Travel friendly make up

I traveled to London last week and hope to do some more traveling in the upcoming months. And I am not sure about you, but I am not a big fan of lugging around tons of make up when I go on a trip. I still like to apply a full face of make up, but I pick my products with care. Over the years, I’ve perfected what products to bring when I travel. Be it on a longer 3 week vacation or an overnight stay, these are the products I grab for.

What make up do you travel with?

My criteria for picking products are simple: they should be easy to pack, take up little room and difficult to break. If the latter does happen, then I don’t want it to be one of my high end super gorgeous palettes. So I opt for a more budget friendly approach, think of multitasking products that are easy to apply and keep things simple. I usually pack enough for one or two faces of make up with a few extra lip options. I don’t mind wearing the same palette every day, but your lipstick color can change your look enough that no one would know that you’ve doubled your eye make up.

I own many different and absolutely stunning eye shadow palettes. When it comes to make up, it’s what I hoard the most. But when I travel I don’t want my Naked 3, carefully crafted MAC palette or Charlotte Tilbury quad to break on me. These products cost me an arm and a leg, so I’d rather think twice about chucking those in a make up bag. No, instead I bring these MUA palettes. Between the two of them, I have everything I need. The Elysium palette is very close to Naked 3, which for quick and easy neutral looks. I pair it with the Mattes palette to compliment it. In case I want more matte options, a more neutral eye or possible something smokier. Since these palettes are cheap, I won’t cry over these breaking any time soon.

BB cream is the best face product for taking with you on trips. The best part about them is the packaging: since it comes in a squeezy tube, there is no risk of breaking or leaking foundation bottles. BB cream is also a product that you cannot easily apply with your fingers, which means you can pack one less brush to make your suitcase that bit lighter. Add to that the added benefits of BB cream as it usually has more of a skincare purpose as well and you instantly have a two in one.

When it comes to brushes I try to pack as few as possible. That’s where these double-ended Eco Tools brushes come in handy. I believe these come in a set and between the two you have everything you need to do any quick and easy eye look. There is a flat shader and a blending brush, as well as a slanted eyeliner/ brow brush and a pencil brush for smudging and the outer V as well. The hairs are super soft and these brushes do not perform any worse than any of my daily brushes.

Ah, cream shadow! Come spring/ summer my love affair for all things cream shadow is very real. And I always pack some during my travels. On days where it is simply too hot to bother with a full on smokey eye, a quick swipe of a shimmery cream shadow is my favorite way of looking a bit more fresh faced and awake. Maybelline’s Color Tattoos are some of my favorites and I usually alternate between the bronze and the pink.

Blush cannot be missing from your daily travel make up. Just before my last trip I had been obsessively using just one blush color, so that’s all I packed. But if I need more options, I take these Bourjois Blush pots with me. They are small, compact, come with a workable brush and they also pack a little bit of shimmer which means you don’t need a highlight with this. Rose Coup de Foudre is more of a peachy pink, where as Rose D’Or is a pink with a gold shimmer. I’ve had these little pot blushes for years and they are still going strong.

For some added definition, a bit of eyeliner can’t hurt. Especially when all I’m wearing is a cream shadow, I like to use a brown or black pencil liner to line my eyes. I tend to apply it over the cream shadow and just use my fingers of a cotton bud to smudge it along my lash line. A plop of mascara and you’re done! I prefer pencil liner over liquids as these can go anywhere. From your upper lashline, or as a tightline to the lower lashline and water line. You can even use these smudged out as a base to deepen up your shadow and make a very quickly create a smokey eye. In short, they are versatile which is why I pick these over any other eyeliner I have.

Lipstick wise, again I have a preference for a very specific type of product: liquid lipstick that is. I find that regular lipsticks only run the risk of melting in your suitcase if it is left out in the sun, which could make for a very messy situation. Liquid lipsticks are already melted, so not problem there. But what’s more is that they generally last a long time, which means you don’t have to worry about touch up as you’re roaming around cities, mountains or chilling out at the beach.

Do you switch out your make up products when you travel?