Lady in Spain

This post, I think, is geared a bit more towards the ladies, but I’m sure some dudes could find some of these things helpful as well (maybe not the make-up part, but other stuff).

During my year abroad, I discovered a few holy grail products when it comes to traveling with all your beauty essentials (especially when trying to pack everything into one small carry-on sized bag). Here are some items and things that I found helpful, and hopefully  you will too. A lot of these products are going to be from LUSH, which is a brand that I love. And LUSH has several locations around the world, making it super convenient for travelers.

Before I get into the list of items, I would like to say that when I have a suitcase that I’ll be checking in, I prefer to stuff all my liquids/cosmetics into it mainly because I hate the hassle of having to take them out of my carry-on at security (especially if I already have to run my laptop through too). Also, if I’m checking the bag in, that doesn’t limit the amount of beauty products I can bring as much as a carry-on does 🙂

Alright, so here’s my list:

1. Solid Shampoo

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LUSH sells a great variety of solid shampoos. My favorite is Jumping Juniper. What’s great about solid shampoos is that they’re super tiny and weigh nothing. And the best part? You never have to worry about having that dreaded moment when you open your suitcase and feel gooey liquid all over your favorite clothes and shoes. Worst feeling ever and we all know we’ve been there once before. And don’t be worried that they don’t work as well as liquid shampoos, I find that I even prefer the solid shampoos to the liquid ones. And they last for about 80 washes, so no worries about them not lasting that long either.

2. Dry Shampoo

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Sometimes, when you’re traveling, there just isn’t enough time to give your hair a good shampoo rinse…that is where dry shampoo saves the day. I recommend getting this at Sephora since they tend to sell travel size versions of various dry shampoos. Two of my favorites are Oscar Blandi and Batiste. Batiste isn’t available at Sephora, or at least, it wasn’t the last few times I went, so I recommend stocking up on that one before your trip (you can find it online and at Ulta).  I tend to prefer the Oscar Blandi one for traveling, however, since it’s a powder instead of a spray.

3. Solid Scrubs

Once again, LUSH has some great solid scrubs. I prefer scrubs to soap, mainly because I like to exfoliate every time I shower. My favorite from LUSH is the sugar scrub. It smells great and does the job of exfoliating gently wonderfully.

4. Shower Gel

You can always try and stock up on travel sizes of your favorite shower gel or buying travel sized containers and decanting your shower gel into one of them. I, however, prefer to use LUSH bars. Can you tell that I’m a LUSH fiend? My FAVORITE one ever is King of Skin. It’s ridiculously moisturizing…to the point of not even really needing lotion when you get out of the shower. It’s that amazing. And, once again, they are super easy to travel with. Just make sure you pack it in something like a tin container, or wrap it in tissue-like paper because they melt at high heat. I’ve never had an issue with it, but, better to be pre-cautious just in case.

5. Face Wash

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When it comes to face wash, I’m super particular because I have sensitive skin and many face washes are prone to breaking me out (which is something one does NOT want while traveling). I have two face washes that I LOVE, so I’ll usually pick one and pour it into one of my travel sized containers and bring it with me. In case you’re wondering what my two favorite face washes are: Michael Todd True Organics Charcoal Detox and Clean and Clear Continuous Control. I use these with my Clarisonic Mia 2, which goes with me everywhere because I love it. Michael Todd also sells a lot of travel kits. They’re super convenient and I really can’t recommend them enough. I like things that are  natural and organic (pretty obvious with my LUSH obsession) mainly because I find that they work best for my skin and Michael Todd’s products are AMAZING. Oh and Michael Todd ships worldwide. SUPER convenient.

6. Make-Up

I’m not even ashamed to admit that there is no way in hell that I will travel anywhere without bringing my make-up along. Now, that being said, I don’t bring my entire make-up bag with me. I have a smaller cosmetics bag, where I pack my essentials. This includes: foundation (I use Dior’s Forever), ONE blush (I usually bring my MAC mineralize skinfinish in Cheeky Bronze because I find that I don’t really need bronzer with it. They don’t sell it anymore, but the current Soft and Gentle is pretty similar), ONE eyeshadow palette (My FAV is Classic Nude by Physician’s Formula), lip color (I prefer to use lip butters rather than lipstick so I’ll usually bring 2 of my Revlon lip butters), mascara, and last, but certainly not least, mattifying powder (I have an oily face, yo. Gotta keep that ish under control. My fav is by Makeup Forever). Now, along with all this, I bring 3 make-up brushes. My foundation brush, blush brush, and powder brush. I don’t bring an eyeshadow brush because I’m content using the one that comes with the palette. I know this all seems like a lot, but seriously, I fit it all in a small cosmetics bag.

I’ll usually also bring along make-up remover wipes because I like to use those before I use my clarisonic. As far as other things, like lotion and perfume, I usually dispense those into travel size containers.  LUSH does sell solid perfume, though, just sayin’.

I think that’s all for my travel beauty product essentials. Leave me a comment below with a product you absolutely can’t travel without! And ladies, please tell me I’m not the only one who brings make-up with her on her travels. Please.

I’ll be posting that Puerto Rico post I mentioned soon.

¡Hablamos Pronto!