Looking good often requires you to have access to your full armory of beauty products and a shower full of lotions and potions. The trouble is, when you’re travelling, seeing the world, and living out of your suitcase or backpack, often it isn’t a practical option to cart half of Sephora around with you. You need to learn to cope without all your stuff, and yet still looking good while documenting your travels. What’s a girl to do??
Try A Beauty MOT
One trick is to invest in a few key beauty treatments before you jet off. These longer lasting beauty tricks can save you time and reduce the amount you need to take with you to keep you looking good. Look into things like microblading for six months of perfect brows, dark skin laser hair removal, semi-permanent lash extensions or gel pedicures for a longer lasting, chip free finish. Just choose the thing you are most bothered about maintaining and wing the rest.
Seek Out Multitasking Products
When space is at a premium, you need products that do double the duty and work hard to earn their place in your luggage. Find a base that does more for your skin – IT Cosmetics Your Skin But Better CC+ Cream combines full coverage with a serum containing a cocktail of skin goodies and SPF50, meaning you don’t need a separate host of skincare products.
Also look for things like Stila Convertible Colour, that can be used to add a flush to eyes, lips and cheeks or a brow pomade or pencil which can also work as a liner. Use bronzer and highlighter as eyeshadow and mix shimmer shadows in with plain body lotion for a gilded effect. Get creative and you’ll be surprised how little you can pare it down to.
Grab Some Coconut Oil
Speaking of multi-taskers, coconut oil has to be the ultimate, with uses ranging from a teeth whitener, deep conditioner for hair, mixed with sugar for a natural exfoliating treatment, as a shaving foam substitute for legs, makeup remover, face and body moisturizer—there is almost no job it can’t tackle. Yes To Coconuts comes in a twist up stick format ideal for travelling.
Travel With Baby Powder
Another indispensable product for the intrepid traveller, baby powder is also your friend! Use it as a deodorant for humid climes, as a dry shampoo to ward off greasy roots and to set your makeup in place. It can also be used to remove annoying wet sand from your skin. Definitely worth stashing in your beauty bag – and it won’t be part of your limited liquid allowance in flight.
DIY Your Face Treatments
You may not think you’d be able to give yourself a five star facial on your travels, but it can be done with a few basic ingredients you may already have or can pick up cheaply in a local shop. Aspirin is a great skin brightener – mixed with some of your coconut oil it can make a brilliant face mask. Or mix half a mashed avocado with a tablespoon of honey for a deep conditioning treat for your skin. Use a mix of eggs and oil to zap dry frizzy hair too (just make sure you rinse out with cool water to avoid making an omelette!). You’ll be surprised how effective these home remedies are – results definitely stack up against the shop bought treatments you have at home.
