Top Makeup Tips While Travelling*

What makeup/skincare can you take on an airplane? What kind of makeup should you WEAR on a long plane ride?  When going on a trip, which makeup/skincare items should you bring and which are best left at home?

Although I am far from being a Makeup Queen, I do love makeup and I get asked these questions frequently because of how often I fly (four to six transatlantic flights a year, roughly the same amount within Europe and North Africa). So after various associated blog posts and comments I have decided to pull all the info into one page.  Also, for infrequent fliers, the new airport regulations on what liquids, and in what quantity, can and can’t be taken in carry-on luggage are often confusing and unevenly enforced.  It is my hope that the brief information listed below will minimize airport drama for you, give a clearer idea of what you should take along, wear while there, and buy in local shops or in duty-free if necessary.

Although I do try to keep from skewing the information towards a particular skintype, I do understand that what works for me may not work for anyone.  That said, for reference, I am quite pale with dry skin. Some readers may get to skip the high SPF I can’t go without, and some people may have darker or colored shadow or liner as part of their signature looks. As I get more info I will update this page, so please feel free to leave comments, even if you don’t normally come by my blog.  Thanks!

Before you go:

1. Do a test run of the products you want to bring.  Make sure you are bringing tried-and-true performers when it comes to your foundation, sunscreen and color.  That said, be aware of the climate at your destination.  The foundation that works for you in winter in Minnesota might be too heavy in the Bahamas in December.  Vacations are also a great time to pull out items from your stash that may be a good color match, but the texture isn’t compatible with your home climate.  One example for me is Shiseido tinted moisturizer- I find it drying and can only use it on the hottest days of summer in Switzerland, but I can’t live without it in New Orleans.

What to bring:

 1. I don’t advocate pulling a train case of products on vacation with you unless you are a performer (singers notably have to bring their own stash). When I travel I try to limit my MU to the following items, with the caveat that buying makeup on a trip is often better than souvenirs. I thus try to limit what gets taken along.  What I place in carry-on and what gets checked is to follow.

Face: sunscreen and/or tinted moisturizer, concealer, eye cream, one multipurpose night/body cream.

Eyes: neutral shadow (brown, taupe, beige), neutral liner (brown or black) and mascara. Neutral eyes normally don’t clash with outfits. This is were I have the caveat that some people have signature looks that may include color, which is fine, but my personal opinion is that in my experience it doesn’t work. If I know I have to wear makeup every day, I will exceptionally bring a “cool” eye look and a “warm” eye look.

Cheeks: light bronzer and a light pink blush. This way you have a combination of colors to work with. Some companies, like Bobbi Brown and Nars, do blush bronzer combos in the same compact.

Lips: I am a lipgloss addict, but in reality I try to limit my travel stash down to one emollient lip balm without sunscreen for nights, one balm with sunscreen, one nude lipstick, and a couple of lipglosses.  Lips are one item when travelling where you can afford to add a touch of color. Because I love lip products so much, I also make a habit of buying a lipstick as a souvenir when I go on trips, so if I have a “makeup emergency” I will usually get a nice colored lippie.

I can get these items, except for the body lotion and night cream, into my ziploc bag for the plane. I have two bags- one for powders and creams, and another for liquids. I describe what I put in my “liquids” ziploc below.

On the plane: 

NB: The famous ziploc bag.  American and European airports have slightly different guidelines although any flights going to and from the US generally have the same rules; also, a lot of things are subject to the whims, training level, and general intelligence of airport security staff. For example, I got my go mug confiscated in Zurich airport, while I had a bottle make it through Houston and Paris with no problems.  As a general rule, makeup wise, you need to put anything liquid or gummy into this plastic bag. This includes lipgloss, mascara, creams, roll-on deodorant and so on.  I have had overzealous airport staff who included stick deodorant and lipstick and pencil eyeliner into the rule so I always leave a bit of space into the bag.  Powder, powder blush and eyeshadow and the like DO NOT count as part of your ziploc bag space.  That said, I always put my other makeup products in a similar bag because the metal pans and mirrors can trip up security staff and it saves time for the second inspection. I am thus a proponent of a two bag rule: liquids in one bag, other makeup in another, and handy.   In my ziploc bag  of “liquids” for the carry on, I keep the following items: hand sanitizer, an all purpose moisturizer for face and hands and eyes (The best I have found for my sensitive skin is by California Baby, mentioned below), a bottle of Evian spritzer, a small bottle of light perfume (Chanel No. 19 is pretty inoffensive), Aveda’s blue oil, lip gloss and carmex and, finally, tinted moisturizer for just before landing. In the “questionable items” ziploc bag I keep face powder and bronzer.

1. For my Muslim sisters, a headscarf has the added benefit of keeping your hair REALLY clean, especially if you sport an Al-Amirah in a polyester blend. I know it sounds counterintuitive to suggest wearing a headscarf in an airport to new converts or part time hijabis, but I find I don’t get harassed, I just get treated like I am stupid or don’t speak English. Before I get on the plane, I wash my hair, put on a leave-in conditioner, rub some Nuxe oil on my bangs and ends so they don’t stick out of the scarf, and put on my Al Amirah with damp hair. When I take my scarf off 12-20 hours later, my hair is shiny, clean and conditioned when I brush it. So wearing the headscarf actually helped me take care of my hair, not just cover it.  I am a strong advocate of headwraps of some kind on planes.
2. Flying dehydrates you, but I find that if I drink a lot of water while flying, it just goes straight through. I instead up my water consumption the two days before I fly to around two liters a day so that I am already pretty hydrated before I get on the plane. Being hydrated makes your skin more puffy and makes you less likely to look like a beat mess.

3. Take a shower the morning of your flight and if at all possible let yourself air dry (to lock in the moisture on your skin). While your skin is still slightly damp, put on the richest body lotion you have and mix in a couple of drops of olive oil or argan oil with each pump.

4. This is a hard one for me, but no makeup whatsoever- this coming from the girl who has worn powder since she was nine. It will just crud up and clog your pores, and you will look more tore up midflight than you do with no makeup on. Go to town on moisturizers and eye cream. After your morning shower, do the same thing for your face- air dry- and then put on the richest face cream your skin can handle, whatever your winter moisturizer is. For a little color, I put a couple of drops of the Nuxe oil with the gold shimmer. Both the Nuxe oils are made with dimethicone, which is a silicone sealant that locks in moisture, which is why I always use them as the last step and not the first- if you put them on bare skin they will dry your skin out in the long run, but as the final step to your routine they are fantastic.

5. Once all this is done, don’t touch your face if at all possible. Just let it go. Dab a little moisturizer around your eyes and nose mid flight. I use California Baby for this or Biotherm Nutrisource Eye Cream.

6. If you absolutely must wear makeup, try not to put it on until just before landing. Use the Evian spritzer to reactivate your moisturizer, dab a little more cream around your eyes, and then apply the strict minimum necessary to make you want to go out in public. For me, this means bronzer on my nose and cheeks or, if I am going somewhere straight from the plane, a tinted moisturizer with sunscreen. I usually wear face powder but by the end of a flight, powder accentuates flakiness, even in my t-zone.

A few words about the products I mentioned:

Nuxe products are cult favorites in Europe and available in most drugstores and retail outlets. One of their fetish products which most women buy is their Huile Prodigieuse, a dry oil which comes in clear and with gold glitter. I have both, and the glitter is not OTT. I use these oils for just about anything from hair to body to face- I mix a few drops in whatever moisturizer I am using.  As I mentioned before, it is my duty to warn you that the main ingredient in both of these are silicone sealants.  While some environmentalists are anti-silicones for their presence in runoff water, I don’t think ‘cones are any worse than petrochemical sealants (vaseline) which are more common. The real issue with silicones to be aware of is that, like vaseline, they only seal in what moisture is already present, and the way to maximize their efficiency is to use a product UNDER them which increases moisture. For this I use straight-up olive or argan oil.

One product I cannot sing high enough praises for is California Baby’s Calming Botanical Moisturizing Cream. This is the all purpose cream I take in my ziploc bag on the plane. It comes in a two ounce size, which makes it plane approved. California Baby products are marketed as natural, no petrochemicals, no parabens, no nut oils, etc etc., but that is not why I use it. I use this cream because it penetrates quickly, isn’t greasy, doesn’t irritate my sensitive skin, moisturizes just as well as more expensive creams, and you can even put it on your lips (although I am such an addict I put it on then put carmex’s petrochemical goodness on over it). I am all for natural products when they live up to their promises, but I have been disappointed so many times in the past with “natural” products that were goopy or just simply poor products. I also don’t buy the philosophy that petrochemicals and parabens are all that bad, I just think people need to be savvy consumers, read ingredient lists, and make informed purchases. For example, Creme de la Mer does not have any more expensive ingredients than Nivea Creme. Just read your labels and know your skin. I must say that I do enjoy the feel-good benefits of going without parabens from time to time. The California Baby cream isn’t just good because it is organic or paraben free, it is good full stop, just a superior product. It is the highest-performing natural cream I have ever tested, and one of the best moisturizers in any category I have ever used. Run, do not walk to Trader Joes or Whole Foods and hook yourself up.

What to buy when you get there:

To be added later.  Enjoy!

*Hat tip to Mama Mona for catching typos. Or is that a hijab flutter?