Spanish Sun| Holiday outfits

*Outfit 1- Dress- New Look, Blazer- Pull and Bear, Sandals- Stylist Pick*

*Outfit 2- Dress- River Island, Belt- Primark, Sandals- Stylist Pick, Bag- Ebay*

*Outfit 3- Dress- Dorothy Perkins, Sandals- Stylist Pick, Bag- Ebay*

*Outfit 4- Shorts- Primark, T-shirt- H&M, Sandals- Stylist Pick, Bag- Ebay*

As you may of read I was lucky enough recently to have been on a little holiday with my boyfriend and his parents, to their apartment in Eastern Spain. While we spent a good deal of time relaxing by the pool, sunbathing on the sun terrace, and having lazy boozy lunches, we still crammed in some culture and visited Valencia for a couple of days. I have not previously been before but have been eager to go as heard the old town was beautiful; which it was. However there is a great mix of old and new architecture around the city, so it was very picturesque and interesting. For those not into architecture and history, there was plenty of shopping and bars to keep yourself busy with.

The biggest challenge with this holiday was that I was only allowed to take hand luggage with me, as we did not pay for hold luggage, so cramming two weeks of clothes into the tinniest suitcase was a big ask. As you can see from the pictures above it did severely restrict my collection of shoes and bags, so much so I only took one handbag, and 3 pairs of shoes. The rest of my luggage consisted of 6 dresses, 1 playsuit, 2 t-shirts, 1 pair of shorts, and 3 bikinis, not forgetting my workout gear… yes I was good and still went running while on holiday! When I was on holiday I felt quite restricted to my outfit choices, however I have previously travelled Europe for a month with only a small backpack, so I should be used to it by now.

Outfits 1 to 3 are from when I was off out for dinner and drinks, so they are some of my dressed up looks while on holiday. Outfit 4 was my tourist outfit for wandering around the streets of Valencia… not much style just something cool and comfortable. I very rarely get dressed up on holiday and never really wear heels, I much prefer to keep it more casual, and with so many pretty sandals and wedges around I don’t feel the need to take my party heels with me. During the day as I mentioned I choose comfort over style... is that a crime for us bloggers? Especially if I am going to be wandering around a city for hours on end in 40c heat I would much prefer to be comfortable than sweating it out in a pretty ensemble.

So my question for you is, do you keep it stylish on holiday? Or do your take a break and keep it comfortable?

Fashion over Food| Haul

I’ve actually had this post lined up for a while, as these are the clothes which I purchased for my holiday, so I bought them about three weeks ago. I literally got paid and then went straight into Newcastle city centre and spend half of my wage in about two hours…whoops! It felt amazing at the time… huge feeling of retail theropy, but within the next few days after bills started to come in I did regret it a little bit. But like I said to my boyfriend, I can’t go on holiday naked…I needed new clothes!

As I went on holiday to Finland and Lapland, I found shopping for holiday clothes more difficult than usual, and a little bit more boring, as some of the clothes were for activities such a hiking and rafting, not pretty bikinis for posing by the pool.. my normal holiday attire.

The three tank tops, hoodie and shorts that I bought were worn for hiking, so they were more practical buys than fashionable, but I still wanted to look a little bit cute. The bras were completely necessary! I swear these Wonderbras are the best bra you will ever buy. They are strapless but completely supportive, comfortable and give an amazing cleavage.

The more interesting buys were the denim dress, which is from H&M, it cost me about £20, so was cheap and can be worn with anything, dressed up and down. The pink dress was from River Island and was £25, it is quite low cut so I kept it for nights out in Helsinki, as its a bit more dressy, but you could dress it down with a cardigan and flats. The striped dress was from H&M again and is great for just throwing on with a cardigan, very comfortable and easy to style. Finally the white shirt was from Primark and was about £10, I actually wore it as a cardigan over the top of casual dresses, which made the outfit look more dressed up.

Overall I am impressed with the Spring and Summer collections in store at the moment. I was especially surprised at Primark, as normally I walk out of there empty handed.

Which stores are you loving at the moment? Have you bought you holiday clothes yet?