Have you ever been on vacation and seen a woman breeze into the room effortlessly glowing as if she vacations for a living?

Upon closer inspection, you may notice that it is not so much what she is wearing as much as it is her perfectly bronzed skin, flawless mani/pedi and pristine blowout that help her achieve this look. While we’d all love to perfect this style for an Exceptional Villas holiday of our own, there is a considerable amount of effort that goes into it.

In other words, getting ready for a vacation is so much more than just packing your clothes or picking a place to stay (such as the hotel in Crowne Plaza Denver) …properly prepping yourself for a vacay is as essential as packing the right clothes for the trip. It’s also pretty important to pack according to the trip you are partaking in. For example, my friend recently found some fly cruise offers that allowed her to go on a lovely cruise. But she needed to make sure she had the right clothing for every possible event such as the formal dining evenings.

To be honest, most of the time it goes like this…I pack mentally the day I book my trip to those luxury rentals we dream of spending time at, then try on endless amounts of clothes only to throw a heap of items in my suitcase praying to god they go together. Meanwhile, my manicure isn’t done, my hair looks cray and I am paler than Casper’s cousin when I board the plane – hey, my blog is called Chic & Disheveled for a reason! 🙂

Well, not this trip peeps! I decided to do things a little differently, and put a little more effort into my pre-vacay beauty routine and holy sh*t did it make a difference! So read on for my 3 step guide to getting vacay ready in 24 hours or less – and BTW, its A LOT easier than you may think…

Sun-kissed Strands: So…if you haven’t heard about my love affair with Hyde-Edwards Salon and to be more specific, my hair-care BFF, Carmen, you are missing out. She gave me the perfect balayage and accompanying blowout that survived 80 degrees + humidity without breaking a sweat. When on vacation, the last thing you want to worry about is your hair, so making sure it is happy and healthy before you leave, will save time trying to style the eff out of it in your hotel room with god knows what hair dryer they have in the room and/or saves you space for that 15 pair of shoes you are certain you will wear.

Perfectly Polished: Ok…so I am about to rock your world. Like, for real for real. I have been living off of gel manicures for the past few years – and while I love them…they are expensive as a MF, and word on the streets they are REALLY bad for your nails! Well, ladies – I happened to go to A Night at the Spa during KAABOO, and came across Dazzle Dry, the manicure that lasts as long as gel, but is actually good for your nails, and get this – dries in 5 minutes or less.

Like, I am not kidding – I was about to get picked up for the airport and my nails still weren’t done and I was not feeling it, so I decided to break open the package and give the mani/pedi a shot – and sure enough my nails were not only dry in the promised time, but also lasted through all of my crazy adventures in Cabo. Plus when I got home, I didn’t need to soak them off, because they come of with everyday nail polish remover and leave your nails looking fab because of the nutrients they are made with. #yourwelcome

Get Glowing: Instead of relying on your trip to give you that golden glow, a spray tan will keep you looking flawless from the moment you touch down in paradise. This trip, I made sure to see the babes at Blush Tan, for their super-express spray tan which sets in 4 hours and seriously lasted for 4 days of paddle boarding, site seeing and swimming in the ocean. By the time I left, it was hard to tell where the Blush tan ended and my real tan began. Make sure to read my tips on achieving the perfect spray tan to make it last as long as possible! Local to SD?! Don’t forget to use

See?! I told you this wouldn’t be that hard! Speaking from experience on both sides of the coin, it seriously made a HUGE difference this trip – I felt comfortable in everything I threw on and packed way less because a nice tan, hair and nails goes with everything!

/// SHOP my VACAY ESSENTIALS ///