How do you pack your makeup when you travel?
I use medium-sized makeup bags (nothing special, just zippered pouches) for things like quads, blush compacts eyelash curlers, etc. I’ll use a Smithfolio for brushes and eyeliners. If I’m taking any larger palettes, I’ll put bubble wrap or some paper towel on top of the products (between the lid and products) and wrap with clothes and put into the middle of my suitcase. If I’m going by air, then I cram everything I can into a quart-sized bag (I avoid checking in at all costs!).
— Christine
We travel by car, so we never worry about check-in problems. I have a cosmetic travel case for makeup and other small items. It’s about the size of a briefcase. It is structured and padded, and has moveable partitions and multiple zipper compartments. I always put my liquid items in ziploc bags.
I’ve become pretty efficient over the last few years – one medium zipper pouch for everything. For travel specifically, I always bring a stick foundation, a universal blush, one nude balm, one lipstick and my Tartelette in Bloom palette. My liquids and creams get decanted into small jars if I don’t have travel sizes handy. I tend to go for light and easy when travelling.
When I travel by air, it’s usually for a beach vacation, so I bring the bare minimum, and it fits into one of my empty Ipsy makeup bags, and stays in my carry-on. (I’ve never been quite sure if they would consider mascara to be a liquid, so I play it safe and put that in the liquids ziploc).
For travel by car, I generally bring everything I would normally use in my daily routine (trying to stick with only one shadow palette), and it gets packed into my makeup bag (a little larger than a hardcover novel), which has little slots for my brushes as well as removable compartments.
I have a cheapo amazon cosmetics bag which is perfect sized to fit enough for travel. I put baggies around things that may leak, other than that, I try to grab mini sized products or samples so I do not have to cart around full size. I pair back my brush selection and pick e/s palettes that are easy and small. Pencils are far more portable, so I rely on them more to distinguish my look.
I have a `classic` hanging toiletry bag, which fits most of my make-up and skin-care (the advantages of being streamlined with my collection and having mostly only one item of each kind, except color).
– One of the slim sides holds brushes (2 face brushes I can use for both powder and contour / brush, 3-4 eye brushes).
– Another of the slim sides hold anything else `slim`: eyeliners, mascara, brow pencils, etc.
– The small zipped pockets hold sample packets I keep for travel
– In the mesh pockets in the main compartment I put small bottles (sample sized or depoted liquids)
– Everything else goes to the main compartment, which actually fits my dual-sided custom MAC palette (which holds all my eyeshadows and face powders).
I don’t secure anything specifically, I just make sure the bag in well cushioned between clothes. I never had an item broken, just spillage from some liquids. I learned my lesson to put plastic foil under the cap during travel.
Any larger bottle of skincare / bodycare goes somewhere between my clothes.
Besides that, I have in my carry-on a Ziploc which mostly includes (among others): the concealer, face SPF, powder, a moisturizer, a lipstick, mascara, brow gel. That means that even after a long overnight flight I can retouch / re-do my make-up.
I keep a similar approach even when I travel by car.
I put almost everything in 2 large zipped up makeup bags. One for my face products, the other one for color cosmetics. Those 2 bags then go into a large tote or overnight type bag. If it’s hot outside, I will keep my lipsticks in my crossbody bag. On the off chance that I bring a larger palette (10 pans or more), I wrap it up in a few nightgowns or p.j.’s and place it well within my suitcase.
For me, there are a lot of variables in this question. If travelling by car, I really don’t restrict myself that much. I will put all of my skin care into a zippered pouch. All coloured makeup goes into another makeup pouch. My brushes go into a third small pouch. My palettes I will wrapped into clothing or bubble wrap. If travelling by car I will take a couple of palettes with me just for the variety. For long trips where my daughter is coming, she will bring a couple of palettes also and then we share. I have some palettes that I would be devastated if they broke or were damaged in some way and then I have palettes that I know are prone to breakage so I try not to use them when travelling.
For trips involving flying it is a different story. We spent a lot of time trying to figure out our makeup situation for our 5 week trip to Europe. Our skin tones and types are dramatically different so any base products we individualized but for our eyes we only took one palette, UD Born To Run. It worked out fine. There were issues with some products. I had decanted most of my skin care into smaller Travelon tubs. It turns out they were silicone and when I put any product with silicone in them they weakened the container and everything was a serious mess even on the first leg of our trip. I had to buy some basic skin care to get me through when we were in London. More below on that issue. We started out planning to only do carry on, which is just about impossible for a 5 week trip but we were optimistic. We each took an above the seat/bin appropriate bag and an under the seat bag. The airline definition of a liquid is anything that does not hold it’s shape if it was removed from the container. So, I had to limit just about everything. When purchasing new skin care, there generally isn’t a small size that fits into a quart zip lock bag. So, I had all of this skin care that I purchased in London and wasn’t going to be able to take it in carry on without having to waste most of it. I ended up checking one bag most of the rest of the trip. The European airlines that I traveled on did not charge me for my checked bag except on our small flight from Athens to Santorini. Overall, with the exception of Scotland, it went pretty well. Getting out of Scotland was a nightmare. I am going to give them the benefit of the doubt and say they were having a bad day but both my daughter and I have vowed never to fly out of Scotland again. Once we were checking one bag, we consolidated all of our liquids into one case and we each kept our dry products with us on the plane. We didn’t have any trouble with breakage or damage of any kind. We both made sure to put our makeup pouches into the middle of the case where it was well protected by other things. You think that you know your makeup is in the bag and you will be careful with it but you don’t always get that luxury. Several times on the trip I had put my bag in the overhead bin above where I was sitting, only to have either an airline person or another passenger, arbitrarily pull my bag out and move it. Apparently, the other passengers bag being close to them was more important than my bag being close to me!! In any event, after I saw that happen I was careful to pack my breakables in a more secure fashion.
? Funny, I’m sitting at the airport bar right now.
I have a semi-hard case about 15” by 8” and 4” deep from Amazon.
It has adjustable compartments and is freakin’ amazing. I can fit all I need in one protected case. It has a covered slip in the lid for brushes, it keeps them protected in elastic pockets. It is a zipped case and so sturdy I often use my carry on for a leg rest so I can elevate my legs on long-hauls, like the one I’m getting on in and hour.
I’ve had it for about 18mos and love it.
I keep a number of items stored in it that I only use for travel. Including my deodorant, some travel brushes, hair clips and elastics…
The case sounds amazing. Would you be willing to provide a link to or name of the case?
Leaving for Hawaii this week and packed my makeup/skincare/hair care in gallon Ziploc bags. I’ve edited the makeup bag twice and still have too much but I have FOMO and always overdo it. Will place in makeup in my carry on bag while the rest goes in checked bags.
This is an interesting question because in late July I am going on a big road trip with my son up the East coast of Aus and back down the middle of the Great Dividing Range to home. So I will be having to decide what makeup to take and what to leave behind. As we are going in a car, this will be easier than plane travel with all of its luggage restrictions.
Zip lock bags come in handy and I do have a smallish bag that I will use for my cosmentics. As we are going to the tropical north (in the winter) it will be quite warm up there, but through the interior it will be cold, so I will need to bring both summer and winter gear. I just hope his boot is big enough…..
For a few years I traveled a lot so I got pretty good at packing my delicate makeup & skincare products. I had to check bags that took multiple flights in & out of the country. I use bubble wrap, tissue paper, boxes the products came in which kinda makes me sound like a hoarder but it works. It’s an inexpensive way to prevent products from breaking when bags get thrown around brutally. As far as liquids, sprays, sunblocks and anything that isn’t a powder, prepare for the possibility that temperature changes & air pressure may cause them to explode or never come home the same.
Waterproof. Cosmetic. Bags. And giant ziplocks to protect garments & shoes. In a pinch wash cloths from the fancy hotels help protect breakables and they don’t keep an eye on every cloth napkin & towel they give you. ?
I usually travel by car, so check-ins are not an issue. I have a large Current Mood Coffin Cosmetics Case that fits a ton of stuff inside. I put all my color cosmetics in there, including eyeshadow palettes. (Unless it’s a mega-palette, it’ll fit in there.) I use separate medium-sized makeup bag for things like primers, powder or stick foundation, concealer, setting powder, tools, etc. Brushes go in a brush roll. Anything that could leak gets packed inside large zip-lock bags and tucked into side pockets in my suitcase. If for some reason I take a larger eye or face palette, I wrap it in bubble wrap, put it in a zip-lock bag ( in case it breaks anyway, because I’m anxious like that), and pad it with clothing in my suitcase.
The last time I flew was Oct. 2006, when we took the kids to Disneyland. I fit everything in my carry-on. It was really hot and we were busy, so I actually didn’t take much makeup on that trip.
All liquids in a makeup bag in my checked luggage, sandwiched between my clothes. I also tend to put those in a plastic bag because I’m a bit paranoid about leakage. Everything else: carry-on. Always. Don’t want to risk expensive powder products or makeup brushes getting broken or lost!
Also, the image on this post is breaking my heart because the Makeup Forever magnetic palettes are discontinued. I literally don’t want to buy any more single eyeshadow pans because of it.