How to pick which beauty products to bring on your travels

Let’s Unpack This For A Second (literally)

Taking care of your skin is essential everyday of the year and when you’re traveling there is no exception. Whilst travelling, your skin is exposed to far more pollutants, trekking through hotter climates or being around busy cityscapes. Even more essential to have a solid skincare routine.

Tips & Tricks On Packing Products You’ll Actually Use

Anyone experience packers anxiety? You leave a product or item out because you know you won’t use it, but you feel unsure for days, so you pack it anyway.

You arrive at your destination and then your product that you convinced yourself you needed sits at the bottom of your suitcase the whole holiday untouched. AKA wasted space when you could’ve fit in an exotic souvenir instead.

Tip 1: Use Multi-Purpose Products

1. Combine multiple skin-prep steps into one.

Not only will you save space, you can also save time and money by finding a product that can replace 3. Right now, I'm liking this Jung Saem Mool base this product is a primer, foundation and SPF 50+ all in one!

2. Bring duo ended products

An example of this is Brow Wiz by Anastasia Beverly Hills. Instead of carrying two products, this brow pencil has been created with a spooly brush at one end and the brow pencil at the other.

3. Bring products that contain high SPF

 This way you will always be sun safe and be able to pack less products. The IT Cosmetics CC Cream SPF 50 is a crowd favourite foundation whilst also containing a high SPF of 50.

4. Bring products that come with their own brush

Bringing products that have their own covered or retractable makeup applicator will mean one less messy, will-be-damaged and hard to pack brush can be left at home.

Tip 2: Swap beauty products for more durable, dry or solid alternatives

Avoid product spills, save luggage space, reduce liquids spills and swap out products for smart travel friendly alternatives.

1. Foundation: Pick Sticks/Creams over Powders/Liquids

You might be using foundation everyday on your trip (cause who doesn’t want amazing travel photos) so this is an important one.

Powder products can be shaken up and are more likely to explode on scene. Liquid can run everywhere and ruin your cosmetic case if it’s a pump or the cap falls off.

We prefer travelling with foundation sticks like the YSL All Hours. Gives a beautiful smooth finish that lasts all day, also easy to re-apply if any comes off. Or a cream foundation that’s compact and mess free, like the lilah B Marvelous Matte Crème Foundation.

Blush & Contour

2. Blush & Contour: Sticks over Powder

With so many different stick based blushes and contours available in the beauty space, there’s no reason you can’t find your favourite shade and colour to suit.

Try Fenty’s Match Six Matte Skinstick or Clinique’s range of Chubby Sticks which can do anything from contouring, to giving your lip & cheeks a splash of colour.

3. Eyeshadow: Pencils over Palettes

In any given palette, how many colours do you actually use in any given look? Probably just 3-4. Which means if you carry around an eyeshadow palette whilst travelling, you’re probably not going to use a whole heap. You also risk breaking up the pressed powder and loosing a lot of product.

Instead, swap to 3-4 different eyeshadow sticks, they’ll be easier to pack and easier to apply without needing an additional eyeshadow brush.

4. Highlighter & Bronzer: Creams over Powder

Cracked and broken pressed powder is the stuff of nightmares. Especially when you’re travelling. An easy swap is to pick a cream based product instead.

We love the LUMA Illuminating Highlighter – a literal pot of gold containing crushed pearl in a creamy formula. Housed in a solid compact jar, perfect for your travels.

For bronzer – the MILK Makeup Bronzer Baked Mini just needs to be swiped along your cheekbones, nose and forehead and blended in with your fingertips for fuss-free application.

Setting Makeup

5. Sprays over Powder

Here’s a category where I'd actually recommend a liquid based product instead of it’s counterpart.

Having oily skin means setting my make up (especially while travelling through a hot climate) is a must if I want it to last all day.

I LOVE my MAC prep + prime finishing powder but on the road, the powder goes everywhere and I need a separate brush… it’s just not the best experience. Instead, switch to the MINI MAX FIX – in a perfect travel size that’s fast & easy to use with just a couple of sprays.

6. Cleansers: Sticks over Liquids

Your stash of cleansers & shampoos will make up the bulk of your in-flight liquid allowance. Especially important if you’re trying to travel with only carry-on luggage.

Solid cleansing sticks not only reduce your total liquid count, but also run no risk of exploding after a flight has increased the pressure in your cleanser tube or in your luggage after unexpected turbulence.

We highly recommend the NEOGEN green tea stick cleanser. It has natural oils to help remove makeup and is cased in solid packaging that can weather some knocks.

7. Exfoliator: Powder over Liquids

Another easy way to reduce your liquid count will be to swap out any liquid/cream exfoliators (and or cleansers) for powder alternatives.

The Daily Microfoliant or Superfoliant by Dermalogica both have 13g size powder products that activate when in contact with water. Superfoliant also helps to absorb environmental toxins and guard the skin against pollution.

8. Perfume: Solids over Liquids

No one wants to carry a heavy glass perfume bottle anywhere. Filling a travel perfume atomiser can also get pretty messy.

Instead, slip a small solid perfume into your cosmetic pouch, it’ll be 1/10th of the size, guarantee no spills and you can have it on you at all times, from the air plane to a night out, always there for a refresh.

Tip 3: Pack beauty products that are built to travel

We are suckers for aesthetic packaging, and we want it to stay aesthetic… at home.

Here are some things to think about:

• Avoid pumps without caps, large glass bottle products, odd shaped mascara packaging & any fragile plastic packaging.

• If you do need a brush… go retractable, the Retractable Travel Brush by nude by nature is great. Perfect for all powder blushes, setting powder if you do end up bringing those.

• Say yes to pencils & cylindrical packaging. Most of your makeup can pretty much be found in pencil, stick or cylindrical packaging. From eyeliner, mascara to concealers and lipsticks, the more similar shaped products you have, the easier it will be to pack your cosmetic bag.

• Jars are sturdy, small & great for travel. Lots of great products come in plastic or glass jars. They’re easy to stack in your toiletry bag, small enough to fit into lots of different pockets and very sturdy and can handle the bumps along the way. I love the Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Cream as my daily moisturiser, it's fragrance free, lightweight and comes in a 28ml sized jar that’s perfect for travels.