My Holiday Looks And Packing Tips

Penneys Floral Dress

Hello all, I hope you are having a great Summer. I am just home from a lovely family Holiday in Moncaret, France. We are lucky to have a family holiday home there, Moncaret is located in the French countryside it is so relaxing and tranquil. I am going to write up a travel post on the area as there is so much to do there. We also spent a night in Bordeaux when away, it is only an hour away by train and it was the perfect little getaway.

For this post, I am focusing on my holiday outfits and I will also be sharing my top tips for packing light. Now normally I pack very heavy and I check in cases as well as bringing carry on. For the first time this year I only brought carry on for a 16 day holiday, so if I can do it trust me so can you. We travelled as a family of four, two adults and two children aged 2 and 4 years. Between us, we had 40kgs as carry on which is a lot of space and we took four carry on cases.

This used to be me

It was my Auntie who prompted us to try to carry on. Last year she was over with us and she was asking, "why are you paying so much for checking in bags and then paying more for being overweight" she is also an expert holiday packer. It was working out at €170 for our bags which we would prefer to have in our pocket. So this year we went for it and it worked out really well.

My tips for packing carry on:

• Roll everything really tight it creates more space and clothes do not crease.
• Put your knickers into your bra cups and fold over
• Lay out trousers and dresses at the end of the case and roll them up together, I rolled up 3 dresses together. 
• Put some of your items into the children's cases as their clothes are smaller and lighter. 
• Only pack 3 pairs of sandals, 2 pairs of flip flops and maximum 2 pairs of dressy shoes. Keep the colours neutral so they go with your holiday looks. (You do not need to bring loads of shoes, I cannot believe I am writing that)
• If you are travelling with Aer Lingus they will take carry on from you at check in, which was great for us as it made it easier with the kids. 
• Bring two clutches and two handbags. One of the handbags can be used as your airport bag
• Packing summer hats, put clothes in them to stop the hat from going flat and you can fit more in. 

Like this style of hat pop some clothes into the top of it.

When bringing toiletries and makeup again don't over pack, bring the essentials and remember stick to 100mls if carrying in your handbag. Dispensers like the ones below are very handy for travel. 100mls is also bigger than you think, it is a generous size.

So handy for travel can get them in Penneys and Dealz .

For makeup I brought:

• Foundation 
• Highlight palette 
• Urban Decay Eyeshadow pallet  
• Primer
• Lipgloss and Lipstik 
• Blusher 
• Bronzer
• Makeup brushes 

An idea of the makeup that I brought with me 

Skincare:

• Serum for night time 
• Dermalogica travel set containing cleanser, wash and primer 
• He-Shi travel size tan 

Remember that you can get shampoo, conditioner, body wash and sun cream when abroad. It can also work out cheaper than at home, in France it definitely does and the local body creams are nicer too.

I also bought some items home and we were not overweight. I brought champagne flutes, makeup, handbags and some clothes. So you can still bring items home when using carry on.

Dress from F&F and sunglasses are Penneys 

Now onto some of my looks from holiday, most of the looks featured in the post are from Penneys. It is almost a lookbook for Penneys, I picked up some pieces as I saw them and some I already had e.g. cami/vest tops and summer dresses these I had worn at home.

For everyday wear, I wore playsuits, summer dresses and a bikini. With our holiday it is slightly different as we are not staying in a hotel, it is a more relaxed and homely holiday so my wardrobe reflects that. But we did go out so I had my evening wardrobe for that and some of it could be worn during the day too.

Penneys dress on our visit to Bordeaux 

You really don't have to spend a fortune on your holiday wardrobe and especially if you have young children like us and you are buying for them too. You can do it on a budget and by being savvy with your outfits, you can plan out your outfits ahead of travel, mix and match your outfits e.g shorts, light trousers and skirts with different tops. By doing this you are creating three to four different outfits.

Another Penneys dress in Bordeaux

The Floral dress we all loved 

Playsuits are so handy to have. Always pack a few they are so light 

Another  Penneys playsuit, dressy for going out 

Cycling along the Dordogne 

Cold shoulder dress one my favourite looks 

Packing light trousers like these roll 3 pairs together 

My carry on wardrobe got me through sixteen days and yes I wore the same outfit twice, now imagine doing that. Gone are the days where every night needs a new outfit, ain't got time for that anymore.

  

I hope this helped you and if you have any questions please ask.You can also get me on on my social media platforms linked below. 

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Happy Holiday Packing 

Mary 

xx