Travel-Friendly Beauty

March 17, 2015

So I’ve just come back from a weekend away in Washington, D.C. On Saturday I showed you what I packed in my carryon bag, so today I thought I’d show the beauty bits I decided to bring with me. I have quite a huge stash of samples from various Sephora purchases that I decided to put to good use, and I wanted to keep my makeup simple while still looking put-together.

Starting with skincare, I brought along my makeup remover/cleanser of choice, The Body Shop Camomile Cleansing Butter. I figured I could just double cleanse with this at night so I wouldn’t have to bring another bottle of cleanser. For morning cleansers, I brought along three sample sachets - the First Aid Beauty Face Cleanser, the Fresh Soy Face Cleanser, and the GlamGlow ThirstyCleanse Daily Treatment Cleanser - since I was there for three mornings. Instead of packing my bottle of Pixi Glow Tonic and risking it spilling all over the clothes in my suitcase, I packed the First Aid Beauty Facial Radiance Pads. Some people might think this is an unnecessary step since I was only away for a few days, but my skin tends to get really congested if I’m not gently exfoliating it every so often. Since my skin is always dehydrated without a serum, I just had to bring one along - the Ole Henriksen Truth Serum Vitamin C Collagen Booster that I got a deluxe sample of as a Sephora point perk did the trick, and I think it helped with my hyperpigmentation and acne scars - definitely thinking about purchasing the full size. For moisturizer I brought along my trusty First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream to use morning and night.

For hair, I picked up the Lush Seanik Solid Shampoo (entirely unnecessary but I’m picky about shampoos, didn’t want to use the one in the hotel, and didn’t want a bottle to explode in my suitcase). It lathers up really nicely and gives my hair a nice messy, beach-y texture that I love. I also brought along mini sizes of my haircare staples - the Bumble & Bumble Thickening Spray, some salt spray that I got in a Birchbox, and the It’s a 10 Miracle Leave-in Plus Keratin. For body, I brought along the Sultana of Soap from Lush because I’m a prima donna and don’t like using regular bars of soap (they totally dry my skin out). This smells heavenly and is unbelievably creamy. You still get that soap bar residue on your skin, but not nearly as much as other bars of soap. My legs get so dry after showering, so I took my mini The Body Shop Honeymania Body Butter.

Moving on to makeup, I couldn’t resist temptation any longer and picked up the NARS Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturizer recently. After splurging on this before my Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer ran out, I justified it by the higher SPF - it would be good to wear during the day while walking outside while on my trip. This gives such great coverage that I don’t even feel the need to use concealer on redness and spots, so I only packed my undereye concealer of choice, the Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Dark Circle Eraser. I’ve been so addicted to/in love with the Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Kit that I couldn’t leave it behind - I used this for both my contour/highlight and my eyeshadow. I brought my Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz

instead of the Dipbrow Pomade for its ease of use, and I needed my trusty Tweezerman Eyelash Curlers and L’Oreal Voluminous Waterproof Miss Manga Mascara. For lips, I had to take more than one option, so I brought along my various everyday staples - the Dior Addict Lip Glow, the Clarins Instant Light Natural Lip Perfector in 06 Rosewood, and the NARS Audacious Lipstick in Anita.

What are your favorite products to take while traveling?

What's in my Carryon Bag?

March 14, 2015

By the time you’re reading this, I will be in Washington, D.C.! I’m here for a few days to do some typical tourist-y things, like see the monuments and spend as much time as possible in museums. I'm definitely going to be taking a trip to the National Gallery of Art and my favorite museum, the Smithsonian Museum of American History. They’ve got Mr. Rogers’s sweater, Oscar the Grouch (edit: this time they had the Count instead), the Ruby Slippers, and Julia Child’s kitchen there - my little pop culture-obsessed heart almost can’t take it.

Anyway, I thought I’d give you a little tour of my carryon bag. It was a quick flight, only about an hour, so I didn’t need to bring much. I did have to be prepared for the day though, as we arrived at 8am and couldn’t check into our hotel until the afternoon.

I had to bring my laptop with me - I don't think I could live for four days without it (marble decal from this Etsy Shop). I probably didn't use it on the plane (it's weird writing things in advance sometimes), but I wouldn't want to put it in my checked bag anyway. I've also of course got my phone, the iPhone 5S, and a book to read - I've decided I'm finally going to get around to reading The Picture of Dorian Gray. I had my wallet too, of course, but it didn't fit nicely in the picture.

Our flight was super early in the morning, so I had to get up at about 4am. There's no way I was going to put on makeup that early. But since we didn't have a chance to settle in our hotel before going out for a day full of activities, I wanted to put a quick look together at the end of the flight. Just a quick slap of tinted moisturizer, concealer (a must if I'm getting up at 4am), something to define the brows and lashline, some mascara, and a hydrating lip product. I also recently got the Pixi Glow Mist, and since it's small enough to bring on the plane and I'm so prone to dehydration, I brought it to keep my skin hydrated throughout the flight. I also brought some miscellaneous essentials (that I hadn't picked up before taking the pictures), like eye drops, hand sanitizer, and gum.

And if you're wondering, I took this lovely little backpack from H&M to carry all this around (mine is in brown, which is oddly not a choice on the website).

The rest of my makeup and skincare is going in my checked bag, so stay tuned for Tuesday's post to see what else I brought!

The (Budding) MAC Eyeshadow Collection

March 12, 2015

I first mentioned my love of the MAC eyeshadow in Sable in my November Favorites last year. It was my first MAC shadow, and an obsession has officially been born. Since picking up Sable, I've been able to control myself and only pick up two others, though I'm constantly dreaming of filling up one of the 15-pan palettes.

I'd still say Sable is my favorite of the three I have, and it probably will always be my favorite because I'm a sentimental sap like that (I could never part with my Naked2 palette because it was my first high-end makeup purchase ever). It's a gorgeous color, yet hard to pinpoint. Is it purple? Is it bronze? Is it taupe? I guess it's a mix of all three. It's comparable to the famous Satin Taupe (which I don't have, but swatched next to Sable when deciding which to pick up), but a little warmer and more purple. It looks lovely with my skintone and really accentuates my eyes. It also pairs really nicely with the By Terry Ombre Blackstar in Misty Rock. I like wearing this all over the lid and blended up into the crease - it's one of those cool shadows that seems to change color a little when blended. One and done.

I picked up the next two in the same outing, but the first one I decided on was Woodwinked. Like Sable, this also changes color when blended, though it's much more of a pronounced difference. It's a beautiful metallic warm bronze when packed onto the lid, and becomes a deeper brown (the perfect crease shade) when blended. I think this color would be perfect for both summer and fall makeup, so I know I'll really get a lot of use out of it.

The last MAC eyeshadow I have is Sumptuous Olive. I'll admit, I didn't want this one to begin with, but when I found out Patina was out of stock when I was already at the register, I just picked the one I had swatched on my hand next to it. But I've surprisingly been wearing it quite a lot. It's another difficult to name color, with hints of green, gold, and bronze, and it really complements my brown eyes. Like the other two (sorry for sounding like a broken record), it changes color when blended. When packed onto the lid it's more of the green/gold, but blended it becomes a darker bronze/brown color. I really love my quick one-shadow looks. I've been loving smudging this under my eyes as well for a more grunge look (I don't know why but something about the color just makes me want to go for more 90s/grunge looks), and I absolutely love it paired with my brown-toned lip colors, like the Kat Von D Studded Lipstick in Lolita or the Revlon Matte Balm in Sultry.

I've been talking about MAC eyeshadows long enough now to know I definitely want to start building a palette, so please leave me your favorites in the comments below! I've already got my eye on All That Glitters and Patina.