Beauty Bites - Hand Luggage Beauty

I'm popping over to Amsterdam this weekend with The Blogcademy and I'm a little ashamed to say that one of the first things I thought of was "how on earth will I be able to pack my beauty bag into hand luggage requirements?!" Yes, I am *that* girl that carts around a whole load of lotions and potions in her handbag on a daily basis, fills a jumbo-sized cosmetics carrier for a night away from home and is always buying into the latest beauty trend. Usually whenever I travel I opt for hold luggage so I don't even have to think about pairing down my daily stash but as it's just for 3 nights I thought I'd give myself the challenge to pair things down a bit...and crikey this still seems like an awful lot of junk!



First up, I got myself the largest clear travel cosmetics case that I could find within the 20cm square allowance. Just £6 for a set of 3 from M&S, it's much easier to see what you actually have packed than stuffing it into one of those crappy plastic sandwich bags that are available at the airport. To comply with hand-luggage regulations, the clear bag must close easily and not be tied at the top.



Next, I stocked up on all my favourite products in miniatures - Boots and Superdrug have dedicated travel sections during the summer months and often deals and money off when you buy multiples. Yes, you could decant into clear plastic bottles and tubs but quite frankly, who's got the time to be trying to decipher if you've got a bottle of conditioner or face wash when you've got a new city to explore?! All vessels must be under 100ml - you can't take bigger bottles that are half full, for example - but aside from shampoo/conditioner/showergel I was quite surprised at how many of my essentials already come in under this size.



When you're short on space, look for products that double up - for example my Piz Buin sun cream is great for face and body and Elizabeth Arden's 8 Hour Cream is a must have for all sorts of skin ailments you might encounter. I chose a moisturising body wash to eliminate the need to moisturise (which realistically, I barely do anyway) My hair isn't in good enough condition to be able to go for a 2 in 1 type shampoo, but it's definitely time to leave the treatments and non-essential products out - I can indulge in a deep protein masque when I get home. One thing I won't scrimp on though is skincare - I've been paying more attention to my face this year than ever before so just relying on facewipes won't cut it anymore. It's all about the compromise!



I always pack a spare pair of contact lenses just in case and it's worth noting that travel size multipurpose solution is available, but you'll find it with the other contact lens care stuff as opposed to travel products - this is just not a product you can decant. I love LUSH gorilla perfume sticks on a day to day basis as they're the perfect size to pop in your handbag, but if you can't part from your jumbo sized bottle of Flowerbomb never fear; travel sized atomisers are readily available and so easy to fill and go.

Truthfully, I could probably *actually* lose about half of this - I mean, are my impending crows feet really going to suffer from not having 3 nights of eye-cream?! - but I find a lot of comfort and enjoyment from my morning and nightly routines. What can I say, I've never had the desire to pack all my worldly belongings into a backpack and rough it around the globe!