What a Beauty Blogger Considers "Traveling Light"

Is probably not what normal people do. But hey! At least I didn't bring my complete collection.

It's going to be hot and humid everywhere I'll be, so I brought base products that hang around for dear life: MAC Matchmaster 1, Face Atelier Zero Minus (to add to Matchmaster so that it actually, y'know, matches my skin––I'll try to review this for reals at some point), Meow Sleek Siamese Flawless, Make Up For Ever Full Cover Concealer 1 Pink Porcelain, and Ben Nye Neutral Set.

clockwise from top right: Meow Sleek Siamese (in my own jar),
Ben Nye Neutral Set (ditto), Face Atelier Zero Minus, MAC
Matchmaster 1, MUFE Full Cover 1

For face color, I wanted to make sure I brought one cool blush and one warm blush, opting for MAC Subtle Breeze* for the former and NARS Deep Throat for the latter, as well as a cream blush, Becca Watermelon Beach Tint, which also doubles as a lip stain!

clockwise from left: Becca Watermelon, NARS Deep
Throat, MAC Subtle Breeze*

Speaking of lip products, ugh. I wanted to bring, like, 10, but settled for a selection that will hopefully suffice for my needs (plus, I'm sure I'll pick up some when I'm abroad––just think of all the brands you can't find here!). MAC Plumful as an everyday pink-plum (and Revlon Sugar Plum as an alternate), Burberry Mallow Pink as a coral/warm pink, L'Oreal Infinite Fuchsia as a bright-not-red, Lipstick Queen Cosmos as a not-bold-red, and NARS Mascate as a longwearing red. And Revlon Red lip liner, just in case. Dermstore Lip Quench was included as a free sample and I decided to bring it as my lip balm (less hefty/breakable than Nuxe Reve de Miel), and I picked up Dior Lip Maximizer when I returned the Armani and Chanel glosses, as a prep stage for other lippies (and nice sheer gloss on its own). And while the picture below looks, um, excessive, this is about a third of all my lippies. See? Such restraint!

left to right: Revlon Red lip liner, NARS Mascate, Lipstick Queen Cosmos,
L'Oreal Infinite Fuchsia, MAC Plumful, Revlon Sugar Plum, Burberry Mallow Pink,
LMdB Purple Haze, Dermstore Lip Quench, Dior Lip Maximizer

Eyes were a bit simpler, just because I don't care as much about eyeshadow as I do lippies! I brought my Inglot 5-pan palette, for some color, and Guerlain Les Fumés as my workhorse neutrals. I intended to bring LORAC Behind the Scenes primer but forgot, so picked up a mini tube of UDPP at Sephora in NYC (not pictured), and Urban Decay Shadow Pencil in Sin (also not pictured, ha) is a swipe-and-go to brighten my eyes when I don't feel like doing a full look. My trusty Shiseido curler and Maybelline Full N Soft finish off the lashes, and though I probably will decide I'm too lazy to use it, I'm bringing Make Up For Ever Aqua Brow 25 Ash Brown as well.

clockwise from top left: Shiseido curler, MUFE Aqua Brow 25,
Guerlain Les Fumés, Inglot Freedom Palette, Maybelline Full N Soft

I'm trying to keep my brush selection really pared down so as to take up less space: Real Techniques Buffing Brush for foundation, Ecotools Concealer for concealer (surprise!), Ecotools Bronzer Brush for powder, Real Techniques Stippling Brush for blush (works with powder and cream!), Sephora Smudge Brush and an old brow gel spoolie for eyebrows, Real Techniques Shading Brush x2 (my first one started disintegrating, so we'll see how these hold up...), Real Techniques Base Brush, Ecotools Shading Brush, Real Techniques Accent Brush, and Sonia Kashuk Crease Brush, because between those 6, I won't have to wash my eye makeup brushes any more often than my foundation (which I wash every other day).

Skincare, I'm bringing Philosophy Purity (not pictured) to cleanse and makeup-remove, Uncommon Scents Amber Cream and Garden of Wisdom Argan Oil to moisturize, and La Roche-Posay Effaclar Duo to treat my acne (finally caved and bought it at 20% off––we'll see how it fares!). For sunscreen, I'm bringing Shiseido, Josie Maran, and Boscia for my face, and a tube of Neutrogena SPF 45 for my body, though I will need to buy more once I get to Turkey/Europe (as well as bug spray, available at eczaneler [Turkish pharmacies––look how much I know!]), plus a sample tube of L'Occitane's hand cream with SPF.

clockwise from top: LRP Effaclar Duo, Uncommon Scents Amber Cream

 (in my own jar), L'Occitane SPF hand cream, Shiseido SPF 50+ 

cream, Josie Maran Argan SPF 40, Boscia Antioxidant SPF 30,

Garden of Wisdom Argan Oil

For my hair, I brought a bar of Camanu Rosemary Nettle shampoo (made in Portland!) and a bottle of As I Am Leave-In Conditioner, which should keep my hair clean and relatively under control (though humidity really screws with it!). I couldn't decide on what perfume to bring, so I just threw a bunch of samples into my quart sized bag and hoped for the best: several Diptyques and an Acqua di Parma, a couple Sweet Anthems, and my two Pacifica solid perfumes (California Star Jasmine and French Lilac). I'm hoping to get some more freebies from stores in New York, but we'll see how it works out! And maybe I'll find some sort of gorgeous ambery-rosy-oudy creation in Turkey...

Is there anything that I didn't bring that you would? Anything I did bring that you wouldn't? How do you pack for 5 weeks away?

*Items marked with a star were received as a gift.