Your makeup collection may stretch far as the eye can see, but knowing how to curate your to-go kit is an art by itself. Here are our best secrets on what your portable makeup bag should hold.
Practice your penmanship
Over the past few years, our makeup kits have lost some of their excess weight, thanks to the army of sticks out there: everything from foundation and concealer to eyeshadow, highlighter and contour comes in stick form. We’ve ditched bottle foundation for a cream compact like Bobbi Brown Long-Wear Even Finish Compact Foundation (that glo!), heavy pots of concealer for fairy godmother-esque wands like Bobbi Brown Retouching Wand, and our highlighters are fat crayons like Benefit Cosmetics Watt's Up! Cream Highlighter. Decant loose face powder in a small jar, or better yet, just take blotting papers instead.
Focus the agenda
When you’re travelling, choose one feature you wish to highlight. For us, it’s most often lips, for several reasons: 1. you can get away with taking just two or three lipsticks like a bright shade, a red and a nude (try MAC Retro Matte-Ruby Woo and Bobbi Brown Crushed Lip-Bare) to get through a week-long holiday 2. Lips are the easiest and quickest feature to paint up (we love makeup more than the next person, but the pool takes priority on holiday, people). Eyes are too high maintenance. To properly do a standout eye, you might need all of these: primer, shadows, liner, kohl, mascara, brushes.. it never ends. Lip looks are more forgiving—all you need are the lipsticks. If your baggage is not tipping the scales, throw in a felt tipped liner (try M.A.C Brushstroke Liner) and mascara to pull off a quick cat eye.
Join forces
If you’re focused on eyes, chill, we got you. Choose lightweight palettes instead of bulky single shadows. Usually, they come grouped into colours that pair well together, and you’ll have everything you need in one handy case. We’re living for palettes by Huda Beauty. Try the Huda Beauty Obsessions Palette - Warm Brown Obsessions or the Huda Beauty The New Nude Eyeshadow Palette. (If you’re committing to the eye-makeup-on-holiday lifestyle, just drop some $$ on a set of travel brushes. That’s a lightweight investment you’ll never regret.) Another option: play beauty Lego and custom build your own palette: M.A.C’s buildable palettes like M.A.C Eye Shadow X 9 & M.A.C Studio Conceal And Correct Palette can be kitted out with any shadow or concealer colours you choose.
Choose teamplayers
What you need more than anything are products that multitask. Lip + cheek stains like Benefit Cosmetics Benetint Rose-Tinted Lip & Cheek Stain are a must. And don’t hold back from rubbing your brain cells together to engineer a new use for an existing product. Use pale pearly eyeshadows as highlighter, and use a matte brown one to fill in eyebrows. Lipstick can double up as blush and pearlescent eyeshadows can also be patted over lipstick to create a new shade or effect.
