Milti is from my hometown in upstate NY and decided to move to Miami 3 years ago to be even more fabulous, which has obviously done him well, considering his success in Real Estate and Hospitality increased enormously. Not to mention, Milti has dropped 40 pounds since being in Miami, but hey, that’s what being surrounded by hot super models and actors all day will do to you. Motivate. Bravo my friend.

Years ago, Milti was the manager of the venue that my mom was getting re-married at. My Mom instantly thought Milti would be the perfect candidate to date her daughter. Match made in Heaven, right? Thanks Mom! Besides the fact that we both love men, we are hard workers, successful, masters at manifestation, and want to be glamorous at all times. It was the perfect mixture for a newly formed power duet.

Of course we have plenty of differences as any relationship does, but as all professionals do, we put on our makeup, suite up, and network ourselves like you’ve never seen. We have plenty of “I wish there was a camera here for that” moments, but we haven’t been “discovered” yet. Well, we did get asked to be on a new tv show for E! but politely declined after being casted. If the storyline isn’t primarly about us, we’re not for it.

Because our lives can be extremely hectic 95% of the time (5% you can find us relaxing at the spa), we didn’t really have “set” plans for NYFW this year. Milti flew in to NY, I rushed into the city after a long day of doing makeup onset, and we agreed (last minute of course) to meet at The Standard hotel.

We walked in and booked the very last room available. We both only had 1 small bag packed which only consisted of 2 casual yet trendy, black outfits and a gym outfit.

Key components to NYFW:

Comfortable shoes. You must be prepared for the amount of walking and running around you’ll do. At one point, we only had mere minutes to get from the east side to the west side, so a comfortable pair of trusted shoes is a must. There’s no fun having painful feet, limping around in your uncomfortable heels, trying not to slip in the dirty slush and complaining. Bye boo.

Oribe Dry Texturizing Spray. Listen, I don’t have time to get my hair blown out every day. We have work to do, people to see, and workouts to smash. This product will not only leave your hair smelling amazing, but it absorbs oils at the root without powdery residue. It gives your hair the perfect lift and incredible volume.

CeraVe Hydrating Moisturizer. The perfect affordable facial moisturizer with blends of emollients that is going to hydrate my skin, after running around in the dry, cold, city air. I can’t forget to mention, this fragrance-free moisturizer contains niacinamide, which offers many benefits to the skin. (I’ll do a post on this soon.)

Portable Phone Charger. The amount we are snapping, instagramming & texting, we can’t worry about having a dead phone battery during fashion week.

Protein Bars. Sometimes there isn’t enough time to stop for lunch. Pack some protein bars/granola bars. No Hangry people allowed here.

Emergen-C & Vitamins. Running around in the freezing weather, calls for some Emergen-C. It seems like every one is sick these days, with a nasty cold. We are too busy to get sick. Load up on the Emergen-c and Vitamins! Staying hydrated with liquids helped us get through our days. Water, kombucha, tea, vodka, whatever.

Muah By Alexandria Lipstick. See Thru is the perfect shade of creamy pink. Truly, it is. I completed every look by wearing this shade every day/night. (To purchase head over to the Shop section of my blog)

Lucky for me, Milti happens to be great friends with the head of Tao Downtown. Reservations? What reservations? I told you Milti has every hook up with every restaurant on the East Coast. If your looking to dine at a trendy, fun place with Asian cuisine, I recommend Tao. The chef brought us out plate after plate. The food is a performance in itself.

After dining with our foreign friends, we head over to Boom Boom Room, the most exclusive, laid back, club in New York City. Convenient, considering we were staying at The Standard. Of course the line was wrapped around the building when gorgeous girl runs out from the building calling our names to skip the line and come in. That actually happened. To the girl, Thank you for walking us in, your a doll. The upscale club’s main feature is the view overlooking Jersey and all of NYC. Don’t be surprised when you run into celebrities, designers and professionals especially during NYFW. Networking at its finest. Hi, Donna Karen!

I’m not going to lie, I was up doing makeup since 5am, so as soon as the clock hit 12, it was time for me to depart our crew and get some beauty sleep. Everyone else stayed out and partied, but the girl needs rest. Let me live.

Good morning! One of the best parts of any trip has to be room service. Who doesn’t love breakfast in bed? Avocado toast please. (So basic, I know) Time to eat, get up and go.

No trip to NYC is complete without a little shopping. I stopped into Le Labo after I recently discovered this fragrance, as a good friend walked passed me and smelled like a mix of Heaven and The Edition Hotel. Santal 33 smells how I feel like I should have always been smelling. Not to mention, each order is custom & your name is printed directly in the package and on the bottle. Once you’ve selected your scent, they freshly hand-blend your perfume right in front of you. This clean yet spicy, woody scent has me utterly enchanted.

So, what do you do after you shop? Obviously, work out with super model friends and some of the world’s most famous beauty bloggers of course! Me and Milti have to stay looking good. It’s part of our job.

I do want to say thank you to our friend Adriana for including us in her workout hosted by Maybelline at Dogpound in NYC. Kirk (the owner) and the trainers at Dogpound gave us a great workout which included burpees, push-ups, lunges, & all the above. Think of Dogpound as the unofficial gym of the Victoria Secret Angels. Talk about motivation.

After doing a quick “Milti & Alex” photoshoot back at The Standard, we jumped in bed and set our alarms, allowing ourselves to have a quick 25 minute nap. Naps are important.

Time to get up, and head out to the next party. We enjoyed a night of cocktails and hors d’oeuvres at the Maybelline NYFW Welcome Party, held at the PHD Terrace at the Dream Hotel. The venue has spectacular views of the city and the night sky was featuring a beautiful full moon!

Love beauty goody bags.

After taking a stroll through Times Square, we head back to The Standard, back to bed, setting our alarms allowing us for a nice 2 hour nap. 3am arrives quickly. Off to the airport we go.. & head off to our next adventure. See you soon people!