6 Travel Beauty Essentials

a few of my beauty travel essentialsThis trip to Japan has been amazing! We head home tomorrow, and while I wish we’d had more time here, especially in Kyoto, it will be good to be home. I keep trying to refine my packing lists, and that applies to beauty products too.

I tend to go easy on the makeup when traveling, but do have a bare-minimum routine for most days (and will add more on the eyes if we are dressing up a bit in the evenings). Here are the products that I wore almost every day, and that performed well even in heat and humidity.

  • Before any makeup goes on, I apply a mineral-based sunscreen. Clarins “UV Plus” has SPF 50, and works well underneath makeup. It doesn’t pill and isn’t greasy. If you aren’t going to wear any BB cream or foundation and are concerned about a white cast from the minerals, you may want to try the tinted version.
  • Giorgio Armani “Luminessence CC.” This is usually enough coverage for me; it evens out my skin tone and adds a little bit of a glow without making me look like an oil slick. It stays put pretty well all day, even in humid conditions (and using just a wee bit of finishing powder on my T-zone helps too). But it can also be re-applied without looking cakey. There’s the added bonus of some sunscreen (chemical) but I don’t think I apply heavily enough in most instances to provide thorough SPF protection.
  • It’s not a concealer exactly, but if I’m jet-lagged or haven’t slept well, the Trish McEvoy Instant Eye Lift will help give me a refreshed look. (I use a similar application technique as shown/described here.) It really does work!
  • I never go out without at least filling in my brows a bit, and still love Brian’s Makeover Workshop Indelible Brow in “Blondi” for ease of application, natural look and staying power.
  • I’m a lip color junkie, and at home like to change up what I’m wearing often. But for travel I pare down and really like how this Trish McEvoy “Beauty Booster” lip & cheek color pencil not only feels very moisturizing, but stays on for hours. You can use as a blush as well. The “Perfect Pink Shimmer” color is great for a natural daytime look.
  • Though you can always decant a bit of fragrance into a travel atomizer, I love it when a favorite scent is made available in a purse-sized rollerball version. It’s easy to apply without going overboard.

What beauty products do you never travel without?

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14 Comments

  1. Clarins Beauty Flashbalm is my must for travelling ! Perfect for jet lagged mornings when you can hardly find your eyes …. and a superb primer and mousturizer …. I love it !

  2. I am a lipstick junkie, and when I travel I like to have a good selection so I can get the feeling of VARIETY, since my capsule wardrobe is (usually ) so small. So I carry two actual lipsticks: one cool toned; one warm toned. Then I carry a small lip palette with MANY shades. This, and an abundance of scarves, satisfies my need for change. I also carry a few fragrance samples. Other than that I concur with your CC cream, etc. OH, and I absolutely need my little magnifying mirror, because they are not always available where I stay and I can’t do a decent makeup job with out it.

  3. Rollerball fragrance is amazing – I’m so happy that it exists! And I’m so happy that you’re having a wonderful time…
    hugs,
    Janice

  4. Sunscreen is my number one essential, and like you, i prefer a mineral based one. I find it works much better and longer than a chemical based one. I like a tinted version from Elta MD.

    Another essential is a good cleanser- I can no longer rely on Tiny Hotel Soap to do the job on my mature skin. For long trips, i have been known to take a tiny sample of something and then pick up a larger size cleanser at my destination. I love trolling out of town drug store ( or foreign ones) to find a new favorite.

    I like to bring perfume too, and I found a travel atomizer that can be refilled from even a pump spray original perfume. Which is great because my all time favorite Guerlain fragrance is not available in a roller for travel.

  5. Last year I began having my eyebrows threaded to a good shape for my face – not too fine – and then having them tinted to work with my natural hair colour. So now I never need to do anything to my eyebrows except brush them. So easy! The threading and tint give good definition to my face and last for around 2 months. So happy with this. It was recommended by my lovely DiL Best wishes, Pamela

  6. Your list is excellent! I definitely want to try the Armani CC –sounds like a great finish. I like to travel with a Nars multiples stick. It acts as a bit of bronzer, lips, eye shadow. I relied heavily on it when my luggage was lost for 3 days in Dominican Republic. I’m giving away a few of my favorite travel pieces over on Style*Mind*Chic Life and announcing my new travel business. It’s exciting to be recently retired and pursuing my travel passion full-time now. Love your images from your time in Japan. What an inspiring place!
    Safe travels home!
    xx, Heather

  7. My travel pack is just a pared down version of my day to day and although I hate to be without my clarins one step cleanser and gentle eye makeup remover, if it’s a small case and due to the size of the bottles, these often have to be swapped for wipes.
    I pack my current eye cream because I’m paranoid about my eyes but moisturizing is really with whatever’s around. Not fussed really.
    Like Julia, beauty flash balm goes with me and YSL mascara too, I hate being parted from that. It is my life’s blood.
    And a few lip balm sticks and pots are never far away; as I age I prefer this to lipstick as the lips get plumped up and look well cared for, they look younger. So a lip pencil is a must to give the definition that lipstick would otherwise give.
    A smokey cream eyeshadow and Chanel vitalumiere foundation and I’m done!

  8. Because I changed to not tested on animal skin care, make up, and body care products, as natural as possible with less chemical ingredients, and along with a pescatarian diet I travel with a lot less products.

    What am I getting at with that comment?? What I put in my body and on my body is much better for me so I look better (glowing) I need less products to fix/cover the problems all those chemicals caused in the first place….

    I have become a lipstick junkie, but that is down to the fact that my face looks nicer smoother healthier to show off pretty colors. Not to mention that I stopped coloring my hair, I love the way it looks and especially with pretty lipstick colors.

    This isn’t me preaching just what worked for me and may work for others if they want to try.

    In this process I have a huge huge box worth hundreds of euros in skin care and cosmetics I stopped using because of this change. It is a wake up call of all the waste of stuff that didn’t work, for me anyway. I kind of keep it as a reminder.

    Same with clothes now buying much, much more conscientiously. Only if I really love it and it has multi uses and is a classic piece I can wear again and again, and of course made well.

    This also in turn makes packing easier:)

    I am basically making everything essentials, only things that are extra special make it into my home now, along with when I travel. Like Susan I cull through after every vacation to see what didn’t work or wasn’t needed. I do that in my closet almost every 3 months also.

    Makes everything so organized, packing for vacations, my morning routine, cleaning the home.

  9. You can buy empty rollerball vials on Amazon or at beauty supply stores. It’s easy to fill the vial even from a spray bottle of fragrance, and then you just pop on the rollerball and screw on the cap. Perfect for travel!

  10. I take maybelline nudes palette – I bought the more expensive version (can’t remember the brand), but they did not wear well at all! Chalky and dry. The Maybelline set is my go to and easy to travel with. I also use a BB cream and a stick blush. I have a great set of travel brushes in a cylinder tin (eye and lip brushes) that I take too. Everything fits in a very small make-up bag. I love to use face wipes as sometimes I am too tired after a long day of sightseeing to get out the full kit! At least my make-up comes off prior to bed even if I skip my clarisonic.

    I am a carry on girl, so I try to focus on lips/eyes.