How do you decide what makeup to bring on a trip? Share your decision-making process!
I try to figure out just how often I’ll actually wear makeup on the trip and how much/dramatic it will be. I then try to take light and dark shades from various product categories so I can always mix to get something in the middle.
Thanks to Clemence for today’s question!
Got a question idea? Submit yours here.
We're here to help you make better beauty purchases that you'll enjoy and love! We recommend signing up to take advantage of personalized features like tracking products you own, viewing dupes that you already have, and more!
Here are some useful resources for you:
Curious how two shades compare to each other? Type in the shades below to get instant side-by-side swatches!
Comments that do not adhere to our comment policy may be removed. Discussion and debate are highly encouraged but we expect community members to participate respectfully. Please keep discussion on-topic, and if you have general feedback, a product review request, an off-topic question, or need technical support, please contact us!
Please help us streamline the comments' section and be more efficient: double-check the post above for more basic information like pricing, availability, and so on to make sure your question wasn't answered already. Comments alerting us to typos or small errors in the post are appreciated (!) but will typically be removed after errors are fixed (unless a response is needed).
We appreciate enthusiasm for new releases but ask readers to please hold questions regarding if/when a review will be posted as we can't commit to or guarantee product reviews. We don't want to set expectations and then disappoint readers as even products that are swatched don't always end up being reviewed due to time constraints and changes in priorities! Thank you for understanding!
We try to approve comments within 24 hours (and reply to them within 72 hours) but can sometimes get behind and appreciate your patience! 🙂 If you have general feedback, product review requests, off-topic questions, or need technical support, please contact us directly. Thank you for your patience!
Season is most important to me. Then where I’m going and what kind of trends they might have. Then my goal is to travel light! About 3 of most things. 😉
I pack like a guy, I just throw random products in my makeup bag.
I always bring necessities such as primers, foundation, concealer, black eyeliner, black mascara, peachy-pink lipstick, bronzer, lip balm, and tools (brushes, eyelash curler). What varies according to season and/or mood is eyeshadow. Sometimes I’ll just bring brown eyeshadow because it goes with everything, and sometimes I’ll bring more colorful ones if I’m in the mood for soemthing more playful.
I-never-bring-my-faves-and-never-anything-expensive-in-case-it-gets-lost-or-ruined!
Before I pack, that is always my mantra! Then of course, I always end up doing the opposite. :\
Completely agree!!
I have another strategy to make sure I don’t forget anything: I pack everything 2 days in advance, and I do my makeup with only those things 1 day in advance. This way, I can catch most of the things I’m bound to forget! I also do this with my other skin care items as well.
I do this, too!
I pack only the essentials. Right now, I pack powder, concealer, primer potion in Sin, MAC’s Kid e/s, a brown eyeliner, brown mascara, a neutral blush, bronzer, 3-4 brushes and my eyelash curler.
That’s a good point! I tend to bring things I like the most but every time I kind of regret because it either gets dirty or somewhat ruined!
Ooh that’s a great question! I think about my destination. For beach/tropical trips, I bring vibrant, lush colors. For non-beach getaways, I bring neutrals that can will go with whatever clothing I wear and the activities that are planned. But no matter where I go, I try to keep it simple and not over pack.
Almost all of my makeup fits in a purse. Pack the purse. x) This does not include removers, moisturizers, serums, etc. JUST MAKEUP. So I pack necessities like remover wipes, eye moisturizer, and SPF moisturizer. Sometimes also toner if I think I’ll need it.
I love Benefit and they have those beauty mini packs and when I travel they get put in my beauty bag. They have a wide variety of the minis and have almost everything I would need. They are just so compact and can taken with me 🙂
It depends. If I’m heading somewhere tropical I bring bare minimum: eyebrow pencil, mascara and lip gloss. Anywhere else I TRY to pare it down to what I normally wear everyday, plus maybe an extra lipstick and eyeliner.
I tend to just throw in whatever catches my eye while I’m packing!
Lately, my trips have been rather short, so I limit the amount I bring to a small-medium makeup bag or pencil box. I bring basics such as primer, foundation, concealer, brow pencil, lash curler, and mascara. I also usually bring a few eyeliners (brown, black, other color), face highlighter, blush, and a few eyeshadows (skin color, brown, and something neutral). I also bring 2-3 lipsticks in various pink colors- same with lip glosses.
The Naked Palette has made it much easier to pack my eye makeup!
Recently, I’ve just been taking my Naked Palette and then 1 or 2 bright colored shades in case I want something more fun (usually the colors are a purple and a bright pink).
Two or three different palette and I’m prepared for all!
I bring things that I used the most in the previous week, i.e. my “everyday makeup products”. But then there are also some “extra backups” which in the end made me brought way too much stuff that I don’t need.. haha!
for me, i try to visualize where i will be going for a trip. if i will go on a formal event in the evening, i will bring darker shades. i also take note not to bring identical colors.
I have a problem with over packing makeup. I like to take a variety of color shadows because I want it to be available to me for what ever color I am wearing. I don’t like to have to buy anything extra just because I forgot it at home. I take a selection of two foundations, makeup remover wipes, lipsticks and about 5 different shades, a few pairs of lashes with the glue, eyebrow penciles black and brown, a few blushes and whatever else that will make me feel like I am at home doing my makeup. The last trip I recently went on for 3 days I grabbed 70 percent of my makeup to take with me with is not a good idea. People in general at the hotel kept asking me, “hey are you a makeup artist” and I would just start cracking up. I was like wow do I really have that much makeup.
some time i forget to bring some, so i bought it outside. or i didnt use make up at all..
I consider the climat, duration of my stay and weather really. Plus, on how many and what kind of social outings I will be.
I love loose eyeshadows in sample baggies! Arrange them in a small business card organizer and you should have enough variety of eyeshadows for a couple months. I live between countries now, so tiny ziplock baggies has become a make-up lifesaver. =D
I bring my everyday makeup plus a few palettes that can go from day to night. One I particularly love is Wet n’ Wild’s Vanity palette that allows me to have neutral everyday eyes and dramatic neutral smokey eyes at the same time. Other than that, I’d bring anything I wear on an everyday basis, even lipsticks.
I pack enough makeup to do any look I desire… Because I don’t know what I want, I was just on vacation and packed a purple palette, a neutral palette, and a green palette, then 2 foundations, 6 blushes, 20 lipssticks (pan form) etc etc funny thing, I went to Florida, so my makeup would melt in 10 minutes so by the second day I would skip my makeup or only wear to dinner
For short trips, I stick to the basics and try not to pack anything that I’ll cry over losing:
multi-tasking base (like a bb cream).
a cream blush.
a mac 4 pan with a highlight, a midtone neutral , a dark and a bright.
the double sided 24/7 liner from the UD Naked palette.
mascara.
2 lipsticks, a neutral and a bright.
lip balm.
For long trips I would only throw in another blush and a real foundation, because I can’t travel without buying some unique items available at my destination! 😉
When I’m traveling, I usually don’t branch out that much with bright colors or complicated looks, so I bring my tried and true products. As much as I’d love to wear a bright coral lipstick on vacation/a trip, I doubt I’ll be spending that much time figuring out my makeup when I could be doing something more fun.
I bring everything that I normally use: primer, foundation, concealor, powder, bronzer, blush, a few liners, a few eye shadows, mascara, browgel, and a few glosses and lipsticks. For eyeshadows I bring neutrals, some lights and some darks. I may bring some colored liners if I want to add boldness because they don’t take up much space.
If it’s a quick trip, I bring a MAC quad with satin taupe, vanilla, naked lunch and carbon. I also pack a mascara, soft blush and pink lip stick. If I’m going for a specific ‘event’, I start thinking about the color I’m planning to wear and if I want a bolder eye or lip and then base my quad and other makeup choices on that. If it’s a long trip, forget it-I end up packing everything!!!
But as far as face wash, moisturizer, etc, that is always the same and goes with me no matter how long the trip is. Only difference may be if I’m flying, then I’ll get the mini versions and bring them with me in case I end up stuck in an airport (again).
I follow five basic rules:
1) Less is more
2) Bring multi-purpose products
3) Bring neutrals and corals that will go with any outfit
4) Bring samples to avoid large containers
5) Pack only travel friendly products (no cream shadows, blushes, etc)
Hmm, I tend to just throw in various things without thinking about it :/
It depends on where I’m going and for how long. If I’m going overnight then it’s just Lipglass and mascara which I’ll carry in my purse. But if I’ll be gone for a few days and I’ll need options I’ll bring my Naked palette because of versatility, cool toned Coastal Scents 12 palette of pressed indie mineral shadows, UDPP, 2 lipsticks that are neutral and a bright and neutral Lipglass, Bronzer, Mineralize Blush, Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy, mascara, and brush roll.
I keep my travel makeup to a bare minimum when it comes to face makeup: One cream blush, one powder blush, one highlight, one bronzer, etc. Then I tend to take my less expensive eyeshadows along with me; a few of my Ulta baked eyeshadow duos and/or Loreal HIP duos are a good bet, since I can bring 4-5 of them and have neutral and colorful options while not taking up too much space… Plus, if I were to lose my makeup bag on my trip (Heaven forbid!), I wouldn’t be quite as devastated, because while I love my cheaper eyeshadows, it wouldn’t be such a terrible financial blow! Same type of idea goes for my lipglosses and lipsticks–Revlon’s Super Lustrous lipglosses and Color Burst lipsticks are great!
That’s a smart system! As my husband knows very well, picking my makeup is the most time-consuming part of packing. I always pack my Naked palette (packing was so much harder before Naked) because I can do day and night neutrals with it, and I usually pack one or two bright shadows for more dramatic looks. As for lipsticks, I usually take a neutral pink and a bold color depending on where I think I’ll go. Maybe a hot pink or a bright coral for going out dancing or cocktails, or a deep red or berry if we’re going to a fancy restaurant. I might pack a blush if I’ve got spare room, but I usually skip that. I only have one concealer and foundation, so that part is easy. I usually bring a dramatic mascara and a natural mascara, too! It’s such a process!
I always bring my primers, foundation, and blot powder, then usually just my favorite neutral eyeshadows. And lots of lip balm. (:
The first year I ever took a tropical vaca with my husband I took so much makeup. Now that we’ve gone to the same place 6 times I learned what I will and will not use and I keep it minimal since the humidity is quite bad. And I always pack a week or so ahead of time and get ready out of that makeup bag. Then if I need anything I didn’t pack I throw it in
I don’t bring much: powder, concealer, an small eyeshadow palette, few brushes, blush, my TFSI and that’s it.
usually I like to leave my make up bag quite empty ’cause I tend to buy make up on the trip (where I live there’s no MAC or Sephora)
I always bring the daily basics, but the rest of my makeup I usually decide based on costumes.
Yeah…er…I wear a lot of costumes when I travel to cons.
Otherwise, I just find stuff that will go with anything.
I’m awful at this…a weekend trip to visit my parents results in me packing waaay more than is needed for two days. I’m trying to get better, and packing palettes like the Naked Palette or my Chanel quads helps. Then one or two blushes, and I try to limit lip products, too. I usually plan out outfits and makeup in advance to prevent taking anything I won’t end up using
I bring the basics, then I look at what clothes I’m bringing and add a couple of bold colors to coordinate with that, and then bring basic neutral colors. For instance, I just went on a weekend trip and brought a 5-color palette that had blues in it, my UD Naked palette, a bold pink-red lipstick, a neutral gloss, and then the basics (foundation, blush, eyeshadow, black liner, etc…)
i think about my makeup routine step by step: primer, foundation, powder etc to make sure i dont forget anything, and i always bring 2 eye palettes, a neutral and a colorful one
Im a girl that loves big bags, so i have the room to carry alot of products,for day trips the only products i probably dont carry with me is foundation, eyebrow pencil, concealer (depending on what concealer i use), and the eyeshadows im wearing for the day. For anything more than a day, i add my foundation, concealer, eyebrow pencil and my cargo neutral eyes quad.
First, I consider what outfits I’ll be wearing and where I’ll be going on the trip. I’ll bring mostly neutrals and travel palettes.
I start by packing the “essentials” which includes primer, foundation, concealer, etc. Then I try to plan out a few different looks. For eyeshadows, I usually bring one palette. I try to pack blush & lipsticks that I can mix and match with different looks. For brushes, I bring as many as I can fit into my makeup brush roll.
I like to coordinate my makeup with my outfits, so i pick out what im going to bring, and then the makeup to match.
I just came back from a trip.
1. tinted moist.
2. MAC MSFN
3. Naked Palette
4. Mascara
5. 24/7 UD black liner
6. one mac blush hushabye
7. mac fix +
8. 6 Brushes
Depends on the destination. I take a lot of medical trips so I don’t need much for those. I take only the essentials. I pack up what I used the night before to be sure I have the main things I will need to remove my make up and do a semi version of my night skin care routine. Then ditto in the AM – pack up as I use an item, it goes into my plastic bags. With any luck I don’t forget something important like deodorant that way. I try to hold the eye shadows down to just 2 shades and only one liner, one cheek color. I pack a lot more simple now than I ever used to. Hate to loose things and also hate to unpack when I get home and put stuff away – though I always get to it right off the bat so my makeup and skin care are all in the right places.
Packing make-up is pretty easy for me, I don’t vary my look too much. I just bring my foundation, powder, blush, highlighter, Naked palette, black mascara and eyeliner, and then a couple MLBB lipsticks. And a couple tubes of lip balm!
I am actually going on a trip soon for a week and this was so helpful looking through all the comments 🙂
As I do my makeup, I like to write down what I just used, so I dont forget anything, making a checklist ! I pour my makeup remover and toner in smaller containers and I take sample sizes of stuff to help downsize the weight of my luggage. I have never experienced losing any of my makeup or damaging them. But it seems it happens so much to other people! For safety, I do not put my makeup items like eyeshadows, powders etc in my luggage. I keep it in medium sized bag that I can carry on the plane and watch it hahaha.
I agree! I’m going on a trip for two weeks and I’m only allowed to bring a carry on with me (we are “traveling light”). I’ve been trying to figure out what to bring for the past four weeks!!!
This post was really useful. I really liked one of the comments above recommending to pack 2 days in advance and getting ready for the last 2 days with the products on your make up bag so that you notice if you are forgetting something. Best tip ever!
Thanks everyone for your useful comments and recommendations 🙂
Furthermore, we are going to Europe… any tips on what should I get while I’m there makeup-wise?
First I choose what I’ll be wearing. I pack my brushes, my essentials (primer, concealer, powder, mascara, liner) and choose my eyeshadow based on my my clothes for the trip since I like to mix and match. Last thing I pack is my skincare and sunscreen cuz I’ll put some on right before I leave the house
I’m someone who usually packs everything I own. It’s very annoying because I always end up with A LOT more luggage than I ever need. So, lately I’ve been (trying) to pack light. I take into consideration WHERE I am going. If it is somewhere hot, then I stick to a light cream blush, a nude lipstick, my Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion, a small pot of gel eyeliner, and my favorite mascara (Revlon’s Grow Luscious Plumping Mascara in blackest black is do die for!)I always skip the foundation when I am going somewhere hot. Then, if I am going somewhere a little chilly, I will usually pack a foundation (preferably my Aveeno Tinted Moisturizer–love it!), a darker lipstick, like a pink or even a red, my eyeshadow primer, a dark eyeshadow to do a smokey look, and of course gel eyeliner and mascara. I guess I pack mostly the same things for each, but i like to change up the colors. Travel size options are always a must as well!
Happy Travels!
I am a creature of habit,foundation mascara naked palette, liner mascara and cross wires lipstick.. I keep it simple and less space in my luggage means more crap I can buy while I am up there
I think of what I will be doing on the trip, and try to bring as little as possible. Usually I bring very little for daytime makeup, and focus on what I will be doing at night
Mascara, loose powder, blush (pinky-peach shade to be perfect with every makeup) and foundation are a must. The rest will depend on a season and on vacation type (city getaway or beach/tropical) and on clothes I pack (colors). Then I choose the rest, but still try to keep it minimal (eg pack one eyeshadow palette or mineral eyeshadows to small minigrip baggies)
I always choose a palette with mixed products and I never take along singles that are loose powder since I feel they don’t travel that well.
well I’m on a month long vacation right now and just came back from a four day trip, so I decided I should answer this question 😉
I always take my sigma brush roll that holds 16 brushes. it saves so much space and I always fill in all the slots because it’s not like you can save space in a brush roll….
then I take foundation, primer, powder, two concealers (dependding on the coverage I need) and since it’s summer, I always pack a waterproof mascara as well as the two I always use, lip balm, one or two bigger eyeshadow primer and this week I took a creme blush and a light blush with no highlighter or bronzer because I was at a race and no one really wears makeup there….
it really just depends on the environment, season, people there and my own personal preferences of course. but I usually take more than I’ll need- just in case!