Above: Tumi Just in Case Tote, Louis Vuitton Favorite MM, Sony NEX-6, One Truffle Clarity Pouch Large (c/o), Vianel Makeup Pouch (c/o), Marc by Marc Jacobs Rimless Aviators
A couple weeks ago I attended the third rewardStyle conference in Dallas, Texas. It was such an amazing week and I was thrilled to meet so many incredible women, many of whom have been such a huge inspiration to me over the years. It was also great to discover and meet some new people. I loved hearing about how other bloggers got started blogging, their professional backgrounds, chatting about work/life/blog balance, and more. The week was packed with events, meetings and educational sessions but I managed to snap a few photos of my week there. Today I’m sharing the beauty items I brought with me. I waited to the last minute to pack my items and didn’t plan in advance (which is how I ended up bringing 3 mascaras with me and way too many brushes). I’ll go through what I packed, how I packed it and what I ended up using.
Quick snapshots from the rewardStyle conference. For more on the event, you can search the hashtag #rStheCon via social channels to see more of the festivities. One of the biggest highlights of my week was being able to hang out with Rachel from Beauty Professor (yay #bbloggers!):
Here’s how I packed the vast majority of my beauty items. I brought a lot of items with me, most were to use for day or night. Some items I brought with intent of finishing up some posts and product reviews. Due to the busy scheduling of meetings and events I didn’t get to complete the reviews I planned. Even though I brought a lot of items with me several pouches and brush holders helped keep everything compact and organized.
- Barneys New York Love Yourself 2015 gift with purchase bag is the perfect size to carry lots of compacts, lipsticks, tools, mascaras etc. I like that it’s large but sturdy. For travel I usually travel with my Bobbi Brown Train Case (shown here and here) but the Barneys Makeup Pouch fit into my suitcase better for this trip.
- Make Up For Ever Dany’s Pouch is a two-piece makeup pouch you can use to store brushes, pencils or mascara wands. It keeps the brush tips from getting smashed and when you travel it doubles as a brush holder.
- MustaeV Bloom Pouch (c/o) is something I received at The Makeup Show LA. The pouch comes in two sizes, small is shown above. Large version is shown here. These are flat zip pouches that come with a magnetic closure and a top that folds down so you can transform it into a brush holder. It’s an innovative makeup bag that stays relatively flat when you zip it making it slimmer and easier to slip into small spaces.
- Truffle Large Clarity Pouch (c/o) measures 10 inches by 12 inches. The see thru plastic makes it easy to see what’s inside so you don’t have to dig around bags to find things. The flat shape is flexible but I personally like to keep flat things inside so the material doesn’t become stretched. That being said, the Truffle bags are extremely sturdy so they tend to keep their shape.
- Quart-sized ziploc to keep all my liquids. I usually travel with one carry on and one personal item since I just find it easier to travel that way. My trips are usually on the shorter side so I can get away with one suitcase.
The liquids, skincare, hair care and more:
I was able to fit all of these items in the quart sized bag. Most of these are minis I’ve been saving up for months from Sephora Beauty Insider offerings, online promo codes and gift with purchase events. A few brands I like offer travel items you can actually purchase. I wish more brands offered travel sizes you could buy or test out. Do you stock on up on minis to save for travel or do you use them as soon as you get them?
- First Aid Beauty Face Cleanser mini gwp
- Caudalie Instant Detox Mask mini gwp
- MAC Prep + Prime Blemish Control Gel
- Bioderma travel size (review here)
- Lancome Bi-Facil travel size gwp
- Chanel Le Coton
- Q-Tips
- Drybar The Chaser sample gwp
- Byredo Black Saffron mini sample gwp
- Tatcha Indigo Hand Cream travel size (c/o)
- Cle de Peau Beaute Essential Correcting Refiner gwp
- Tatcha Dewy Skin Mist travel size (c/o)
- Make up For Ever Instant Brush Cleaner travel size
- Bumble and Bumble Invisible Oil Primer gwp
- Bumble and Bumble Straight Blowdry Creme gwp
- Chanel Le Lift Creme gwp
- Chanel Hydra Beauty Micro Serum gwp
- Chanel Le Nuit sample gwp
- Chanel Sublimage Eye Cream gwp
For makeup, I packed summery colors with lots of shimmer. For cheeks, I layered the Tom Ford Cream blush with the Hourglass Ambient Lighting bronzer and blushes. To highlight I relied on Edward Bess’s Afterglow. For the eyes I primarily used the Tom Ford Cream and Powder Duos and the MAC Palette. Those two were sufficient to get me through the trip. I didn’t end up using the Burberry Shadows or any of the Cream Shadow Sticks I brought with me.
- NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer in Ginger (review here)
- YSL Touche Eclat in 5.5 (swatched here)
- Chanel CC Cream in Beige 30 (review here)
- NARS All Day Luminous Weightless Foundation in Punjab (in mini empty sample jar I had on hand, review along with swatches here)
- Charlotte Tilbury Beach Stick in Ibiza (review here)
- Tom Ford Cream Cheek Color in Pink Sand (review here, c/o)
- Burberry Wet & Dry Glow Eyeshadows in Nude and Shell (review here, Shell c/o)
- MAC Warm Neutrals x15 Palette
- NARS Brow Perfector in Caucase
- Edward Bess Illuminating Eye Base in Dune (swatched here)
- Chanel Stylo Eyeshadow in Caroube (review soon)
- By Terry Ombre Blackstar in Brown Perfection and Frozen Quartz
- Burberry Bold Lash Mascara (c/o)
- Marc Jacobs O!Mega Lash Mascara (c/o)
- Armani Eyes to Kill Stretch Mascara
- Tom Ford Cream and Powder Eyeshadow Duos (review here, c/o)
- Marc Jacobs Poutliner in Honeybun (reviewed here)
- Edward Bess All Over Seduction in Afterglow (swatched here)
- YSL Glossy Stain in Wet Nude (review here)
- Chanel Rouge Coco Shine in Reveuse (review soon)
- Hourglass Ambient Lighting Bronzer in Radiant Bronze (review here)
- NARS x Christopher Kane Lip Gloss (review soon)
For brushes and tools, I brought some of my favorites along with the Make Up For Ever Instant Brush Cleaner. It gives a good quick clean but doesn’t give them a thorough washing like shampoo or traditional brush cleaners. Left to right includes:
Wayne Goss Holiday Brush (reviewed here)
Charlotte Tilbury Eyelash Curler (review here)
old mascara wand I recycled for brows
Additional beauty items I brought with me:
- Tatcha Japanese Blotting Papers (regular and evening versions)
- Misc hair ties
- Drybar Lemondrop Detangler Brush
- Lavanila Fresh Lemon Deoderant
- Drybar Buttercup Blow Dryer
- GHD Flat Iron
- Drybar Hold Me Hair Clips
I definitely overpacked beauty items, but it’s something I almost always do. With the exception of foundation, I think I brought enough items to last a full month even though I was only traveling for a week. I used all of the liquids for skincare and haircare that I brought with me so I think those items were well packed (I relied on the hotel for other things like shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, toothpaste). For makeup, I could have left 60% of the items at home. I did intend to swatch/review a lot of the items but should have known better that time and energy would be limited while traveling. For brushes I used fingers to apply foundation during the week so I could have skipped the cream foundation brush. All of the other brushes were used during the trip and I could have left the instant brush cleaner at home but I found it handy to clean off the eye brushes for a quick clean.
There were a lot of skincare items I wanted to bring with me but didn’t have small containers to pour out product into for travel. I know many of you have mentioned you buy small travel jars at Target or the Container Store for your travels, if you have any specific favs or other recommendations to store liquids or creams while you travel I would love to hear about them!
Do you travel a lot? If yes, how do you carry/store your beauty products? How do you edit what you bring with you? Are there any things you can’t be without when you travel? I can’t live without my hairdryer or flat iron so it usually goes with me on every trip even though they take up a lot of room in my suitcase.
P.S. For those planning a trip whether it’s overnight or for an extended period, the Tumi Just In Case duffle is a lifesaver in terms of packing. I usually end up bringing more items home with me than I took with me and the Tumi Just In Case Duffle is something that folds into a small pouch you can store in your suitcase. You can see the diagrams on the Tumi website to see how it works, but it’s a foldable sturdy nylon tote that has a their add-a-bag sleeve on the back so you can put it on the handles of your suitcase.
Some items in this post were samples from gift with purchase events and some were press samples all of which are disclosed next to each listed item with a gwp or c/o note. The remainder items from my purchased by me.
