I would love to go there yearly…even monthly. Again, life doesn’t allow for that to happen.

This spring I got to travel there again. Be still my . Sun. Warmth. Pool. Shopping. It’s all there.

Highs:

Are definitely the hikes. Pick a direction and you will find a great hike. Through the hillsides or along a river bank. I recommend 1000 Palms, a flat walk through a desert oasis. Or the Bump and Grind or Cross Hike for a good workout with wicked views of the city.

The lows…

Well can’t say there are any. I will say both times I’ve been there were in spring, April and May. May was hot…just right really. And April was windy. At times super windy…especially at night.

So we thought we’d review it just for you N&Kers. That’s how much we you!

Location Bally’s is in the middle of the strip so it’s central and within walking distance of loads of things.
Views/Upgrades
– on our visit last year, we faced Drai’s (north view, shown below in the circles). The year prior, we got a room with a view of Paris Hotel and Bellagio fountains (premium south view, featured in the slideshow below).
– Upgrades cannot be done over the phone. It’s only at check-in (dependent on availability) but free.

The room The Jubilee room is the way to go. Hallways and rooms are tasteful with neutral hues and pops of juicy red colour with wood accents.

Kells has stayed in the other tower. It was fine but they don’t have fridges.
The layout There is a guest seating area. They also have a large desk area. Plenty of options for lighting. Lots of counter and tabletop space. Kells and I have room for our own dedicated makeup staging areas plus lots of room leftover for snacking station and accoutrements.
Amenities
–in room: A/C, safe, coffee maker, TV, wifi, hair dryer (a real one, not the ugly white noisemakers that are attached to the wall), pullout look-at-my-pores mirrors, docking station and blackout curtains for the large panoramic windows.

→ fridges available for 15USD/day (or free if needed for medications)
→ loyalty program only applies to casino visits. Hotel stays do not get added to the card.

– in hotel: lounges, bars, restaurants, nightclubs, shows, hair salon, spa and… tons of casino space!

→pool/sauna: Bally’s pool is great to use until it’s shady time (after the sun passes in early afternoon). You have access to other Caesars properties. Paris pool is small. Flamingo has 2 pools: one for the kidlets and the other is for adults (party pool).
→ parking: used to be complimentary for guests but now there is a charge of about 10USD/day for self park or 18USD/day for valet (+tip)

Conclusion:

We were disappointed about the parking surcharge and that only gambling is recognized as loyalty but yes we’d come back! And yes you guys should come here!

What are your thoughts on our review?

Have you stayed at Bally’s?

(Psst. . . We cleared out some space on our blog for your Comments. )

⇓ right here ⇓

(Uhh well actually…guess we just did.)

Jazzed up in our finery, we sauntered on over to Olives Restaurant in Vegas in October.

And as is the case for eye candies, we were appropriately seated at the window. The restaurant is deceptively large. But due to the low lighting, dark rich wood flooring and furniture, it was quite cozy.

Two hotsie totsies, satiated by a lovely dinner.^

You start off with a trio of in-house tepanades, which is served with assorted leavened and unleavened breads. Kells is not an Olive-holic as is I… so I got the trio to myself. Warning though: they’re salty!

We ordered the Truffled Risotto**, Olives Chicken Parmesan & Handcrafted Gnocchetti.

When we were here the previous year with our other friends, I ordered the magnificent Risotto. (I dreamed of this until I could experience it again.  And heyyy this was my lucky night.) Oh my… perfectly al dente rice coated in lavish mushroom creamery. Amazing slight tang of parm and dotted with fine slices of funghi. Kells enjoyed it as well.

Last time, Kells ordered her go-to Butternut Squash Tortellini. I had a mere taste and it was delightful yums. Amaretto wishes and brown-butter dreams.  But this evening, she branched out.

The Chicken Parm was served bone-in. Bold choice for a restaurant. (And we like that moxy.) But bone-in makes for a tender flavourful piece of meat. It was so tasty good, accompanied by roasted garden veg and taters.

The Gnocchetti was quite a lovely surprise. We figured that it’d be good. But not this fantastic! Rich, mouthy Bolognese sauce nestled inside sneaky grooves of pasta. I thought there was a hint of cinnamon. Kells surmised tarragon. Whatever the heck it was, it was molto bene. Excellent job, Olives team!

The portions are healthy. We didn’t finish. And yes, fair enough we ordered 3 entrées to split between the 2 of us… we felt so bad to say goodbye to the tasty morsels. They didn’t deserve to be let down like that. Poor lil guys patiently waited to get into our bellies… and instead got the rude awakening of the bin.  (Not by choice, lil morsels, not by choice.)

Have you eaten here? What was your experience?

Or, have we enticed you to try it out?

The End Pieces

*we were in our twinsies floral cold shoulder get-ups from Torrid. And we were sporting our fantastic strappy black heels from Nine West.

** I’d have to say that this runs a close 2nd to the Crispy Kalbi roll (CKr) at Yellowtail.

^this is where our Blog Story began.

We contacted Olives twice for collabs but they didn’t respond. Imagine. Being too busy to respond to N&K?!  As busy as Yellowtail is, they responded when we reached out.

And then (cue the angels singing)… our Miss Kells pointed out the mesmerizing Fenty Beauty line. I’ve never seen such an array that celebrates us cocoa-coffee-toffee skin tones.

Kells and I tried on and subsequently picked up the Gloss Bomb.  And as it was her birthday as well, she picked up a few other delights like the lipstick and highlighter, and a delicious Huda Beauty eyeshadow palette.  (The highlighter was so fab AF that it requires a separate post.  So, BOLO!)  The Starlit Hyper Glitz lipstick in Supermoon did the job – nice colour, texture but nothing really differentiated it from another higher end lippie.

(The Gloss Bomb is so bomb that it stands on its own, as pictured here… heh heh.)

And oh my word Rihanna you have outdone yo-self, son! Your butt-stopping product, the Gloss Bomb Lip Luminizer is Universally fantastic. This gloss comes in a funky geometrically cut bottle. It has the scent of sweet something. The texture is not too sticky but has excellent staying power. And the colour is dreamy creamy translucent luminous. What on earth does that mean?* Seriously perfect nude gloss for a darkie like me and for a porcelain-complected pixie like our Kells over here.

So get off your poorly glossed duffs and pick up a gd bottle of this potion, ladies & gents! Oh and hey Rihanna, our one critique is that there aren’t more colours so umm… get-to-steppin.

* It means exactly what I said.
** For my birthday gift I chose the Tarte blush (paaarty pink) and mini creamy matte lippy (Birthday Suit pink for those 60s-inspired days). Kells picked up Caudalie skin care goop in Vegas. And hey if you’re wondering how the in-store birthday gift offerings compare in USA vs. Canada… They are the same.  Sigh anti-climactic but true.)

Watch out for our All That Glitzes is Glitter in an upcoming Christmas-themed post.  We’ll be trying out Fenty’s Cosmic Glitter Lipgloss & Bite Beauty’s Prismatic Pearl Creme Lip Gloss… and we may throw in some other blitzy surprises (if you’re lucky).

We love love love the cold shoulder and feel that this is a look that can suit all women*.

During our last trip to Vegas, this fall, we were sitting at the airport waiting to head south for some S&S (sun and shopping), when Nals looked at me and said: you really like the cold shoulder don’t you? I was wearing a beautiful royal blue cold shoulder top from Kenzie with basic white capris pants from the Gap when I threw Nals a smirk and showed her the cold shoulder!

As we toured around Las Vegas we noticed that we were getting the cold shoulder everywhere. Women* of all heights and shapes were rocking the cold shoulder. And we got to say; we loved it!!!! It wasn’t long after that Nals joined the ranks of cold shouldering with a lovely floral dress from Torrid paired with a sexy pair of heels from Nine West. I couldn’t help but go twinning with my friend in a floral dress also from Torrid. And no, it didn’t go unnoticed that we were dressed alike! And yes, we have the same purse!

Here’s what we love about this look:

1. It doesn’t matter your size or shape, the cold                                                                 shoulder fits perfect.
2.  It can be taken from casual to dressy with the                                                                 simplest of changes.
3. It’s sophisticated and sexy all in one.

We will say, the verdict is still out on a plain cold shoulder t-shirt. We find these a bit frumpy and unstructured. Nals and I have yet to find one we love, but girl if you got it, rock it!

Love this cold shoulder? Shop at Reitmans for this knitted cold shoulder, Silver Denim for the jeans and Steve Madden for the knee high boots!