How would you pack for 7 weeks?

Bit of a different post for you today so I hope you like it, it's a bit more personal and sort of a 'What's in my handbag?' post.

If you didn't know already, I'm currently away in America completing a uni course for a few weeks and so far I'm having an amazing time!

I've come here on my own which was initially quite scary and I obviously had no idea what to pack or what I'd need to bring.

Clothes wise I had a limited amount to choose as I needed certain things for my course like hiking boots, waterproofs and hoodies which obviously weigh quite a lot.

Match that with needing bedding, towels and my laptop, camera etc and I wasn't left with much room to play with!

I apologise in advance for the photos....the lighting is awful and I've ended up editing most of them so they look instagram style and not half as bad as before! The grey desk and cream painted brick walls don't exactly make good background either ha! I did what I could with what I have.

I decided to pick up some shower gel, shampoo, conditioner and body moisturiser when I got here as I could buy big bottles of each and throw them out before I left, so that was a large portion of toiletries taken care of.

However I did need to bring travel wash, a mini first aid kit, sun cream (SPF 15 and 30, and 30 for my face), after sun, bug repellant...etc etc that you normally would take on holiday with you as I wasn't sure what I could get my hands on when there:

As you can see, this really was not leaving me much room in my suitcase particularly with the 23Kg limit so I had to be really strict with what I brought.

For clothes after the things that I had to bring I brought with me a selection of vests and shorts, 2 pairs of jeans, 2 thin hoodies, 1 cardigan, 4 dresses and 1 pair of 3/4 denim shorts.

I also packed 2 sets of gym clothes, my swim suit, 2 bikinis and a substantial amount of underwear as I didn't want to run out before finding the laundry room!

(These clothes are really boring so I haven't bothered with photos of these)

Shoes wise I brought my hiking boots, running trainers, 1 pair of brogues, 1 pair of flip flops and a pair of black gladiator style sandals for going out:

I felt I did rather well on this front as you can mix and match any of it, I've never packed so well in my life!

Accessories wise I packed 2 necklaces and a bracelet, 1 obi belt and I had either my rucksack or my black leather bag for outings:

The main problem for me, as I'm sure it is with most of you, is products.....

Where on earth do I start?!

I had no idea what to do, and ended up starting with make up as I knew what I needed for every day use and could go from there.

Here's what I brought altogether:

Base products

Lipsticks

Essentials!

Brushes

Sleek Ultra Matte V2 and MUA Heaven and Earth

Blush and other eye and brow products.

I gave in and couldn't leave without some nail varnish, but I restricted myself to a top coat, base coat and 4 colours:

A nude pink, coral, gold shimmer and glittery red.

Skincare was another problem for me, I love it and could have easily filled my suitcase with it particularly as I've been investing in it quite a bit recently.

But I was as strict as I could have been and here's what I brought with me:

Liz Earle, Vichy, Etat Pur and Origins.

To keep me entertained on the plane I also brought a number of samples with me to play with and test which was great fun and I loved the cooling feeling of the eye gel on the plane!

Do you think I did well??

I'm quite proud of myself, though I feel rather guilty for all the products I've left at home that I clearly can live without.

It's spurred me on to use more up when I get back, which is a good thing as I actually only have £40 left in my account until I get a job....eek!

What products can't you live without? Have you managed to be super savvy with your products for holidays etc?

Next up I'm going to make a post on what I'm missing so far...being away from home for 6.5 weeks on your own isn't easy and there's certain things I'm missing more than others!

L xxx