10 Essentials For A Tropical Holiday

If you missed my frequent mentioning of it (or the snapshots I posted), I went on a holiday to Bali earlier in the month. I went for a week with my boyfriend and my family, and it was an amazing little getaway. I know people have mixed feelings about traveling to Bali, but it was the second time I’ve been and I would definitely considering going back there in the future. Here are my top 10 items to take along –

01) A signature holiday scent. Every time I go on holiday (regardless of where I’m going), I pick a specific fragrance to take and wear for the duration of the trip. That way when I’m back home I get flooded with nice holiday memories whenever I wear that perfume. For this trip to Bali, my perfume of choice was Byredo’s Gypsy Water.

02) A bright lipstick. I try to stay makeup-free for the most part (the heat melts off anything I put on my face anyway), but if we head out somewhere nice for dinner or drinks at night I like to add a bright pop of colour to my lips. NARS Carthage is my favourite BRIGHT pink lipstick, and it has the added benefit of being a dry matte formula that doesn’t smudge/melt off of the lips.

03) Sunscreen! I can’t stress this enough. If you’ve ever traveled with me you’ve probably heard me reminding you to reapply your sunscreen at least five times a day. I have extremely fair skin that can burn within the space of 10 minutes, so I wear a LOT of sunscreen when I know I’ll be spending time outdoors. My favourite facial sunscreen is the La Roche-Posay Anthelios XL Fluid Extreme SPF 50 , and my favourite body sunscreen is the Cancer Council Sports Sunscreen (which is also 50 ).

04) Pantene 3 Minute Miracle. My hair gets really dry when I’m swimming every day and spending a lot of time in the sun, so I always pack one of the Pantene 3 Minute Miracle tubes to deep condition the ends of my hair daily.

05) Fluroscent nails. I only ever really wear super-bright nail shades when I’m on holiday, or in the dead of summer. My two favourite “tropical holiday” nail polish shades are Essie ‘Pink Parka’ and China Glaze ‘Flip Flop Fantasy’.

06 A crossbody hand bag. I carry this style of handbag with me where I travel, regardless of where I’m going. Being able to go handbag hands-free is so handy, especially when hauling luggage through the airport. I took my Marc by Marc Jacobs Downtown Lola bag with me this time around, and although it was a little too small for travel days, it was perfect for day-to-day wear, and when we headed out at night.

07) Black maxi dress. I nearly always travel wearing a maxi dress because I find them so comfortable to wear on the plane. My all-time favourite maxi is a grecian style one from GAP, but this time around I gave my new ASOS baby a spin.

08) A bathing suit. Although I prefer the styling of one-piece bathing suits, they are NOT practical at all when you’re spending a day at the pool. Because of that, I lean towards two piece ‘tankini’ style bathing suits like this one from J Crew.

09) A holiday-specific playlist. Similarly to the perfume, I put together a holiday playlist to listen to before and during the trip. I love doing this, because music always stirs up a lot of memories for me. My number one song for this trip was ‘Magic’ by Coldplay, which is getting a lot of airtime at the moment, and it makes me happy every time I hear it.

10) Something to read. I tend to opt for light, easier sort of reads on holiday because I find them easier to pick up and put down in between dips in the pool but my all time favourite tropical holiday read is The Beach by Alex Garland.

Filed under: holiday, travel tips