Last month I made my first trip overseas since Covid began, and so much has changed since then, which I can share with you.
Back then.
I had just gotten married on my last trip and was at the height of my beauty addiction. I had beauty products stuffed everywhere.
One for every occasion, my go-to miracle workers or beauty ‘uppers’ and ‘downers’.
By ‘uppers’, I mean the stuff that will make your skin glow, plump and pop - I’m talking flawless filter, beauty flash balm, hyaluronic acid or bronzers. By ‘downers’, I mean products that calm, clean and rejuvenate your skin - like cleansers, exfoliants, calming serums or masks.
Let’s face it; we have all gone to the shops and bought piles of minis or travel beauty items like single-use face wipes and cotton pads, especially before a long-haul trip. But other than creating waste and being bad for the environment, those items take up more space.
The better option.
When packing for my latest trip, I had the ‘be kind to the environment on my brain. So it was a completely new mindset, which needed better planning and thought.
So the more planet-friendly options are a win-win, like the reusable beauty buds in their compact, light case instead of a box of cotton buds and the bamboo face cloth instead of a heavy pack of wipes. I did have to take a small ‘stasher’ bag (waterproof silicone bag) with me because it was sealable. It was excellent for the plane and convenient for trips like mine where you hop from hotel to hotel and don’t have time to let the Reusable sponge or face cloth dry.
It also helped the body wash situation. Usually, I would take a larger sample size with me, but this time I wanted to try using a bar of soap. Luckily the first hotel I stayed at had a small bar of soap, so once I left, I took it with me and stored it in the stasher bag. It lasted a week, so I used three small bars while away.
The cleanser was easy; I took one of our refill pouches, which were light and easy to slide into a shoe. The whole pouch lasted Gavin and me three weeks, and we both used it morning and night.
The lifesaver and the practical one.
One thing that was a lifesaver was the Reusable Eye-Mask. Those legends helped de-puff my eyes which I always get from flying such long flights. So on the second leg of the inbound trip, I popped them on under my sleeping eye mask and, after 13 hours, woke up looking much more refreshed than I felt. No thick concealer is needed!
Eye shadow pallets also save on space. The ones where you can swap out the individual eyeshadows make it easy to change it up to adapt to the destination climate. The colours I took with me were green, grey, coral and brown because I was heading into the European Autumn.
On my next holiday, it will be summer, so shimmery gold and pink. Brands like Zao, Elate, and Hourglass do the removable pallets. I have even seen empty magnetic ones from places like Adore beauty.
Here are some other items I found useful to take:
- a Tote bag (for trips to the local market or supermarket)
- a reusable water bottle is essential (something preferably light, you can get collapsible ones or aluminum)
- canvas shoe bags (replaces plastic bags which keep the rest of your stuff from getting dirty)
- a small tin container with a bar of laundry soap or detergent ( to wash clothes in the basin as you go)
- a small container for snacks ( I like to buy big bags of nuts from the local grocer if I am out for the whole day)
Containers, especially collapsible ones, come in handy for travelling. They are very versatile; if you are staying in an apartment on holiday, it makes it easy to store food or leftovers.
The beauty is, every time you travel, the better you will get at packing lighter, more innovative and less wasteful ;)
Happy travelling!
Tam x
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