Travel Essentials | Beauty, Fashion and More!

I haven't been abroad in years, the last time I went I was around 6 or 7 so that's over 10 years ago which makes me a little sad. Unfortunately i'm not going abroad this year as much as I would've hoped, I'm hoping to go next year with my friends. However, on Friday i'm lucky enough to be travelling down to South West England and in particular South Devon for the week- which is just a tad exciting as it's always nice to get out of your hometown and explore somewhere else.

As i'm not going abroad this isn't going to be an 'in-flight travel essentials' which seem to be pretty popular, but I just thought i'd share my essentials as a whole for a short break within the UK. Also, just a side note, i'm not going to mention the obvious like a toothbrush so just so you know, I will be packing that but the more obvious ones won't be mentioned.

The Basics

Money- Of course you're going to need money when you get there but you could also on route. There always seems to be somebody who cannot wait to go to the toilet and insists you stop at the services, so that of course means getting out and popping to the shop to pick up a snack for your journey! There is also a possibility of a toll bridge, I know you have to pay to get into Wales so perhaps keep that in mind also!

Tissues- These are always handy, I always carry tissue around whether that's in my bag or jacket pocket. You've spilt something? Here's a tissue. Hayfever? Here's a tissue. And of course, public toilets- better to be safe than sorry!

Painkillers- We all hope not to get sick when travelling, or at anytime for that matter. So again, better to be safe than sorry always carry some form of medicine with you- painkillers are compact and are a huge relief when you've got a headache that wont shift or worse, period pains.

Beauty

SPF- Yes, even in the UK. You should wear some form of SPF all year round whether that's in your makeup or apply it separately. As it's going to be warmer during the summer months, it's likely you'll have your arms or even your legs out and when the sun decides to make an appearance you don't want to be caught short, burn and cause damage your skin.

Mini Deodorant-  I always carry some form of deodorant/body spray/perfume around with me as you never know when you're going to break a sweat and I can't think of anything worse than smelling of B.O. (there probably are worse things but still).

Minis- I love the aisle of Boots where all the dinky sized products are, they're so cute but obviously are designed for travelling. I usually go and buy the basic essentials in mini sizes such as shampoo and conditioner, body wash, deodorant and toothpaste but to save money I also like to decant products into the small travel size refillable bottles/pots, especially my skincare and some makeup bits.

Clothing

T-Shirt Dress- I love T-Shirt dresses as they're super comfortable and casual worn with leggings and Converse or skater shoes but they can also be dressed up a little with tights and flats or if you fancy, heels.

Sunglasses- Again, yes even in the UK. Not only do they protect your eyes from the rays but are also great for putting on when you've got little or no makeup on and look half asleep, woo!

Scarf- Perfect for the evenings when it gets a little chilly, there's nothing worse than being cold and having to suffer while shivering. They also make a good blanket too, which could be ideal on a plane or just to get comfy in the car while travelling. I love a good blanket scarf!

Rain Jacket- You'll probably need this in the UK when the weather is having mood swings, raining one minute, sunny the next. This can be kept in your bag as they're so light but I know you can also get macs in a bag which are super compact so there's no excuse to moan when it rains and you don't have a jacket.

Entertainment

Tablet- I tend to download games on to here for when I don't have WiFi but when I do, I shall be catching up on my bloglovin feed and Instagram. This can also be used like a Kindle, though I don't read a lot but if you do this could be your best friend while travelling.

Chargers- There's nothing worse than forgetting the chargers for your devices. I forgot my phone charger once but thankfully I could use my brothers as it was the same as mine. Pop your wires in a little pouch so they don't get too tangled in your bag and hopefully having a cute pouch while help you not to forget them!

Earphones- Definitely need these to listen to your own music rather than music your Dad has chosen. My family have completely different music tastes so it'd be a little painful to forget them while travelling!

A magazine- Or multiple! I rarely read magazines unless it's the Boots one. FYI they're free with your advantage card or £1, if you didn't know! Long journeys in the car are a perfect excuse for me to pick up a few magazines, these can also be reading material when you're just hanging out at your accommodation or better still, at the poolside! 

And that's a run through of my travel essentials! As I said i'm going away on Friday but I've scheduled posts for next week so I shall update you on Instagram when they're live, so make sure you're following me: @xtracesofmythoughts to keep up to date.

You can also follow me on bloglovin to be notified when I post, you can click the button to the right of my blog which will take you straight to it!

What are your travel essentials?

♥   ♥   ♥

What I've Accomplished this Summer | Summer Bucket List

Hello!
As I said in my previous 'Summer Bucket List' here, that I would do an updated post on what I've accomplished this Summer so here it is!

1. To spend as much time outside and make the most of warmer weather and just being outdoors in general.   Done! I've definitely spent more time outdoors in the sun, especially when I went away with my family- most of the day we were outdoors and enjoying the weather!

2. Catch up with old school friends, of course! I really have not seen them enough through the academic year so I will definitely get my planning head on and get organising! Hopefully some day trips including London or Bristol-shopping, visiting the beach(I stress visiting, not actually going onto the beach as I hate sand!) and just spending more time together!  Another one to check off my list! I haven't spent as much time as i'd like with them over the summer, mainly due to holidays and working but we've been out together a few times and i'm sure the next time will be not too far away!

3. Continue working hard and stop procrastinating! I've heard that Pisces are hard workers but even harder procrastinators and I truly live up to that trait! I have work to do over the summer for the biggest assignment of my course, so I need to get that done and out of the way but I've kept putting it off!  I completed the work I had to do over summer. I also got my exam result back, I finished my first college year with an overall A, yay!

Here.

4. To start Pen-palling! I've wanted to do this for a while now and bringing my parents around to the idea is proving harder than I expected! 
-I've still not done this but I completely respect my parents views, in the mean time I've been enjoying making friends and generally conversing with others on social media!

Dawlish Warren- please note this is not my photo, you can find it here(credit to the photographer Gary Reggae)

5. Mentioning my parents there, I'd also like to spend more time with my family! Especially appreciating my sisters as the eldest is moving out this summer, and I don't see much of my other sister as she's either at her boyfriends house or will be working! I'm also warming to the idea of visiting England and Plymouth area in particular to spend a week or two away with family and in general investigate the area as this is somewhere I'd like to go to Uni! I've definitely spent a lot of time with my family over the summer, especially my sisters who have now both moved out! We generally catch up via whatsapp and go shopping together, my favourite!
I've also been to South England with my family, it was so nice to get away from Wales and I really enjoyed spending each day with them. I also visited Plymouth the area that I wanted to go to Uni, i'm not too keen on it but neither am I to the whole idea of uni now!

6. Talking about Uni, aye smooth transitions! I'd like to attend at least 1 Uni open day, as other colleges seem to have done so much more to do with Uni and my college have done nothing! 
-I could sort of check this off but i'm not going to as technically I haven't done that this summer. Although I have booked to go to one open day at the end of this month in Bath at Norlands College(a nanny college). I'd love to go there but realistically, it won't be affordable as it is private! I'm not too sure whether i'm going to go to uni anymore, I don't know what i'd like to do after I've finished my course.

7. I'd like to do something to my hair, it's been the same boring growing out colour for about 2 years. It's also changed to a mix of light brown, coppers and blondes! I'm not enjoying it and would like to go a lighter ashy blonde colour!
-Oops this is another thing I haven't completed, to be quite honest I totally forgot about it. I still have an unopened Ombre kit, who knows I may do that soon!

Here.

8. To always consider healthier options. Now i'm not exactly over the moon with my weight, i'd like to loose a little and just get fitter and healthier in general. Summer is fab for that as I love salads in the warmer weather!  I haven't lost weight, although I've done a lot of salad eating this summer and a lot of walking! I can't exactly check this off my list because I've had a few snacks that are considered bad. Although the only reason i'm crossing this off as I've decided to get myself into gear and start to walk to college again when it's not raining too much!

9. To change something in my life, whether this be just saying 'Yes' to more, getting a new job, or even changing my room around to start-a-fresh. 
-I've not got a new job or changed my room around, I can't believe I thought changing my room around counted as saying 'Yes', maybe it does because I can be lazy, oops! Although I've said yes to a lot more things, by experimenting with new styles, clothes and makeup and stepping out of my comfort zone when I think I cannot do something, for example I played a round of golf for the first time, and went for a rather long walk in the country side to clear my head!

10. Last but certainly not least, to re-vamp my blog! I've had a little play around to see how I can make my blog more appealing for the time being but i'd really like to change the layout and 'theme' of how it looks, considering the colours etc!
I feel like i've been a lot more experimental with my blog posts, including more lifestyle and fashion posts rather than my typical beauty related post! I've also been experimenting and made a new header for my blog, I wasn't sure on it at first but I love it now!

Let me know what you'd like to see here on my blog!

Until next time...

Amy X

The Sunday Edit #6

Hello!

I can't believe it's Sunday already this week, I'm a tad confused- it feels like the week has been so long but yet gone so quick also!? Does anybody else get that feeling? (Probably just me as it makes no sense, I know!)

I'd really like to say this week has been productive, but nope it hasn't- I'm such a procrastinator. The weather here in Wales has been so lovely so it's made me pretty tired and in the mood where you don't want to do a lot, and that's exactly what's happened. I feel like I say this every week but I haven't done anything remotely exciting. 

Here's a quick summary of my week in images, I take a lot of pointless photos oops!

Well I thought I had a photo of this, but me and my friend are trying to get fitter so we went on a bike ride around a near by lake, I loved it as it meant we could have a well-needed catch up!

Please ignore my legs.

I thought I'd spend the day in the Sun, with crackers and Lemon ice tea, yum!

Lemon Ice Tea

I admit, I stayed in at the beginning of the week to wait for deliveries(I'm pretty sure everyone sits at their door waiting for the postman(not really, I don't do that- promise!). They came on Wednesday, yay! An order from The Body Shop and my very first order from Misspap.co.uk, I'm impressed! You can see the Kimono a little below..
Deliveries

On Thursday there was a motive, a well-needed stop at Primark. Indeed a shopping day!



Made smaller so you don't have to see my feet in detail..

I expected to go earlyish(around 11) but my sister was busy moving things into her new home which she is now in*cries*, so we didn't end up going in til 2ish. We made a pit-stop at a few stores including Topshop and River Island to look for nude T-Bars, until I found these beauties in Primark! I love them! We also popped into h&m but we didn't have much time left due to only paying for 2 hours parking so I had to put a few items back, which I do intend on purchasing another time! Here's a quick nose at what I purchased, you may of seen this on Instagram. 


Purchases!


I will be doing a haul this week, I'm just waiting for a couple of items in the post!

That's pretty much it for the week because of course I'm not going to bore you with what I got up to this weekend because it was just lazy days and work! I'm off next week though, sigh of relief!

Next you'll see my July favourites so, until then!

Amy X

My thoughts: Garnier

Hello!
Recently I've noticed a brand creeping in to my skincare routine and that of course is Garnier, as you can tell from the title of this post. I didn't really have an opinion on Garnier skincare as I had never really tried any of their products but my sister had bought the Moisture Match moisturiser in Shine Be Gone and I took a fancy to it, and I've gathered more products from there.

At the time I was experiencing super oily skin and I wasn't handling it well, I washed my face as much as I could and skipped moisturising as I thought it would make my skin more oily. Wrong! I can't even begin with how much I suffered by doing this, I had increasingly oily skin from cleansing as often as I could- simply as my skin was overworking to restore the oils I was taking from it. Also from not moisturising as often as I should I had a combination of oil and dry patches, not the best look! Anyway moving swiftly on..

Garnier Moisture Match- Superdrug thought it would be great to security wrap the right one- why?!
That's why its taped and ugly.

Shine Be Gone(left, yes I cut the tube to get the very last out(you'll see this in an empties post)
Protect and Glow(right)

I purchased the Garnier Moisture Match moisturiser in Shine Be Gone as I had tested it while my sister was using it. Needless to say it gave my skin the moisture it needed which lasts for 24 hours but also eliminated the amount of shine. I love this moisturiser and actually cut the tube in half to use the reminants until I went to purchase a new one. As the weather is getting warmer and the sun is actually out, I opted for the Protect and Glow version which has SPF 20 in to protect me from the rays! The consistency is a little different but the mosituriser is oil-free so it's perfect for my skin type! I'm not loving it as much as the Shine Be Gone version but I like it, I am going to repurchase my original when i'm next in Boots.

Garnier PureActive foaming facial wash
I've actually now ran out of this, so have a picture this facial wash featured in.

Another Garnier product I've loved using is a product you may of seen on my blog previously, is the PureActive foaming facial wash. I'm not going to go into depth on this product but I love using this when I need a deep cleanse and usually to wake me up in the morning. You can see more of my thoughts on this product here.

Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water- (a trickle left in the bottom)

I just realised, this is the 4th product i'm going to talk about and the last. I suppose you could say this is not enough to say I love the brand but I do really like it and would like to try much more!
Last but not least is the Garnier(obviously) Micellar Cleansing Water, which I was so eager to try! I heard good things about the L'Oreal one although apparently it's harsh on the eyes, so I held back and Garnier brought out a very similar idea! I loved the thought of this being effectively like a makeup wipe but better for your skin, I was all up for that and I love it! After ditching the makeup wipes and using this I've noticed such an improvement in my skin, I've noticed less spots and healthier looking skin! I'm on the last dreads of the bottle and I can't wait to go and purchase another so i'm not without it! I'd definitely recommend as an alternative to makeup removing wipes!

Of course I'd recommend all these products if you feel like you're having similar problems to what I had, they're definitely worth a try as they're so affordable too(bonus!) I'm always having a look at Garnier products to see what new I can add to my 'collection'. I'd especially like to try the 5 Second Perfect Blur primer as I'm on the hunt for an affordable primer to conceal my pores that I like(or don't like more like) to call craters in my face. I'd love to know if any of you have tried it and what you thought. Also if you could recommend any Garnier products?

That's all for now, thank you for making it to the end of this post(if you did)..

Until next time,

Amy X

Protecting myself from the sun!

Hello!
So here in the UK we do not have the greatest of weather in the Summer, but throughout June there have been more than a few days where its actually been really warm and bright, I was aware that I had to protect myself from the sun but not as aware as I now am after seeing velvetgh0st's skin scan here. I was so shocked at what I saw and couldn't help me think about how bad my skin would look. I'm not one to go out and grill in the sun, I tend to pot about without sun cream as I didn't think I'd need it and usually end up with a burnt nose, not a good look.

Primark sunglasses and Garnier Moisture Match.

I knew I needed to do something about it, even if the damage done wasn't visible. So I did a little research into what I would need to keep protected even if I was just going to be staying in the UK all Summer as the sun can get pretty strong, especially between 11am and 3pm.

Garnier Moisture Match in Protect and Glow- here.

I decided what I needed to protect my face, a moisturiser with SPF in it. I think this is the place that tends to get left when protecting the rest of your body with sun cream, as you don't want that heavy layer of sun cream under your make up and most likely do not want to go out with out makeup to keep topping up your sun cream. I was unsure which moisturiser to purchase as I was really enjoying the one I was using that unfortunately didn't contain SPF, but I do know now a lot of moisturisers and even foundations contain SPF, so that's a good start!

The moisturiser I was using was the Garnier Moisture Match in Shine Be Gone, I noticed that the range had one to protect containing SPF 15 so I was sold as I loved the one I already had.
By being able to apply a moisturiser as part of my usual daily routine that had protection in it was great, as it meant I won't forget to apply sun protection and it isn't too far from what I am already doing.

Primark Sunglasses- £2

I knew I also needed to get a decent pair of sunglasses in my life, I had a pair that were a few years old that were scratched even though I didn't wear them as they were too far out of my comfort zone and they were probably not UV protecting. I heard that Primark were doing 100% UV protecting sunglasses with different grades of protection, this is perfect for me as it means they are affordable so I can try out a few pairs to see which style I like best. Here are the pair I picked pictured below, I actually really like them and have been wearing them quite often since and best of all they were only priced at £2- bargain! I'm definitely going to go back and try a few more pairs.

As I mentioned previously, I learnt the sun is at it's strongest between 11am-3pm so it's best to try and stay out of it and in the shade at this time. As I said i'm not one for grilling in the sun as I really don't enjoy it as I get bored and have experienced a little bit of sun stroke before and it made me feel so rubbish, which is not what I want during the summer. This has made me realise that if I do actually want to go out between those times I need to wear sun cream and cover up to protect my skin, also that I should opt towards sitting in the shade more often. I will definitely keep this in mind and stay true to my word when the warmer days arise again this summer!

Now i'm obviously not an expert, this is just what I have learnt myself and I thought i'd share it with you guys. I'm not telling you what you should and shouldn't do but I'm just hoping it will make others more aware and have a think, until next time..

Amy X