Makeoverslife: Packing your suitcase for a weeklong road trip...

It's Spring Break season.
This means vacation plans for most families.

Packing for a road trip is a little easier
than when we must take a plane.

First, divide and conquer...

Clothes by:
outfits
shoes
jewelry
toiletries
scarves
belts
purses,
and bathing suits.

Decide your needs...
beach, city, country, mountains, cold, hot, warm, etc.

Check the 10 day weather report for where you are going.

If you are expecting warm weather, bring a couple of sweaters and long pants for cool evenings.

The normal amount of outfits per day is two.

Keep in mind pieces that serve double duty.

For example, a sundress serves the beach well
and a casual dinner out.

Also, if you've bought new clothes for the trip,
try on the outfits before

packing to ensure you really like them and they fit well.

Dresses that don't wrinkle
can go directly in the suitcase.

Skirts are easy to throw on in warm weather and they work great with ballet flats, sandals,

flip flops, or high heeled shoes for evenings out.

Tees and tank tops work great layered when the weather is cooler than you expected.

Choose tees with v-necks and scoop necks to open the neckline and make shorts and jeans look feminine.

Tank tops in jeweled tones like lavender, purple, burgundy, red, soft pink, turquoise,and basics like black, white, beige and chocolate anchor a skirt patterned with floral and geometric prints.

Bring two to three bathing suits

for a beach and sun vacation.

Shoes: bring comfortable shoes like a cozy pair of

Uggs for the road.
They don't have any laces for easy slip on slip off.

Bring 4 pairs of tried and true shoes that work with all the

outfits-one pair of each:
black, brown, beige, and one 'pop' color.

If you are in the city, plan for miles and miles of walking and appropriate shoes. If not, risk having a really hard time in 'fancy' shoes.

Accessories allow outfits to be worn more than once.
Scarves dress up a

monochromatic outfit while exploring in the big city and are effortlessly chic making us feel like the 'natives'.

A belt over a longer shirt, leggings, and ballet flats adds instant urban flair.

A sun hat becomes a 'have to' the second and third day after a little too much sun at the beach.

Jewelry

Jewelry is best basic- a long strand of pearls,
pearl bracelet to match,
a chunky turquoise necklace is just dreamy with a
white sundress and neutral sandals.

A thick silver chain with two pendants to interchange,
a couple of rings in fun colors like
aquamarine or tanzanite (purple)-real or faux.

And a pair of small hoop earrings with Cubic Zirconia's and a thin silver chain with a pendant are not clunky
for long hours in the car.

2-3 pairs of sunglasses: one of each-brown, black, white

Bag the jewelry and place it in a purse to store in the luggage.

Bring 3 purses: a small black one for evenings,
a medium brown or logo one for daytime
and a decent sized beach bag

The purses also do double duty as storage in the suitcase.

Use the beach bag to carry all the toiletries that don't go in the suitcase for easy overnight visits in hotel pit stops like the Fairfield Inn or a Holiday Inn Express.

They are both great places to stay:
Clean, safe and a free breakfast...

www.marriott.com/fairfield-inn/travel.mi click here

http://www.hiexpress.com/hotels/us/en/reservation?sitrackingid=220333846&siclientid=1962 click here

Toiletries

Hair stuff: Bag shampoo and conditioner in the same gallon size zipped bag.

Choose 2-3 hair clips that work well with part of the hair pulled up and can hold all the hair up in a bun as well.

Hair bands in neutral colors and bobby pins for 'beach hair' and more sophisticated updos for evenings out on the town.

Keep hairstyles for the trip simple.
Flat ironed hair is easy to maintain.

Curling irons and rollers are best left at home.

Manicures and pedicures serve us well on our trip when we do them the day before we leave home.

To learn how to do a great long lasting manicure,
check out Makeoverslife's channel on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64JAe_Usz8c click here

Nail polish bottles for quick touch ups extends the life of the manicure and pedicure

for the entire vacation.

Use a second coat of polish on the finger nails about
three days into the trip

and a clear coat on days 4 or 5 to ensure a
perfect manicure the whole vacation.

Best clear coat EVERRRRRR...

http://www.cvs.com/CVSApp/catalog/shop_product_detail.jsp?filterBy=&skuId=693955&productId=693955&navAction=jump&navCount=3 click here

Apply a clear coat to the pedicure halfway through the week for shiny fresh nails.

Bring your own soap.
Hotel soaps don't always smell good or may dry skin.

Natural sunlight is great for tweezing eyebrows in the passenger seat or by the pool.

Bring a travel size bottle of perfume. Sarah Jessica Parker's 'Lovely' scent makes a 'roll on' version.

http://www.walgreens.com/search/results.jsp?Ntt=sarah+jessica+parker+lovely+perfume click here

Vacation is a great time to layer fragrances...two dabs of this and one dab of that...

A great men's scent that is light and fun
to wear for us ladies as well is

Abercrombie and Fitch's 'Fierce' cologne.
A dab is so fun.

http://www.abercrombie.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?catalogId=10901&storeId=10051&langId=-1&topCategoryId=12202&categoryId=12232&parentCategoryId=12232 click here

Makeup

The makeup on vacation whether for car or beach time requires 5 basics:

Start with a clean moisturized face:

Apply foundation

Bronzer

Mascara for the car; skip it for the beach

Blush in a pink to the
apples of the cheeks...only.
Lipgloss; darker for the beach/pool to help enhance the lips since there is no mascara
and a lighter color lipgloss for the car since the lashes
are full looking with mascara.

Check out Makeoverslife's
'5 minute everyday face' on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLFWF-EGM9A click here

Eye makeup is best saved for trips around the city...
shopping and museums...

a smoky eye for nights out.