I love to travel, and since I recently came back from a trip to the Caribbean, I thought I would share what I packed in my travel makeup bag, plus some great tips for packing a makeup bag on your next trip!  Here it goes!

5 Tips for Packing your Travel Makeup Bag

1. Swap your normal makeup bag for a clear zippered one!

Not only will you be able to easily find what you need, but a small clear zip bag will also be TFSA approved.  Meaning, you can pack all your makeup in your carryon and breeze through airport security without digging through your bag looking for liquids!

2. Choose your outfits before you pack your makeup.

Knowing what you will be wearing will keep you from packing makeup you don’t need. Sure you may love your dark berry lip stain, but if your suitcase is full of pastels and bright resort wear, bringing it along will just add extra clutter.

3. Travel sized products are your friend!

Many people think travel products are a waste of money, but that’s not always true. Recently I was in line to purchase some Smashbox primer at Sephora, when I realized purchasing two travel sized bottles cost less and gave me more product than one regular sized bottle!  In order to save even more money on travel sized items, make sure to be on the lookout for products with packaging that can easily be refilled.

4. Pack your tried and true favourites.

Traveling is not the time to try new products.  You may be wanting to save store samples to try on your trip, but make sure to test them once or twice at home before counting on them during your vacation.  I made this mistake on my last trip, and brought a small sample bottle of mascara I had never used before (instead of bringing the full sized bottle of my regular brand). Two days into the trip I was beyond frustrated when my makeup remover wouldn’t remove the mascara I brought.  Believe me when I say this, trying to source your favourite mascara in a foreign country is not easy!

5. Avoid redundant products.

In my normal makeup bag, I have 4 different types of black eye liner (a pencil liner, a liquid liner, a gel liner and a cake liner!) All of them give unique looks but realistically they all do the same thing… define your eyes! If you are packing for a short trip, opt to bring just one product to define each feature.

What’s in my travel makeup bag?

Here’s what I packed in my travel makeup bag during my recent trip to the Bahamas!  It may not look like much, but by mixing and matching the lipstick & gloss with different combinations of the eye shadow palette, I was able to create multiple pretty and unique looks!

Liquid Liner – L’oreal lineur intense
Tinted Moisturizer – Smashbox sheer focus in “light” (which has sadly been discontinued… If anyone has tinted moisturizer recommendations please let me know!)
Nude shadow palette – Urban Decay Basics 2 palette
Lipstick – Bite Luminous creme in “Palomino”
Lipgloss – Laura Mercier Lip Glace in “Blush”
Highlighter – Benefit Watt’s up
Powder – Bare Minerals “fairly light”
Blush – Elf in “Candid Coral”
Mascara – Makeup Forever “smokey extravagant”