Pack Smart While Travel

Hi everybody,

Oh man, it's Monday already? I've been scratching my head to think of a topic for today and apparently, 20+ hours in the air really jumbled my brain. Believe it or not, I had to part with a whole lot of makeup. Good makeup. Being a beauty blogger, this is the equivalence of committing treason to your own trade. I know, I know. I wouldn't do that in a better circumstance. But in my case, prioritizing was the only way to go.

Now, on today's post, we are talking about the non-extreme case of traveling with makeup. Why are we even talking about this?

Because, duh! *scratch head*

Ok, that's a tad condescending. I'm sorry. Again, my butt is still sore from the plane ride. But the real reason is, we girls want to keep ourselves looking pretty at any place. However, with all the new regulations and weight restriction*, it's better to pack smart. Let me show you the light after the jump, alright?

1. The quart-size zip lock bag is your friend:

If you travel from the U.S, your liquids will have to fit into one small quart-size zip lock bag. Each item should not be bigger than 3 fluid ounces (approximately 100ml.) Items considered liquid are your toothpaste, perfume, body lotion, face cream, shampoo, conditioner, mascara, and liquid eyeliner.

To save money, you can ask department store counters for samples to carry with you or you can decant from the big bottles to the tiny ones. I packed my face creams with me since I know how sensitive my skin is and I need to use them on the plane. The dry air really sucks the moisture out of your skin and you don't want to look all tired.

However, there's a way to dodge the quart-size liquid limitation. Which leads us to point 2...

2. The little sample packs in foil don't count:

Really! During a trip to the big bad ATL, I packed a bunch of skincare samples. While they tossed my liquid eyeliner into the quart bag, the samples remained in my makeup bag. Like Madea said, "Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Halleluyer!" So please keep the sample packs around just in case you travel. They are really life-savers.

3. BYOW

Yup, that stands for "Bring Your Own Wipes." Besides the flushing toilet, baby wipes are the coolest things since sliced bread. Like sample packs, the wipes are not considered liquids, yet you can use them in so many ways.

• Need to clean your hands on the plane? Use a wipe.
• Need to freshen up? Use a wipe.
• Need to remove your makeup? Use a wipe.
• Need to have some light moisture on your skin? Use a wipe! (<- preferably alcohol-free and contains emollients and moisturizing ingredients like aloe vera and glycerin.)

4. Bring multi-functional items:

• Your hair conditioner can double up as a shaving cream for your legs: yes, it does work.
• Forget eyeliner? Dip your brush into a tube of mascara and line your eyes like a boss.
• Don't have mascara? Wet your brush and drag it back and forth in a pot of black eyeshadow. Bam!
• Didn't bring your body wash? Use your shampoo, baby!
• Don't have shampoo and body wash? Your face wash is your personal savior right now**

Yes, these are just general tips. I haven't even touched on how to travel with makeup yet. It'll be a topic for another day. I'm sorry this is one of those posts without a picture again. Just give me some time and we'll have some pretty entries soon.

If you have some packing tips, please share. I know I'm not the best packer in the whole wide world and I will be more than happy to learn from you.

Notes:

*Weight restriction is very strict these days. Back then, you could go overboard for a pound or two and the airline people would let you slide and mark your luggage as heavy. Now, you have to pack at the exact limit or less. My luggages were 51 lbs and I had to take out a pound each from each luggage, which means I threw away some items. Otherwise, I would have paid a fine of $50 per luggage. And I had two. Needless to say, I'm still miff about that.

**Yup, it did happen. Once upon a time, I forgot my shampoo and body wash at home. The hotel had the worst stuff ever. I ended up using my Very Expensive Face Wash to keep me clean. I was not happy but at least I was clean.

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