How important is it for a product to be "travel-friendly"?
Not at all since I rarely travel (and generally avoid it as much as possible!).
— Christine
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Once, before the pandemic, I used to travel a lot for working reason. So it was essential to for some pieces of my collection to be travel friendly, not all of course. Singh, I loved travel so much, I missed this. Hope to be able to do it safetly again… All this situation is making me fear that something huge in our lifes is changing and it will never return.
By the way, reading the comment below I noticed that for many readers travel friendly means travel size. That makes me realize that, while I use a lot travel size for skin care or personal care in case of travel, currently, and it’s funny, I don’t have any travel size make up products! For me travel friendly for makeup means more a smart packaging than the size. For example a travel friendly palette it’s a compact palette (like huda beauty’s obsession) but with a variety of shades for a full makeup (transition, crease, highlighter). A travel friendly blush it’s a stick rather than a compact one (even if usuay I prefer the powder) because I can avoid to bring a brush. Travel frendly is something make of cardboard instead of plastic, not only becauss is lighter, but also because cardboard absorbs better hurts than pladtic (and thus the product inside it’s more protected). In addition, for me travel friendly it’s something very easy to apply (i.e. an eyeshadow which can be applied with fingertips or a lipstick which goes smooth on lips and can be applied on different layers without emphasizing lip lines. Finally a travel size product is something quite old and not my favourite piece, so, in case of accidental breaking or problems at the security check controls at the aereoport, it not an heart – breaking loss 😉
I haven’t traveled much in the last few years but when I do I try to be as practical as I can, so I look at travel friendly cosmetics in a similar way. I prefer products that are flexible and easy to work with. Like, I want to only take one palette so I need one I can use for a variety of looks, etc. I don’t intentionally get travel sized items, though, as I prefer to decant things like cleanser into smaller bottles and take advantage of those larger sample items that collect like nobody’s business for things like mascara or perfume.
I love to travel for pleasure and now that the kids are grown and we have no pets, it’s something we could indulge in more easily. I rarely had to travel for work (only way back before I had kids and worked in public education for a major charity). Travel friendly products are a “plus” (even if it’s just a matter of transferring something into a smaller container). But not all products transfer well – many will dry up or change texture in open style jars like MAC sample jars or empty and sterilized jars from Tarte Maracuja eye cream, for example. It’s going to be a long time til I’ll be willing to travel even within Canada but it’s still part of how I think about potential products/purchases (and it’s a reason I like GWP’s, some Points Perks and things like that…I just got 2 Kerastase conditioner points perks which are in my “travel bin” – minis and sample sizes of products I like). It’s just one of the reasons I love the original Naked palette – it was the perfect travel palette until it became irreplaceable.
I much prefer travel size items in general since I rarely get through products. If I have a choice between a travel/mini or a full size I will always buy the mini (even if the cost per ounce is higher unless it’s totally outrageous). Not only does it make it easier when I actually travel, but I feel better spending less for less product but being able to have more variety. The only products I don’t really care about being travel sized are ones I go through quickly-mascara and brow products in my case.
It’s fairly important to me in the sense that travel-friendly also usually means klutz-proof.
I don’t have a set vanity so I tend to do my make-up in various locations throughout the house (bathroom, bed, desk, kitchen table) just depending on what I’m doing. Jars without sifters, overfull jars (like Fyrinnae eyeshadows), containers that don’t snap shut or have a good magnet on them, squeeze tubes that can get punctured or holes in them (think the Bite agave lip mask packaging) are all just begging to be made a mess of or break in my make-up bag or get knocked over spill. In fact, it’s one of my only complaints about Fyrinnae – I wish they would package the same amount in a slightly larger container so it had more room to spread out and not spill over the top and get into the threads. I end up losing so much out of the jars that I usually only buy sample size or my Fyrinnae products just don’t get used nearly as much because I’m in too much of a rush in the morning to be extra super careful opening my jars and making sure I don’t accidently jostle them while trying to get product.
But in terms of package size (like having a mini size concealer instead of a full size) I don’t really care except for things like perfume where I would be willing to travel with a rollerball but not a full size perfume.
Funny you should ask, because I’m always saying how something looks perfect to travel with or use on the run, and yet I go literally NOWHERE. LOL.
In light of this, I don’t know why that would ever be important to me. Oddly, it is? At least when I see something that I both love and that is in the perfect travel size. As if I’m going any place anytime soon…?
I travel once a year at best, so travel-friendliness isn’t a consideration for me.
It’s not a make or break for me. I like to have SOME travel-friendly products, because pre-pandemic I traveled several times a year to dance events, and usually once a year to see family, and sometimes a romantic weekend away. So if I liked a product and it was something easy to travel with, that was a bonus, but not a must-have.
I’m like you Christine, I try to avoid extensive traveling as much as I can. It stresses me out so much. I do like to have commuter-friendly makeup, though!
What a nice term, commuter friendly. ?
I always have with me a travel sized sunscreen, to reapply when needed when I am leaving home. Even if just my hands are exposes, I need it.
Unfortunately not many brands to travel sized body SPF, so I end up purchasing smaller bottles of face SPF.
When I used to travel, that’s how I got into higher end makeup- the sturdy packaging held up better in transit. I also like how some travel sizes let me test brands, right now I have some milk makeup minis I’m trying.
More broadly when I’m travelling I don’t want anything fiddly, like blushes that only work with a certain brush, or a lipstick that has to be blotted out. That too defines “travel-friendly “ for me. I will have more patience for some products at home but I just won’t bring something that has fragile packaging or is a pain to apply.
In this day and age nothing needs to be travel sized. 😆
Regarding skincare, I always tend to buy the biggest size for use at home, but have separate minis purchased for travel. I don’t travel even in normal times that often, so each time I would travel I would purchase minis from Paula’s Choice, transfer some products in smaller containers and that’s it. Also, I make sure to finish products when l get home, I never save them for next trip.
Regarding make-up, I already have a minimal collection, one product of each. I can bring almost everything with me with no issues. So I don’t take travel sizes into consideration.
I had a travel bin full of haircare minis and sample shampoos and conditioner from Sephora I was saving up for travel… I gave up a month ago and used most of them. I might do a small road trip in August (I would prefer September, but things might worsen again in fall), but otherwise my travel plans are zero for this year.
These days, with covid-19, I’m not traveling. BUT, “travel-friendly” can mean mini-size or basically a deluxe sample size, and I LOVE this option for things I’m unlikely to use up the full size of–like a bright lip or a colorful highlighter. I also love these “travel-friendly” sizes when I want to try something new but don’t want to put a lot of money down for the full-size in case I forget to return if it doesn’t work out. This is true for something like foundation where it could easily oxidize, wrong color match, or my skin reacts negatively.
Also, if going by Francesca’s idea of “travel-friendly,” then I’m also prone to prioritizing cardboard/shock-absorbing packaging, slim palettes, and easily replaced products. I also love it when I can easily remove shadow pans from a palette–like how colourpop, viseart and natasha denona palettes. If I had to choose between two identically performing products–one with prettier packaging and the other with travel-friendly packaging? I would almost always go for the travel-friendly or practical packaging option. I tend to not display beauty products so fun bulky packaging never made sense to me. I’d rather the formulations be well protected and easily stored away.
Usually it’s a bonus rather than a big consideration. I love to travel, though I don’t get to do it much. I like to have at least one travel-friendly product from each category I use, which is easy enough. For me, travel-friendly is more based on whether my needs are met, versatility (for makeup), how easily it can be replaced if lost or stolen, and packaging that won’t break or leak easily. Product size is usually not a consideration, because I haven’t been needling to fly. Sometimes I need to save space when all four of us are traveling by car or camping, so that’s when products samples (I save them for travel) and more compact palettes come in handy.
Travel sized skin care is always welcome in my book. As well as sturdy, yet lightweight packaging. Some packaging like Atelier Westman is so heavy I don’t even consider traveling with it. Every ounce counts when taking international flights. I miss traveling so much, but I’m in no hurry to travel again until everything is under control.