Marrakech packing ~ makeup & skincare

I've had the morning to myself today as Hubble has taken Alfie out to a rugby tournament so I thought I'd get a head start on my pre-holiday beauty prep!  So far I've tinted my eyelashes (not the easiest thing to do yourself!), waxed my 'tache(ahem!), applied lashings of gradual tan lotion, coloured my roots & given myself a pedicure.  My hair is getting cut & blow dried on Tuesday morning so I can get up & go on Wednesday - one less thing for me to do!  I'm doing my friends' nails for them on Tuesday so I won't do my own nails until Tuesday night after I've packed the last couple of bits & bobs so I don't ruin them.

I've also sorted out & packed my makeup & skincare to take with me as I won't need these before we go - another tick off my packing list!  Seeing as we booked cases on in the end, I'm taking more than is probably necessary but a couple of bits I'll finish off whilst I'm there so they won't be coming home with me.  So here's what I'm taking -

My makeup bag from Muji is fantastic.  It's double sided with plenty of pockets & spaces to keep things neat & tidy!  They don't have this exact model anymore but they have this one which is very similar.  There's tons of room left in it so I might just put all my skincare in there too, one bag less to take!

Makeup wise, I'm going to decant into the teeny tiny posts my Boujois Bronzing BB & Revlon Photoready BB & that's my face sorted - nothing heavy & definitely no powder.  I will, however, take this dinky tube of Bourjois Healthy Mix concealer to cover up my persistant scars on my face.  To add a healthy flush in the evenings I'm taking my Bourjois Cream Blush & a tiny pot of mineral powder bronzer by Bare Minerals that I picked up in TK Maxx.   

For my eyes, I just have 2 eyeshadow pencils in charcoal & bronze by Barry M & a mini Lancôme Hypnôse Star mascara that was part of a special offer gift set (reviewed here.)

And the last of the makeup are 3 of my favourite lip colours, Bourjois Peach Club  (review here), Revlon Lip Butter in Candy Apple (review here) & No 7 BB Lips in Blush Pink.

Now moving on to the skincare.  I bought this Rosehip trial size gift set by Trilogy a couple of weeks ago so this is the base of my skincare.  It contains a cream cleanser, hydrating mist toner, facial oil & day cream.  Next, I've got a miniature of Bi-facil eye makeup remover by Lancôme, a mini micellar water by B Pure, mini Hydraluron that came in a gift set & my Botanics All Bright eye roll-on to help tired eyes.

So although there looks like quite a lot, because they're all minis they take up no room at all!

I need to take a quick trip to town in the morning to get the last couple of bits that I need & then I'll get my case packed.  3 days to go....!!!

Marrakech packing ~ toiletries

The days are finally into single figures before we leave for Marrakech & today, as I look outside my window at the snow falling, I could not be more excited to be heading for the sun & warmth!!

My many, many lists are now coming into their own as I know exactly what to pack, what to wear & what's left to buy & the case is out of the cupboard waiting to be filled!

I picked up the last of my toiletries last week so I though I'd share what I'll be taking.  Warning - there may be a few of these 'packing' posts coming up in the next few days - sorry!! ;) 

I'm not overly fond of sun creams as I always find them a bit too gunky, I prefer sprays & have used the Ambre Solaire spray for a few years now.  I picked this up in Asda at the start of the year for about £3 when they were having a clearance, it's currently £12.99 in Superdrug but there's a BOGOF deal.

I bought an SPF30 Solait face cream (£3.99) which I haven't used before but it says it's non-greasy so here's hoping it'll be fine & doesn't break me out!  As it was BOGOF, I also picked up the Solait aftersun (£4.99) with tan prolonger, which sounds like it works in the same way as a gradual tanning cream.  I'll take the whole bottle as the 4 of us can all share this.

My other toiletries are mini versions, which I don't usually buy as I have empty bottles which I decant products into but a lot of these were bought at Christmas when they were on clearance shelves!  The only product I'll decant into a pot is my Curl Cream by Trevor Sorbie but the mini bottle of Frizz Ease I picked up for 99p is ideal! 

In the end I decided to get new contact lenses rather than take prescription sunglasses so I don't have to carry my normal glasses around with me all day to use when we're inside.  I can just stick on a pair of sunnies & be done with it!  These lenses (in the black box, top right) are the new Vitrea range by Specsavers & offer a slow-release moisturiser so are very comfortable to wear & I'd imagine will be much better in the heat.  I'll just need to take 4 or 5 pairs with me rather than the whole box.

So these are my toiletries sorted, I now have to whittle down my makeup & choose my nail colours!

Marrakech clothes

So with only 3 weeks to go until our trip to Marrakech, I decided I had to go through my wardrobe & choose my final picks to take with me.

We're only there for 4 days but as you may have seen on my Instagram yesterday, the predicted forecast is (fingers crossed!!) due to be around the 20-25°c mark, in which case we'll need cooler - but still conservative - clothes for the day with something warmer for the evenings.  Everything I've chosen can be mixed & matched with each other so although there's not a great deal, I can make quite a few different outfits in total!  I'll run through the list quickly but you can get all the details from my Polyvore if you click on the picture.

For the bottoms, I've chosen a pair of relaxed skinny jeans (I'll wear these to travel in), black jersey wide leg trousers, a navy maxi skirt & a plain black maxi dress, ideal to wear with one of the lightweight kimonos thrown on top of it.

The tops I've chosen are 2 longline vests in burnt orange & navy (I may take a white one too), a navy v-neck t-shirt (for travelling in), a mustard top & my new striped boat neck top.

I bought 2 kimonos at the end of last summer to wear as lightweight jackets, ideal for covering my shoulders should be enter somewhere where bare shoulders are frowned upon.  Either can be folded up small & put in my bag.  I will also pack my denim jacket & new navy jacket I bought in Next last week (again, I'll travel in this), but it isn't online so it must be one of last season's.

Shoe-wise, I decided to forego any sort of heels & take only 2 pairs of flats.  I wanted a closed-in pair as it'll still be cold here when we leave so the Freckle Ice from Clarks are perfect.  I have 3 pairs of these now & they are honestly the best ballet pumps for me as they support my arches & are ridiculously padded!  Then I'll take my pewter sandals from M&S, which granted, look minging on the photo but look great on, honestly!!  Again, they're really padded & comfortable for walking in.

I'll only take a couple of pieces of jewellery as I'd like to buy some whilst we're there but I do need a scarf or two, & these from Alice's Wonders are lovely.  I'll take my Clarks tan saddle bag for the day & a beaded clutch for evening.

And not forgetting a swimsuit, sarong & sunglasses!  I'm just taking a plain, boring black swimsuit because I like to wear my leopard print sarong & I don't want to clash!!  I also need to get to the opticians to have new prescription lenses put in my sunglasses but I'll not be going back to Vision Express after the chronically slow service I'm experiencing at the moment with my new glasses, grrrr........

As a lot of things I'm taking I bought at the end of last year & they're no longer in the shops, I've had to choose similar pieces on my Polyvore set but you get the jist!!  I will do another post with photos of the actual clothes I'm taking....I might just do a wee packing video too, we'll see!! ;)

Totally going off track here but does anyone have difficulties with their posts when they add a Polyvore set?  It either totally changes my font & I can't adjust it or like today, my type width will only go to the width of the photo, not across the full page????  It drives me bonkers, does anyone know how to remedy this?

Anyhoo, that was a very rambly post, sorry but I'm getting a tad excited now, hee hee!!!

Is there anything I'm missing?