My travel tips and must haves
With things slowly reopening, let's talk beauty travel tips. Do you have upcoming trips planned for this fall? I've made a little weekend road trip here and there and recently got back from a bachelorette and a weekend in the mountains. Now, I really need to focus on the unpacking while I look forward to a wedding later this fall.
I am admittedly a chronic over-packer, but I have gotten a lot better at pairing down my skin care and make-up. Most of my tips equally apply for a quick weekend trip and for flying away for vacation. Whether it's simplicity, suitcase room, or cheaper airlines' tight regulations motivating you, hopefully these tips can help. (Honestly, some of them are daily hacks I use at home.)
Makeup:
Pick products that are multi-purpose: Traveling is not the time to bring that new product you've never tried and also your tried and true. Then you're bringing duplicates and wasting space on a product you're not sure about yet. If you're excited about that new product test it out first. In addition to not packing duplicates, a great way to limit products is to pack products that can work double duty. My favorite example of this is using bronzer as eye shadow. If you're not doing super glam looks this is both easy and efficient. It adds some dimension to your eyes and also gives you a really cohesive look because your bronzer effortlessly plays off of your eye shadow. A colored lip balm can also double as a "cream" blush. This is another great way to achieve a simple yet cohesive natural look. Lastly, a light shimmery eye shadow easily doubles as highlighter.
Stick to neutrals: I love having options and would love to bring every color I might feel like wearing. When we are talking about packing light, sticking to neutrals or your go-to colors are the way to go. I customize my eye shadow pallet to include only the 4 or 6 colors I actually use regularly or if you are packing pallets, stick to 1 you really love. I promise it does not take that many shadows to create an amazing eye look. The same applies to lip products. While I love to grab every shade, I end up wearing the same couple colors. Limit yourself to a couple lip products. Consider grabbing different types of products (like a balm, a gloss, and a lipstick) instead of only packing different colors. If you want variety pop a gloss on top or mix your colors for a new custom shade.
Be selective with tools: When packing light, think about what tools and brushes you really need. I limit myself to 1 or 2 eye shadow brushes. Yes, I own more, but when I'm traveling I really don't need to bring all 4-5. A good fluffy shadow brush to blend and maybe another with more dense bristles if you want to pack on more color. I also pair down my powder brushes. Using 1 brush for powder, bronzer, and blush is totally fine! You can easily clean a brush off on the back of your hand or a towel, and if there is a little bit left just think of it as extra great color blending.
Skin Care:
Take advantage of travel size products: When my favorite brands offer travel or smaller sizes as holiday deals, add-ons with purchases, freebies, or travel kits I love to snag them. Obviously having smaller sized products takes up less room packing. The other bonus is typically these are refillable, so I can use my regular full size products to refill them. I don't constantly buy and replace travel size product (hello reduce, reuse, recycle).
Face Wash: I ALWAYS pack my cleanser no matter how long my trip is. This is for 2 reasons. First, I know my skin is sensitive and I don't want to use a random cleanser that might irritate my skin. Second, even when you're busy having the best time, take time to wash your face. Your skin will thank you in the short term and long term. Bringing my favorite cleanser makes me that much more likely to use it. I do still double cleanse at night, but to reduce how much I'm bringing I only pack 1 cleanser and use it for both washes.
Simplify your routine: While I don't use the same products in my routine daily for a lot of different reasons, I try to simplify when I'm packing for a trip. Prime example, if you use a retinol, those are applications are typically spread out every couple days. While your normal schedule might be thrown off by a day, if you're only going to use it 1 time, your face can probably wait until you get home. Yes, consistency if key with skin care so you should skill use it, but 1 day is not going to undo your entire routine. You should definitely pack your cleanser, moisturizer, and sunscreen at the least. While I own plenty of serums and treatments, not every product I own makes every trip. If it's a longer trip I selectively add on serums, an exfoliant, or a mask. Again, the more products that serve multiple purposes the better, like my mask that exfoliates, hydrates, and balances skin.
Here's what I typically pack and use:
cleanser (AM and PM)
vitamin C serum (AM)
eye serum (AM and PM)
facial oil (PM)
sunscreen (AM) - mine includes moisturizer
acne spot treatment
Personally, I like packing my makeup while I get ready so I don't skip over anything. However, I rarely put on makeup for a road trip so then that tip doesn't work so well. Instead, when I'm not getting ready, I pack in the order I do my face. This helps me not forget things but also keeps me focused so I don't grab every product I own.
I use to pack my skin care and toiletries separately from my makeup, but I found that having 2 bags to pack in allowed me to overpack more. Now, I have 1 bag for all toiletries, skin care, and makeup and I've found myself being much more efficient and intentional with my space, but this is just a personal preference. (Pictured separately but all fit together in the flowered train case, I promise!) My favorites are my hanging Vera Bradley toiletries bag and my Yumi Kim train case. The Vera one is nice because it hangs (aka doesn't take up counter space) and has multiple different zipper compartments, but it also takes up a lot of room in my suitcase. My train case does not have as many compartments and is not quite as organized, but it's much more compact to pack.
I hope this helps you pack for your next getaway whatever it may look like. If you have packing tips or just want to share your next trip, let us know in the comments!
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