Top 10 Travel Beauty Essentials

If there’s one way I love to spend my time, it’s traveling. I love everything about it. Getting out of your comfort zone to discover a new culture is just so incredible and it’s something everyone should experience!

Every year I make a point to head out of town and experience something new. Last year, Jeremy and I went to Cuba and loved it, and this year we will be exploring France.

I am so excited to be traveling to France for the very first time. It’s always been a dream of mine to explore France, see Paris, see the countryside, visit Normandy,  and now it’s all finally happening!

Since I am going away so soon, travel and packing have been a hot topic in my mind. The truth is that the one thing that always proves tricky when traveling abroad is what exactly to pack. It can be challenging because I don’t want to pack too much, but I also don’t want to forget something that I wish I had throughout my trip.

Since I want to make sure that I am packing what I’ll really need, use, and want for my trip, I usually pack my makeup bag & skincare bag early. This allows me to use the items from those travel bags for a few days to see if I notice anything that is missing. So, let’s go through what I have packed.

Top 10 Travel Beauty Product Essentials

1. Pack Along Some Sun Care

SPF Foundation

If you’re traveling to a location that is warm and sunny then you’re going to want to make sure that products with SPF are a priority in your beauty bag.

Rather than leaving it up to chance and burning, pack along items that will help combat oiliness and sweat while also protecting your skin from the harmful rays of the sun.

While I always pack sunscreen, I also like to pack an SPF foundation. Powder foundations with SPF are a great option to avoid that slick sunscreen feeling on your skin.

SPF Lip balm

As I mentioned above, SPF products need to be a priority when you’re traveling! Investing in a quality SPF Lipbalm, such as Sun Bum SPF 30 lip balm, will help protect your lips from the sun and also keep them hydrated.

If you’re like me then this is especially necessary as I find my lips always become much drier and more chapped while flying. Nothing is more painful and uncomfortable than burning your lips, so just be sure to apply your SPF balm frequently.

Sunscreen

Regardless of where your next trip is, the one thing you’re going to want to be sure to pack along is sunscreen.

Sunscreen will help protect your skin from harmful rays and allow you to enjoy your vacation fully – because as we all know, there’s nothing that puts a damper on your vacation quite like a bad sunburn!

My trip to France is coming up fast, and while it will just be spring and we do not plan on spending days at the beach, I’ll definitely be packing along a face and body sunscreen to ensure I don’t get any painful burns!

2. Two Lip Products

When you’re traveling for a long period of time, you want to allow yourself some versatility without over-packing. Along with packing a great lip balm, I also always like to give myself two lipstick options.

Typically, I’ll bring one tinted lip balm, such as Fresh Beauty tinted lip balm in Petal, and one lipstick, like the Charlotte Tilbury Matte Revolution Lipstick in Pillow Talk (my go-to!).

3. A Combination Palette

Any makeup that you can get in an all-in-one palette will be useful space-wise when you’re traveling. I love bronzer and highlighter duo kits as they are compact, and can also double up as eyeshadows. I usually don’t find that I need multiple blush or bronzer options when I travel so a singular palette tends to work well for me.

In the last few years, I have found the Hourglass Palettes to be the best palettes for travel. They contain a setting powder, highlighter, blush, and bronzer and while these are face products, I also often use them as eyeshadows, too.

Rather than packing individual eyeshadows or multiple eyeshadow palettes, reusing a face palette for your eyeshadows is a great way to make the most out of the products you’re bringing and save space.

4. Skincare

Just because you’re heading away from your usual routine doesn’t mean you should toss your routine to the side. Packing along your skincare set, or a travel-size version of your usual skincare will help keep your skin looking fresh.

If your go-to skincare items don’t come in travel sizes, you can pour your products into these travel pouches. I use these containers when I travel so that I can pack along a bit of my skincare rather than the full sizes. I personally am always a bit anxious about packing my skincare or liquid makeup products because I have had them leak during travel before. So rather than risk losing most of my skincare or makeup products, I pour a bit of them into travel pouches. That way, if they do leak, I won’t lose the entire product.

5. Nail Care

One mistake I’ve made before is forgetting to pack along my much-needed nail care items like nail clippers, files, and nail polish remover. I personally like being able to trim my nails, cut hang nails, and remove nail polish while I travel. I used to also pack nail polish so I could re-do my nails, but now that’s something I leave at home. The fact is that I don’t want to be doing my nails while I travel, I have other things I’d rather be doing!

6. Mascara – Original / Waterproof

If you’re heading on a tropical vacation, packing along waterproof mascara will be essential.

While I am really not a fan of waterproof mascara (I hate how difficult it is to remove it!), it is pretty essential when it’s that hot out or when you’re spending your days at the beach or at the pool. If you’re not traveling to a tropical destination then you likely don’t need to pack a waterproof mascara, unless you prefer it.

7. Makeup Brushes

Packing all of these items would be pretty useless without a makeup brush or two! Be sure to pack along your usual brushes so you can create the looks you like.

8. Spot Treatments

I don’t know about you, but whenever I travel my skin freaks out a bit. It usually gets a bit more dry than usual, and a blemish or two pops up. I think it’s from all the recycled air on planes but who knows! Either way, after a few trips of this happening, I’ve gotten wise to bring spot treatments. Putting one of these on as soon as I can feel a blemish brewing really helps them from getting worse.

9. Bring a Mask (or two)

Depending on how long you’re traveling, you may want to bring one or two masks. In particular, I like bringing face sheet masks and eye sheet masks to give my skin that extra bit of care it needs after air travel, long days at the beach, etcetera.

10. Hydrate, Hydrate, & Hydrate

It’s really easy to forget to drink as much water as you should when you traveling or when you’re out exploring during your trip but it is so important to stay hydrated – not just as a beauty tip, but as a health necessity, too. Depending on where you travel, if the water is safe to drink then you may want to bring your own reusable water bottle. Drinking enough water will help you feel better during travel and exploring, and it will also keep your skin looking and feeling more hydrated.

Check these out next:

• Travel Beauty Essentials: Hair Care Edition
• Travel Beauty Essentials: Makeup (for a tropical vacation)