For today’s Style With a Smile link up I’m reminiscing about a wonderful holiday from a few months ago. Barbados is a very special place for us as we got engaged and married there; we like to escape to our favourite island whenever possible. It was my husband’s birthday towards the end of the holiday so we dragged ourselves away from the beach and went exploring.
Barbados is famous for rum (the rum punches are delicious!) so it seemed fitting to visit a rum distillery. The Foursquare Rum Distillery is tucked away in the southern countryside of the island on eight acres of a former sugar plantation. This working rum factory is best known for its collection of spiced rums but it produces a wide range of rums including Doorly’s (the husband’s favourite). Entrance is free and you can wander around, learning about the various stages of rum-making. The aroma of molasses, yeast and spices is intoxicating. For a small fee you can sample some of the rums, but unfortunately we got there a few minutes too late. Lesson learned – not everywhere operates on a 9-5 basis! We made up for it by buying a couple of bottles at the airport.
Before our ill-timed visit to the distillery we had lunch at Atlantis restaurant at Bathsheba on the East coast. The Atlantic coast is very rugged and breathtakingly beautiful, but a definite no-no for swimming. I had the best Bajan fishcakes ever for a starter, washed down with a spiced rum punch. Atlantis has the most amazing view so you simply have to take your time over lunch. No-one rushes in Barbados anyway…even if it does mean missing the rum tasting!
We snapped quite a few outfits during the holiday, which I’ll be posting at a later date. I mostly wear maxi dresses on a beach holiday because they are so easy; I just throw one on with a pair of sandals and some jewellery: job done. Trying to tame my hair in the humidity takes quite an effort (I usually give up and leave it frizzy). I don’t want to be faffing with what to wear too…that means I’m missing valuable cocktail time!
I found this particular maxi dress in a charity shop for less than £10. It’s made of stretch jersey so it’s incredibly comfortable, while the embellishment makes it dressy enough to wear for dinner. For variety I do pack a pair of lightweight trousers (seen in this post with ridiculously frizzy hair!), a couple of skirts and some vest tops. Refining my beach holiday packing is still very much a work in progress but maxi dresses are always top of my list!
Linking up with: Ageless Style, Weekend Wear, The Saturday Share, Fabulous Friday, #spreadthekindness, Confident Twosday, On Mondays We Link-Up, Fine-Whatever, On Trend Tuesdays, Turning Heads Tuesday, On the Edge of the Week, Color and Grace, Midweek Inspirations, Mix It Mondays, Get Your Pretty On, Style Me Wednesday, Visible Monday, #iwillwearwhatilike, Shoe and Tell, Let It Shine, Wearable Wednesday, Fab Favorites, Style Sessions, Jersey Girl, Texan Heart, The Weekly Style Edit, Fashion Frenzy, Classy Monday, Hello Monday, Whatcha Wearing Wednesday, Trendy Wednesday, Thursday Moda, Style Swap Tuesdays, Celebrating Style, Brilliant Blog Posts, Trend Spin, New Year Styled, Start the Week Stylish, WIWT, Oh, Hey Girl!, Top of the World Style, Fancy Friday, Thursday Fashion Files, Tuesday Talk, Friday Favorites, Spotlight Weekly, Linkup With Lisa, My Red Carpet, Fashion Frenzy, Flashback Fashion Fridays, The Pleated Poppy
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Great maxi!! Looks like a wonderful trip!
Jaymie
You married on Barbados? Wow! That dress is stunning on you, you look very relaxed!
What a fabulous trip Emma!!
That dress is gorgeous and perfect for a tropical vacation!! Just call me a little jealous…:)
jodie
http://www.jtouchofstyle.com
How lucky to go there so many times! It looks beautiful there. And what a bargain find that dress was. These slinky dresses are so easy to pack as you say.Light weight and crease free. Nothing else needed. I’m searching for the frizzy hair though? Is this what you cal frizzy? Gosh you should see mine sometimes! x
http://www.vanityandmestyle.com
Really lovely maxi dress! The holiday sounds wonderful. I have a friend in Barbados at the moment. I love a good rum cocktail!
Gail
http://www.isthismutton.com
This maxi is very pretty and has such beautiful bead work. I enjoyed reading about the rum distillery and your trip overall. I definitely prefer dresses when I am away on vacation and maxi dresses are even better.
Emma, you look radiant, your skin beautiful. I love the pretty maxi dress and boy, that vacation sounds wonderful and the rum distillery so fun. I mentioned to my hubby that we need to go to a warm beach next Jan/Feb, would really break up the monotony of winter.
I only have 2 maxis in my wardrobe, need to remedy that!
jess xx
http://www.elegantlydressedandstylish.com
Wow this looks amazing! I e actually never been on a tropical vacation, but I’m thinking that I need to change that lol.
Liz
http://Www.lizzieinlace.com
that dress is perfect for a beach holiday…and you’ve actually reminded me of a similar dress that i have, but have yet to wear! oops!
b
Thanks for linking up to the Ageless Style Linkup!
Love Barbados, and you look gorgeous!!! The Maxi dress is absolute perfection on you. I know I say this all the time, but YOUR SKIN! xx
Thanks Lisa! My skin always looks better in Barbados – I keep telling my husband that’s a good enough reason for moving there permanently 😉
Your trip to Barbados looks like it was so much fun! I love that maxi dress on you! The beading is such a pretty detail!
Jill
Doused In Pink
Thank you Jill 🙂
I love the beaded detail on this dress and it’s perfect vacation. xo ~ Megan
I’m not going to pretend i’m not jealous of your trip, So I will just say, you look amazing and thank you for hosting. That is all!! Yvadney xx #StyleSplash
Stunning! What a gorgeous dress and you look gorgeous in it. Spectacular setting, I can see why it’s so special to you. Jacqui
http://www.mummabstylish.com
I love your beaded maxi. So pretty on you!
Thanks Johanna!
It looks amazing there! I prefer maxi dress. Yours is beautiful.
Anna xoxo
http://www.glamadventure.com
Thanks Anna xx
Gorgeous! We have so much snow here, I am feeling jealous of your trip!
http://michellespaige.com
Thanks Michelle 🙂
Such a beautiful dress! I am very much into be beading right now so this dress is perfect. :]
// itsCarmen.com
Thank you Carmen xx
You have the perfect flawless skin, now don’t you?! I am more of a separates person on a beach day but your dress looks so elegant! Such a serene outfit and beautiful pictures 🙂
xx
Makeup, Style and Sugar
https://simpliannie.wordpress.com/
Thank you Ankita! My skin always looks better on holiday – I think lots of sleep helps as well as the sunshine 🙂
Such a lovely dress and fabulous – the colours work so well together.
https://dealmanunhappycustomers.wordpress.com
Thank you!
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