5 Makeup Travel Tips when Packing Light
With another semester behind me, I spent the last four days in Ottawa visiting family. Travelling when makeup is an essential part of your routine is not only heavy, but difficult. It's hard to pack light with bottles, compacts, brushes, perfume, jars...Naturally I have a few tricks up my sleeve for easy travelling with my precious makeup babies.
1. A rollable brush carrier:
There are a few amazing things about a rollable brush carrier (shown closed in first paragraph). Firstly, it's compact but also keeps them separate. Once unrolled, each brush is visible - no digging in a dark bag, no need to put them all out on a possibly wet, possibly messy, possibly dirty bathroom counter. The carrier becomes a surface - which also eliminates mess. All my eyeshadow dust stays on the unrolled surface that I can wipe down instead of on the counter or onto other things. Secondly, the compact-ablity paired with rolling means it will only ever be as big as your brush quantity. If you only ever use five brushes it will roll tighter than mine, which carries ten. The one pictured was part of a package deal from Pür Minerals that came with brushes, but I'm sure they are not hard to find.
2. Sample sizes:
If you go to the travel section of your local drugstore, you'll find mini shampoos, conditioners, soaps...but not skin cream. Instead, they sell miniature jars that you need to fill yourself with your original jar's cream. Now, I'm not SO lazy that I won't take my mama jar and fill little baby jars with day cream and night cream but I also use serums, toner, a boosting serum, thermal water and at the end of the day it's too much to carry and too much effort to prepare myself. If I've learned anything from my time as a cosmetician it's the quantity in samples in which they have to give away. Now, they have the right to refuse, and they might not have exactly what you need...but I have had many women come in either currently on vacation and needing an extra days worth of product, or were about to go on vacation and didn't want a bag weighing in as much as the plane does. The great things about getting drug store samples: usually it's for a brand new product, so you get to test out the latest and greatest formulas, they're free (because they want to hook you into buying said new product) and they have the directions on them instead of having to label your own jars with what product is in it/what steps to do (again did I mention samples are FREE usually?). This weekend I brought samples for my skin care but also went to a few shoppers to get free perfume samples and found out Coach had released a new fragrance! Now I get to try it for free and smell good in Ottawa without carrying 75mL in my bag! (Also Lush gives out samples for free too!)
3. Travel Atomizer:
Now I know I just wrote a hefty paragraph about samples, BUT one of the best inventions is a travel atomizer. Certain people really like to have their identity synonymous with a scent. These people have one signature fragrance, or maybe even a type, and they probably don't want to play Russian Roulette at a drug store asking for perfume samples and getting something musky when they want floral. A travel atomizer is a cute little cylindric bottle (sort of looks like a lipstick tube) that has a hole on the bottom. Grab your favourite perfume and take the top and spritzer off like shown bellow. You line the hole on the bottom of the atomizer with the nozzle and pump until it's as full as you like. It can hold 100mL so it's safe for carry-on luggage on a plane. The last time I saw one it was available for $12.99 at Shoppers Drug Mart and came in an array of colours and patterns. If you're scent fussy but must bring perfume than I highly recommend this product (the small size is also perfect for your purse if you want to spritz at home and be able to reapply on the reg).
4. Makeup bag:
My only real tip for make up bags is the level of malleability in your bag. Having a makeup carrier that is rigid means you can't squeeze it or squish it into place, and though a harder makeup carrier protects the product inside, it makes it a lot more difficult if your goal is to travel light. A squishy bag means you can squeeze it in your bag in whatever way you need to get your makeup goodies to your destination and keep the makeup off of your stuff.
5. Finally...
A few things that are just convenient:
If you can't find a sample of make up remover or face wash and don't want to buy an empty travel bottle and mix it yourself but ALSO don't want to carry a huge jug of makeup remover: makeup removing wipes. They are frequently sold in travel size and are just one product, not a cotton round AND a bottle. One simple step.
Clean brushes while on vacation with your facial cleanser instead of brush cleaner. Less bottles and if it can clean your face it can clean brush hairs. If you're staying at an Airbnb dish soap is also a great alternative to brush cleaner.
Worried you might forget something? Pack it as you use it. I packed each product after I used it so I would make sure I had everything I use everyday. For once I managed to bring everything I need with me and not go 'aw many I really wish I had my red lipstick'.
Lastly, what I'd do if I could: bring no makeup and buy all new once landed and a new makeup bag for it. Vacation is a time to treat yourself so go all out. Sadly I'm at my dads and he still watches my budget so I had to use all of my tips above. Hopefully some of these tips better your travels, lighten your loads and help you be the best version of you on any and every continent.
XOXO,
Cropberry
1. A rollable brush carrier:
There are a few amazing things about a rollable brush carrier (shown closed in first paragraph). Firstly, it's compact but also keeps them separate. Once unrolled, each brush is visible - no digging in a dark bag, no need to put them all out on a possibly wet, possibly messy, possibly dirty bathroom counter. The carrier becomes a surface - which also eliminates mess. All my eyeshadow dust stays on the unrolled surface that I can wipe down instead of on the counter or onto other things. Secondly, the compact-ablity paired with rolling means it will only ever be as big as your brush quantity. If you only ever use five brushes it will roll tighter than mine, which carries ten. The one pictured was part of a package deal from Pür Minerals that came with brushes, but I'm sure they are not hard to find.
2. Sample sizes:
If you go to the travel section of your local drugstore, you'll find mini shampoos, conditioners, soaps...but not skin cream. Instead, they sell miniature jars that you need to fill yourself with your original jar's cream. Now, I'm not SO lazy that I won't take my mama jar and fill little baby jars with day cream and night cream but I also use serums, toner, a boosting serum, thermal water and at the end of the day it's too much to carry and too much effort to prepare myself. If I've learned anything from my time as a cosmetician it's the quantity in samples in which they have to give away. Now, they have the right to refuse, and they might not have exactly what you need...but I have had many women come in either currently on vacation and needing an extra days worth of product, or were about to go on vacation and didn't want a bag weighing in as much as the plane does. The great things about getting drug store samples: usually it's for a brand new product, so you get to test out the latest and greatest formulas, they're free (because they want to hook you into buying said new product) and they have the directions on them instead of having to label your own jars with what product is in it/what steps to do (again did I mention samples are FREE usually?). This weekend I brought samples for my skin care but also went to a few shoppers to get free perfume samples and found out Coach had released a new fragrance! Now I get to try it for free and smell good in Ottawa without carrying 75mL in my bag! (Also Lush gives out samples for free too!)
3. Travel Atomizer:
Now I know I just wrote a hefty paragraph about samples, BUT one of the best inventions is a travel atomizer. Certain people really like to have their identity synonymous with a scent. These people have one signature fragrance, or maybe even a type, and they probably don't want to play Russian Roulette at a drug store asking for perfume samples and getting something musky when they want floral. A travel atomizer is a cute little cylindric bottle (sort of looks like a lipstick tube) that has a hole on the bottom. Grab your favourite perfume and take the top and spritzer off like shown bellow. You line the hole on the bottom of the atomizer with the nozzle and pump until it's as full as you like. It can hold 100mL so it's safe for carry-on luggage on a plane. The last time I saw one it was available for $12.99 at Shoppers Drug Mart and came in an array of colours and patterns. If you're scent fussy but must bring perfume than I highly recommend this product (the small size is also perfect for your purse if you want to spritz at home and be able to reapply on the reg).
4. Makeup bag:
My only real tip for make up bags is the level of malleability in your bag. Having a makeup carrier that is rigid means you can't squeeze it or squish it into place, and though a harder makeup carrier protects the product inside, it makes it a lot more difficult if your goal is to travel light. A squishy bag means you can squeeze it in your bag in whatever way you need to get your makeup goodies to your destination and keep the makeup off of your stuff.
5. Finally...
A few things that are just convenient:
If you can't find a sample of make up remover or face wash and don't want to buy an empty travel bottle and mix it yourself but ALSO don't want to carry a huge jug of makeup remover: makeup removing wipes. They are frequently sold in travel size and are just one product, not a cotton round AND a bottle. One simple step.
Clean brushes while on vacation with your facial cleanser instead of brush cleaner. Less bottles and if it can clean your face it can clean brush hairs. If you're staying at an Airbnb dish soap is also a great alternative to brush cleaner.
Worried you might forget something? Pack it as you use it. I packed each product after I used it so I would make sure I had everything I use everyday. For once I managed to bring everything I need with me and not go 'aw many I really wish I had my red lipstick'.
Lastly, what I'd do if I could: bring no makeup and buy all new once landed and a new makeup bag for it. Vacation is a time to treat yourself so go all out. Sadly I'm at my dads and he still watches my budget so I had to use all of my tips above. Hopefully some of these tips better your travels, lighten your loads and help you be the best version of you on any and every continent.
XOXO,
Cropberry
Comments
Post a Comment