After a quick change of lippie, we headed off to The Orleans for our first night out at Viva. Excited, we took in the atmosphere and looked at all the gorgeous people milling around the casino. Looking to do a bit of shopping, we headed up to the vendor rooms. It quickly got crowded as people waited for the rooms to open. It wasn’t too bad as we got chatting to a couple from near Sunderland – they’d been going to Viva for a while and shared some of their pearls of wisdom with us. Finally, we got into the vendor rooms and I managed to pick up a few things (I’ll be doing a separate post about my Viva buys later on). The crowds got too much after half an hour so we escaped downstairs.

At the Mardi Gras bar, I met up with Alixis of Ains & Elke Stylehaus and her friend Olivia for the Pin-ups Of Colour meet-up. To say I was overjoyed is an understatement. It was so so good to meet up with ladies from all over the place to share our stories and get to know one another in person – definitely one of my Viva highlights!

Once we had parted ways, our trio queued up for Burlesque Bingo. While we were in line for just over half an hour, I got talking to a guy called Daniel from California. Like many others, this was not his first Viva. We had a long conversation about teaching as he was getting ready to train as an SEN teacher – I swear I always meet fellow educators on holiday! Not really sure what to expect, we took our seats with bingo cards and pens in hand. Let’s just say it was titillating, tongue ‘n’ cheek and an interesting introduction to burlesque for those who haven’t seen it before.

Next up – Friday’s fashion show and bowling.