Holiday Essentials with Marks and Spencers: Part 2

So I'm back from Amsterdam! I had a lovely, but very busy weekend. A trip with 28 other women was always going to be a bit of a challenge! Now, the first thing to mention is that my capsule wardrobe didn't quite go to plan! What I didn't mention in my last post (because I thought the bride might be reading!) was that in true Hen Party style, we all had tshirts! We ended up wearing these all day Friday and most of Saturday, so I didn't get a chance to snap my lovely summery dress until Sunday.
One thing I enjoyed most about my trip was that I managed to do a few things I didn't get to do when I was last there. With any city you can't do everything in a few days and although Ellen and I did a lot when we went last year, there were a couple of things I wanted to cross off my list. On Saturday we went on a canal cruise, which as it was sub zero when we went last year, wasn't really an option. And on Saturday night we went to a cocktail making class at the House of Bols which was ridiculously good fun! First we did a self-guided tour of the building and learned about the different tastes and scents in cocktails, and then chose a drink for the bartenders to make us, then our group was taken upstairs to the cocktail making class. It was a huge room with a dozen little bar areas set out and we all got to watch the bartender make a drink and then we each got to make it and drink it! We got to make three in total- the first one was a mixed drink, second was a muddled drink and third was a shaken drink. It was so much fun!
On Sunday, nobody really had any collective plans. On the plane out we had been sat next to a Dutch gentleman, who pointed out the tulip fields as we came into land in Schiphol. Now last time I went to Amsterdam it was a really brutally cold winter, and none of the tulips were out, and I had always been disappointed that I missed them. So we decided if we got any free time on Sunday before our flight we would try to go see them. So while everyone else was still in bed, we got up bright and early, suitcases in tow, to get a metro, then a train, then a bus to the Keukenhof (fortunately I am always chief navigator on trips so I got it sorted out!). And this was where we decided to take photos of my beautiful Marks and Spencers dress... (edit: Majorly photo heavy, sorry not sorry. TULIPS!)

Oh it's pretty much impossible to get a full-length photo without getting a dozen tourists in the background

I've decided to leave most of my flower pictures unedited because they were already so beautiful

dress- c/o Marks and Spencers

orange flats- c/o Marks and Spencers

denim jacket- New Look

necklace- Topshop

sunglasses- H&M

lipstick- MAC Russian Red

As I said in my last post, I wore this Marks and Spencer's dress with these Marks and Spencer's shoes. I was a little bit cold (I did have tights on!) but I think this dress will be so perfect for the summer. I am also a little bit obsessed with orange at the moment! I would love to wear this with white converse for day and nude shoes for the evening with a little orange cardigan. It's also a perfect fit. I was a little worried because the dress I wanted was no longer available, so I asked for this one, but I was concerned because it is a petite. At 5'4" I'm a little bit too tall for most petite ranges and I didn't want this to be indecent. However it is a great length! I find most M&S dresses are a little longer anyway so I might start browsing their petite range more often. Also, I love M&S shoes because they do half sizes! I'm normally a 6 but my shoes are always too big, so a 5.5 is perfect. I also wore my M&S beauty products on my trip. While I didn't love the mascara (it was fine with a few layers of They're Real over the top but it wasn't standout on its own, although it is waterproof), I really liked the mattifying primer and it held my makeup well most of the day and my face didn't go shiny. I'm always on the lookout for new primers so I might repurchase this when I run out of Smashbox.

Well it's four day weekend time so let me get back to my busy schedule of doing nothing!

Have a great one!

Charlotte x