It doesn’t matter where we are jet setting off to on our holiday my travel essentials have pretty much stayed the same for a good few years now, maybe perhaps even a decade! Not great with change in everyday life as it is, I seem to have just allowed this quality of mine to seep into my holiday life too! Although I suppose I do change things up a bit, perhaps a different scent to a body cream or a different style beach bag (I know crazy eh?) So I thought I’d share with you a few must haves, of variation, that never fail to jump in my suitcase to adventure with me:

Body Butter & Body Creams:
I’ve taken the Bodyshop’s butters away for years. They not only smell amazing, delicious even, they are thick as thick and rich as rich. After a day in the sun, sea and sand my skin laps this moisture right up. The big pots mean you can liberally apply at my favourite part of the day.. post beach, post shower, pre sunset drinks. My favourites are Coconut and Cocoa Butter but for Bali I’ve gone with Shea Butter, and of course the shower gel to match!! And as we all know all the great things come from Body Shop products too, making it a good one for the head and heart.  Little tip keep it in the fridge (if you have one in your room) then it’s ice cold when you apply it to sun kissed warm skin!

Hair Care:

I’ve tried really hard the last few months to create good habits with my hair of late, so going on holiday wasn’t going to undo all that work.  Most of the time a flit between and Nounou products and Kerastase, but on beach holidays I go for John Frieda Beach Blonde.  This disappeared of the shelves for a while but it is back hurrah,  And, well, it does what is says on the bottle…. it detangles. The fresh minty and clean scent does a great job of eliminating all sand salt and seaweed from my tangled mane.   I do tend to overdose slightly on conditioner too but my bleached hair gets rather thirsty in the sun.

 

Little Minis:  Clinique and Liz Earle:

Not one for going crazy with makeup in the heat, I do tend to still slap on a bit of mascara (FYI a bumper mascara post coming after Bali ) and a bit of powder on in an evening, even if it just melts straight off my face into my cocktail.  So I always need to pack a little eye make up remover. Clinique Take The Day Away, is the only thing that works for me and I love these little travel size bottles which will see me perfectly through twelve evenings of melted mascara. These are also great for short haul and carry on too!  And…we all know I’m a huge fan of Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish … just keeps my face tip top and clean even under the most freshest of palm trees.

Beach Reads:

Books, books and more books! I should probably invest in a kindle, it would definitely make my luggage lighter, well for Wes anyway who usually ends up carrying it! Ok so five books 12 nights and 4 flights yes I think that’ll do it! I’ll let you know my favourite. I’m always looking for the next good read so do let me know your favourites too.

Beach Bag and Bikinis:

Well it wouldn’t be a full on beach holiday without a new beach bag and a few bikinis would it? If you saw my post on the oh so pretty Peony two piece you will know I’ve a bit of a bikini problem. Teamed with this gorgeous straw bag I picked up at the Cambridge market, perfect size for a few books, beach towel, camera and of course a ton of sun cream -I just couldn’t resist! Slightly heartbroken that my rope sandals from Nomadic State of Mind,  didn’t arrive after two delivery attempts, nice one American Postal Service, this straw basket is taking the edge off!

So there you have it, five travel essentials … Although, deep down all that is really essential is my passport, my health and a Wes … but it’s always nice to have a few extras in your suitcase to help you on your way.

So I’ll  be taking a few weeks off from the blog but I will be posting regularly on Instagram, so come follow along.

All the above:

Body Butter and Shower Gel : The Bodyshop

Shampoo and Conditioner :  John Freida 

Liz Earle

Clinique

Books : Amazon Books

Black Bikini : Asos

Paisley Bikini : Oysho 

Slides : New Look

Straw Hat : Aldo

Straw Bag:  Cambridge Sunday Market

Thank you for reading xx