Hello everyone! Today I thought I'd bring you all my makeup bag picks for when I travel. Packing has become pretty automatic for me due to the monthly trips I take with my husband to his drill weekends and frequent visits to family out of state. I used to grab way more makeup than I could ever wear for traveling but routine, expensive checked bag fees, TSA regs, and a desire to travel light has really streamlined what I take now. Recently I had my sister visit and we spent two days at Disneyland. Since we were visiting a theme park it was a really great opportunity to test the staying power of the makeup as well. So here it is my theme park tested, travel friendly approved makeup bag essentials!
Now I realize that this picture makes this look like a lot of makeup but I'd like to make a few notes here. Everything with the exception of the BB Cream fits in the small bag pictured. The BB Cream often goes in my quart size Ziplock as it is a liquid. Some of the items which I will point out below are optional and/or interchangeable. Some of what I use is a little pricey so I wanted to make sure I included cheaper alternatives as well. Actually pretty much everything here I will be suggesting a cheaper alternative. Everything here I've purchased from either
Sephora or
Ulta.
Target,
Walgreens, and
Riteaid carries many of these brands as well.
So starting off I only carry three brushes. This is an area that has really been streamlined for me. for traveling I've grown to like products that can be applied with your fingers. The three brushes I include are a blush brush, an angled fluffy eyeshadow brush, and a big fluffy powder brush. The angled eyeshadow brush can easily be replaced with a regular eyeshadow brush I just really find the shape of this one and find it to be ideal for blending out the cream shadows I use. I also suggest to always go for the softest brushes you can afford, Sonia Kashuk makes really nice affordable ones for Target but I also really love my Sephora Brushes.
So starting with my face I can't recommend this Dr. Jart+ BB Cream enough! It is perfect for traveling as it is your primer, foundation, moisturizer, anti-blemish, anti-aging, dark spot corrector, and sunscreen all in one. It lasted all day on me at Disneyland and we were there from open til close without a single touch up. It's really hard to find good American BB Creams that provide the same benefits as this one but Physicians Formula, which can be found at most drugstores, carries a pretty nice tinted moisturizer with some SPF that I will suggest as a cheaper alternative. Honestly though I would say if you splurged on anything from this list it should be this BB Cream. Most days for sun protection the BB cream is enough but for our all day Disney adventure I did layer some SPF 50 sunblock underneath my BB cream. This one from Aveeno is formulated for babies so I find it really gentle and not smelly and can be used on face and body without fear of breakouts. Once finished with my makeup I seal it down with this Rimmel Stay Matte translucent powder. I've only tried a few setting powders but this one works best for me. It keeps my face from getting shiny without giving you that obvious powdery caked on look. The powder is super fine and truly transparent, it doesn't add any color like other powders I've tried which is nice too. Had the weather been hotter I probably would have carried this along with me for touchups.
Not everyone might find blush and bronzer as an essential item and honestly I didn't either until recently. But when wearing BB creams with SPF and sunblocks you will find that your face can appear washed out and pale, especially in photos. That's because sunblocks are reflective. So to give my ghostly complexion some life back I use both a bronzer and a blush. Here I have my
NARs duo compact with
Orgasm and
Laguna along with my
NYX blush in
Dusty Rose. As you can see from the pictures both
Orgasm and
Laguna have a bit of gold shimmer which is nice because I don't include a highlighter in my travel kit. Yes you could just take along the
NARs duo alone and sometimes I do but I
really love the matte color of the
NYX blush better than the super
shimmery
Orgasm blush plus
NYX products are super cheap. For a cheap bronzer there are a lot of drugstore brands that offer great ones such as
Physicians Formula and
Milani but I really love the color of
Laguna. I suits my skin prefectly, doesn't look orange or muddy, and the shimmer is subtle but still gives you a nice glow.
Next we have the eye makeup. I go real simple and natural with my eyes when traveling. I also go for staying power and everything here really does not budge until you use a proper cleanser. For mascara I use
Maybelline Falsies in the waterproof formula on my top lashes. Now this is completely optional, my bottom lashes I've been loving this
Clinic Bottom Lash mascara because I've had issues with smudging on my bottom lashes in the past and this stuff really stays on and has a cute little applicator that is prefect for getting each and every tiny lash without getting it all over the place. For eyeliner I use
NARs Larger than Life in
Via Veneto which is the best black waterproof eyeliner I've ever used. I really only tight line my eyes while traveling so waterproof is important. My cheap alternative would be the
Rimmel Scandalize waterproof eyeliners those are pretty awesome as well.
For eyeshadow I only use one cream eyeshadow. These are interchangeable and usually I will only pack one or the other. Pictured on top is
Maybelline Color Tattoo in
Bad to the Bronze and on bottom is
Mac paint pot in
Groundwork. Eyeshadow couldn't get any easier. You just sweep these arcoss your lid with your finger and blend the edges with your eyeshadow brush and you are good to go. The
Color Tattoo especially has a gorgeous shimmer, I've gotten compliments on it in random places so I know its good stuff. Another good thing to note is that both of these cream shadows don't crease at all. The
Mac paint pot doubles as an awesome eyeshadow primer if you were to take powder shadows with you as well, it will make them last all day. Other than cleanser paint pots are the only item that draws me into a Mac store, they have so many lovely colors and I want to collect them all!
Groundwork though is a great first choice.
Finally for lips, I carry along three lip products. I always have a a lip balm handy and I don't necessarily care what kind it is. Here I have an
EOS balm I've been enjoying and for the theme park this is the only makeup item I kept in my bag the whole day. For a lipstick option I love the
Revlon Lip Butters, they are moisturizing, sheer, and so easy to apply. My favorite color has been this one in
Pink Truffle, a perfect my lips but better color. Lip gloss I go with the
NYX gloss in
Beige, which is totally not beige, it is a milky pink color which honestly put me off a bit at first but I've come to love. I'm not big on bold lips so the glosses and lipstick I gravitate towards are usually pretty sheer and only offer a hint of color. All of these products are pretty cheap too which is an added bonus.
So to give you an idea of how this all looks on here are a few closeups. And can I say how awkward it feels taking pictures of yourself on your balcony? Oh well! Hope you guys liked my travel makeup essentials. What are your travel favorites? Is there anything you can't leave home without?
See ya later! Thanks for reading :D
