Summer Beach Essentials

Living in Cornwall means that 90% of your summer is spent at the beach, rain or shine. Because of this, I have built up a hefty experience regarding what essentials to take to the beach. And with the recent hot weather in England, I thought it was about time I shared these with you.

Obviously the first essential is a decent beach bag and the one that I tend to use is a tote bag from Jack Wills. It's got a lovely floral print and is just the right size to fit everything in. You can get a slightly similar one here. A towel is very essential to me as you can guarantee that I'm always the first one in the sea. The one I have here is just an old beach towel that lives in the cupboard upstairs and you can pick these up anywhere. Something that goes everywhere with me throughout the summer is some form of sunblock. Right now I'm really liking the Nivea Sun Protect & Refresh Sun Spray in factor 20. As I'm so pale and burn very easily I never use below factor 20 and this sun spray applies and dries so easily and doesn't feel greasy on the skin. Also the spray is so refreshing on a hot day.

Something that I never go to the beach without wearing is a bikini. As I do have bigger boobies I like to get a bikini with an under-wired top. The one I have here is from Next and I bought this last summer so unfortunately it's not in stock any more but I've found a similar one for you here. Sandals or flip flops are also essential for me on the beach and the ones I'm loving this summer are these cute little sandals from Primark. They were only about £4 so I don't mind if they get ruined and I've found some similar ones for you here. My sunglasses are from River Island and you can get them here. I love the wayfarer style and the tortoise shell print because they go with everything.

When I'm not in the sea, I like to just relax and read a book whilst catching some rays. At the moment I'm slowly (it's a hefty book) working my way through the first book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series which I'm enjoying so much. I loved the tv series so I figured I'd read the books too. By the end of summer my book is usually a mess with sand wedged in between the pages and sea water thumbprints. I also like to listen to music as well so I usually take my old iPod Nano as I don't mind if it gets a bit grubby. At the moment I'm really enjoying Passenger's new album, Whispers.

So that's everything! What are your summer beach essentials?

- Millie xx