There’s nothing like a fun evening out with the friends of FQ to break up the week. Which is exactly why we hosted this season’s sleepover in Auckland’s centrally-located and oh-so sophisticated SO/Hotel to celebrate the launch of our winter issue. This issue is all about wanderlust with beautiful destinations forming the backdrops and inspiration for our fashion shoots, style edits, beauty news and more. So, it only made sense that we held our event at the glamorous SO/Hotel which is always abuzz with stylish international comings and goings.
Similar to past FQ Sleepovers, a small but selective cohort of inspiring women were hosted by editor-in-chief Sarah Murray. Follow us along for everything that happened below…
3:00pm – 4:00pm
The sky may have been grey when our friends began to arrive mid-afternoon but the city was alight with colours, movement, and energy. Inside SO/Hotel, our guests unpacked, unwound, and settled into their lush rooms which overlooked the waterfront to fan over the pages of our unreleased winter issue and opened gifts to celebrate from our partners.
We ticked all the boxes for a winter pick-me-up with gifts for the mind, body, and soul including both over-ear and in-ear Sennheiser headphones, Murad skincare, the new Shark FlexStyle hair tool, Pandora jewellery, and sleepwear from Bendon.
4:00pm – 5:00pm
Next it was time for a drink in SO/Hotel’s VIP Club Signature lounge where we all caught up over delicious cocktails and canapés. The room pulsed with chitter-chatter and celebrations and before we knew it, it was time to head back to our suites to get ready for our pre-dinner interactive whisky cocktail creation session.
5:00pm – 6:15pm
Timing was tight but everyone – including our editor-in-chief Sarah Murray – managed to whip their hair into shape trying out their new multi-stylers from Shark before changing into their outfits for the evening and accessorising with handpicked pieces from Pandora.
6:15pm – 7:30pm
We all met on the top floor at HI-SO Rooftop Bar overlooking the city lights. There were bar learners lined with ice-filled buckets, fragrant mint plants, beautiful stemware, copper cocktail shakers, and customised bottles of Glenfiddich whisky. Once we were done admiring one another’s outfits, it was time to get hands-on in a whisky cocktail creation session led by Drew from Glendfiddich. Somewhere between sugar syrup and a stunning sip of Glenfiddich Grand Cru, we learned about the history of whisky and mastered three different concoctions (which we will definitely be making again soon).
7:30pm – 10:00pm
A degustation was waiting for us one floor below in the private dining area of SO/Hotel’s Harbour Society restaurant which included a plethora of starters and mains from Director of Culinary, Chef Roy Giam. Among the selection were oysters, Mt Cook Ikura salmon caviar blinis, wild flamingo mushrooms, Bluff octopus, and line-caught market fish matched to wine selected from Wairau and sparkling water by San Pellegrino. We spent the evening chatting, sipping, and indulging until the finishing dish was served.
10:00pm
Baths and Bendon sleepwear beckoned as we said our goodnights and descended to our respective rooms. We cleansed away our make-up with Murad’s personalised beauty sleep regimen and tucked ourselves in for a much-needed slumber.
7:30am – 8:30am
The next morning, some of us made our way back to the Harbour Society restaurant for breakfast to farewell the FQ Winter Sleepover, while those who were more organised and dashed out and got a workout in using their new Sennheiser headphones, swung past the Javalab Cafe on the ground floor for a coffee and pastry on their way out.
Then, it was inevitably time to check out and return to our normal routines.
