Top 5 Holiday Must Haves!

Summer Time Bliss:
Top 5 Holiday Must Haves!

Ciao ragazzi! I'm on holiday in Sorrento, Italia for two weeks (June 15th - 29th), so there will be a few gaps in my weekly posts: I hope you won't mind too much and give a gal a break ;)

I'm currently sneaking away from the sun for a little while to bring this post to you, seeing as I'm currently, um, burnt toast, I guess you could say. So yeah, it gives me a great opportunity to write a little post for your enjoyment!

Seeing as I'm currently on my holibags, I thought I would write something along the lines of vacations and summer time. When it comes to going on vacation, choosing the place is usually (for the most part) the easy part of the whole process. The hard part is when you have to pack your suitcase and decide which items are going to become your essentials. After all, you normally only have around 15 - 20kg as your limit, so you don't want to end up taking every pair of shoes that you own, resulting in your suitcase weighing over the limit. Hello, it's £10+ per kilo extra - you don't want to have to pay that at the beginning of your holiday, now do you? Actually, that reminds me: one guy checking in at Glasgow was 7kg over the limit and had to (shamefully) take out all of his less than sexy underwear from one case, and put it into his carry on bag. Needless to say, his face was bright red - not a good look.

Anyway, back to my point. In this post, I'm going to tell you my 5 main essentials that are vital to any good trip abroad. These items will contain everything from clothes, shoes, books and beauty products: so it's something that will appeal to everyone when they travel - that's my aim anyway!

First up, we have the summer reads. Now, I'm a bookworm - anyone who knows me will tell you this. Back in April, I was searching Amazon for my summer reads (I like to be prepared) and I came across Lauren Conrad's L.A Candy series on my recommendations list. Normally I don't read books by celebrities - or folk from TV who became a 'star' overnight - however, the book sounded pretty good being based on the hit TV show The Hills: one show which I really like. I bought all three, however I only took the first two books from the trilogy on holiday with me. That was a bad idea, seeing as I've only been here two days and I've already finished both! The third book I've brought with me is on my kindle and is Fifty Shades of Grey. Everybody on Twitter, Facebook and the likes have been raving about this book for a while now, so I had a little look for it whilst I was waiting for my flight on Thursday evening. It was £7.99 in WHSmith, so I checked it on my Kindle and got it for £2.69! Bargain! I'm yet to start the book though, so I'll maybe tweet about it in a few days when I've finished it. There's actually two other books in that series, so if it's good I'll have to purchase them.

Second on the list is shoes. Now, if you're anything like me, you'll want to take every pair of shoes in your closet because, well, let's face it: you think you're going to wear every single pair. My fiance watched my pack my suitcase and said "Really Maria? You need ALL of those pairs of shoes?" My answer was yes, yes I did need them all, but on second thoughts I knew he was right. For one, I only needed one, maybe two pairs of sandals for the pool and maybe three other options for nightwear seeing as my days would consist of lounging by the pool or beach. If I really wanted to cut it down, I could get away with only taking five pairs of shoes so that my case wouldn't be over my weight limit of 15kg - damn you Thomas Cook! In the end I opted for my colour block heels from Zara, tan wedge sandals from New Look, white & tan (two separate colours) flat T-bar sandals, purple T-bar ballet flats and another pair of grey lace ballet flats. These shoes were decided after looking at my own selection of clothes that I was taking on holiday, however tan and white sandals are always a good option when choosing colours because they'll pretty much match anything you've got with you. The colour block heels from Zara were just my main pair of nightwear shoes, as they're bright, show off a nice tan, go with a lot of my evening outfits and very much in this Summer with a lot of fashion and beauty bloggers alike. You can also get them in a variety of colours, so why not grab a pair for yourself? They're only £29.99, it's practically a steal!

Third on the list is lipstick. I've practically became addicted to lippy these days. Ever since I (I, being my fiance) bought the YSL Rouge Volupte in Provocative Pink, I can't stop buying new shades and wearing it all the time. The two I brought on holiday with me were the before mentioned YSL Provocative Pink #10 and the Kate Moss range of lipstick by Rimmel London in Rosette/Rouge #16. The Kate Moss lippy is practically my every day shade, as it can be a sheer pink, or layered up and made a brighter coral/pink colour. Both feel great on and don't irritate my lips - which is something that put me off wearing lipstick before now. So yeah, thumbs up for those! A good lipstick will bring out your summer glow, without drying out your lips at the same time. Tip: I put lip balm on before I apply my lipstick, as it gives your lips a little extra hydration and smoothes out the surface, making the colour look ever better.

Fourth and we're onto clothes: evening wear to be precise. On my kind of holiday, bikini's are all that's needed for during the day, as 90% of the time I'm going to be in/by the pool. The rest of the time is spent later in the evening at dinner or out in Sorrento for drinks at a little bar in Piazza Tasso (the main square). It's a little cooler at night in Italia, so you want something that will keep you cool, but a little warmer towards 10pm. When I say warmer, I mean when it lowers to about 65 - 70 degrees. When shopping in Zara before I left, I came across a wide leg jumpsuit on one of the shop mannequins. It didn't really look all that special at first, but I decided to try it on anyway. Well, I'm not saying I have the best figure in the world, but it definitely looked better on me than on the hanger. Especially once I had styled it with a skinny waist belt and statement necklace. It's wide leg, with a low V neckline and cap sleeves, which are all great for warm evening weather. It's made from thin material too, so it's cool enough for during the day, as well as at night. It's currently still available in stores and online HERE, priced at £59.99. Being a student, this was more of an investment buy, but I can definitely see myself wearing it back home in Scotland as well. I wore it out in Sorrento last night and it was heaven. It even caught the attention of some of the store assistants here as well!

Last, but not least: BB Cream. There's nothing worse than doing your makeup all nice for dinner etc, and as soon as you step outside into the heat, your face melts. Not literally your face, of course, but your makeup. Nobody wants to spend hours making themselves look hott, for it to be wiped off within 30 seconds of leaving the hotel. This was the issue that had me thinking before I left for Italy. I've heard some beauty bloggers talking about BB creams, and after I tried some last year when they first starting hitting the shelves, I wasn't sure they were for me. Then one day I came across Maybelline's BB 8 in 1 Skin Perfector in Boots, so I thought I would give it a go seeing as they actually had a 'light' shade that matched my skin tone. Well, I'll be damned. It's fantastic! Albeit, a little shiny after application, but that's nothing some powder can't fix. It feels light and glowy on the skin, and doesn't come off if you sweat or accidentally rub your face. It even has an SPF 30 UV protection in it, so that's taking care of your sun lotion as well. Two birds with one stone as they say! Tip: Apply it with a foundation brush. I used it with my fingers at first, like I would with my moisturiser, and didn't get as great a coverage that way.

My list of Summer essentials could go on longer than 5, but I won't make the post any longer than it already is. If you want my summer essentials list part II, then just comment below and I'll see what I can do!

Are any of you away somewhere nice this year? If you are, what would you consider your holiday essentials to be? I'd love to read about them!