Borders girl living life in the capital

What's in my holiday handbag

I've seen these type of posts all over the blogging world so I thought it was about time that I did one. I've decided to coincide this post with my holiday planning and show you all what will be in my handbag whilst on holiday in Italy.


Firstly, the bag! I bought this Zara handbag especially for going on holiday but I've been using it for the past month or so already. It's a lot smaller than my usual Mary Poppins style handbags, that have everything but the kitchen sink in them, but that's what I'd been looking for since I don't want to have to carry around a huge bag on holiday and apart from clutch bags that's all I seemed to own. I saw this one in Zara and it fitted the bill of exactly what I was looking for; small-ish, with different compartments (it might be small but I still need it to be organised!), comes with a detachable longer strap and it's navy, however I just saw a girl with the same bag yesterday in a kind of grey colour which also looked lovely! All that for only £29.99, I'm very happy with this purchase so far and for that price I considered going back for the grey one too when I saw the girl with it yesterday!


And as for what's in my holiday handbag:

A purse. I bought this lime green one in Acessorize last week whilst on the look for a coin purse. It's a bit unnecessary to be carrying around my big wallet with all my cards when I won't really need any of them so I'll have this alternative purse in my bag instead. 

My phone. Well I mean who really goes anywhere without their phone? I'd like to think I could survive a holiday without it but the truth is that I probably couldn't! But mainly because it'll be my main camera from day to day (and I don't think I've ever gone a few days without Instagramming something!?).

Italian vocabulary phrasebook! I'm off to Italy with my mum and sisters and between us I don't think we know a word of Italian so I'm hoping that this little 99p book will be our saviour! My mum thinks that since I bought this book a few months ago that I'll be the expert, but in truth, I've not even opened it!?

Red lip tint Vaseline. On a day to day basis I usually have about three or four lip products in my handbag but I've narrowed it down for taking on holiday. I thought that this one would be good for keeping my lips moisturised in the heat as well as giving them a little bit of colour considering I won't really have much make-up on whilst we're away.

Passport. Pretty self explanatory really, wouldn't be going anywhere without that! 

Factor 50 suncream. I WILL get burnt, that's a fact! I have one of those skin tones that burns very easily, tans rarely and quite often just goes from burnt to back to peely-wally again! I will forever be jealous of those people who just tan naturally because that will never ever be me. So this factor 50 face suncream is a holiday essential for my handbag, I will not let myself get caught out!

Sunglasses. This particular pair were a bargain pair from Tiger. There's not too much to say about sunglasses I suppose, they are an essential and if you read my post a few weeks ago then you'll know that no matter if the sun isn't even anywhere to be seen then I will have my sunglasses on my head as a hairband to hold back my unruly curls! 

Battery fan. I picked this up in the pound shop as I decided I would need a fan since there have been days in Edinburgh recently that I might have said were possibly too hot and yet the forecast for Italy is as high as 36 degrees!! I'm not great with the heat especially since I know we will be on a few trains and buses to get to our campsite once we arrive in Florence. Hot, sticky public transport in 36 degree heat...no thanks! That's where my handheld fan comes in!! 

Clarins hand cream. I usually carry this in my handbag anyway, it smells amazing! It acted as a great after-sun cream when I accidentally got burnt in Glasgow last week, so my theory is that it may end up serving the same purpose if I do end up caught out in the Italian sun.

Camera. I will mostly likely end up using the camera on my phone to take photos 90% of the time but I'll still have my camera with me. I invested my 21st birthday money in a good digital camera and unfortunately I don't actually use it much. I did buy it for exactly these types of occasions though so I'll try to take some good photos of the scenery or the architecture in Florence with this and not just my phone.

Lipstick. Lastly, another thing that kind of lives in my handbag. As much as I do usually have quite a selection this one is definitely my favourite, it's a Maybelline Super Stay 14 hour one in quite a dark purple shade and I can see myself wearing this quite a lot. Again, since I can't imagine I'll have a lot of make-up on at any point, this lipstick will be used to bring some life to my face! 

Well that turned into a much longer and wordier post that I originally thought it would be. I constructed most of it during the week but I've just finished writing it now, on Sunday morning, and we are leaving to go on holiday this afternoon!! So...I guess I'll be back once we're back from Italy! See you soon.

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Dream 2014 Festival Line-Up

I did a post like this at the exact same time last year and I love sharing what I've been listening to lately so I thought I'd dream up another imaginary festival line-up! Last year I wrote that I would hopefully make it to another music festival within the next few years, but unfortunately a year has passed now and I have no plans of festival-ing yet...maybe next summer will be the year! My Timehop app reminded me recently that it was four years ago that one of my best friends and I went to The Isle of Wight Festival and it was this exact week five years ago (five years?!? where does time go??) that I went to Glastonbury...two of the best experiences of my life. This I know because I have memories from both these events that I'll never forget. One, being lifted onto some random guy's shoulders during Florence and The Machine 'Dog days are over', hearing that song will forever remind of that night on the Isle of Wight. Another, watching Bruce Springsteen's headline set at Glastonbury, I was never really a fan before but it was AMAZING!! That's just two stand out memories, there are loads more, and hopefully I'll get to make some more festival memories soon!

To substitute actually going to a festival this summer I've created my dream 2014 festival line-up. This line-up is EXTREMELY hypothetical; never in a million years would you find traditional folk band Breabach playing at the same gig as Shakira! I tried to split my very varied taste in music across the three days of my imaginary festival. Friday would be the mainstream pop kind of day. I've always imagined that a Shakira concert would be amazing and I don't ever really listen to David Guetta or Avicii but I can imagine in a festival atmosphere they would be pretty spectacular. Saturday is a bit of a mixture of some of my current favourites including Chvrches, who I'm desperate to see live (please do tell me/tweet me if you hear that they are gigging in the UK!), and Adam Holmes and The Embers (the band my dad plays in) whom I'll never tire of watching live. Sunday would then be a relaxed folky kind of day with Passenger headlining, another one I'd really love to see live soon, as well as some other folky/singer-songwriter favourites.

Are any of you going to any festivals this summer?



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Polargram Prints


I thought that I'd write a quick post about where I got my Polaroid Instagram prints from. I'd been planning to get some of my Instagram photos printed for a wee while and I'm not exactly sure how I came across Polargram, a Google search I think! I suppose there are loads of websites that will do the same thing but I was very happy with my Polargram order. The website is extremely visually pleasing, easy to navigate, and placing my order was very simple with lovely results. I feel that the prices are pretty reasonable; £6 for 12 prints, £9 for 24 and £12 for 48. The website also offers Instagram prints on canvases and in frames, which would both make lovely gifts. They have free UK shipping on all orders and my prints arrived within a few days. They were neatly packaged in a little cardboard box with a free sweetie enclosed, a cute little touch I thought.

I chose to print 48 of my Instagram photos from the past year or so with the intention to fill one of my pinboards as well as an empty frame that I had bought in a charity shop. I decorated the pinboard with some patterned paper on the background and then a selection of photos of family and friends, with some bits of washi tape as an added crafty touch! I put 6 prints in the frame that all show the view from my window on different days. We have such a great view from our flat and I'm a sucker for taking photos of the sky so I wanted to frame my favourite ones.

This is not a sponsored post and I got nothing in exchange for writing this review, I was just very happy with my little Polaroid prints. I'd definitely recommend Polargram if you are looking to print any Instagram photos and I can see myself making another order very soon.

Click here to visit the Polargram website!


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