Skincare and Makeup Packing Guide | Learn From My Mistakes

Hey, it's been pretty quiet over here and that's because I just got back from Martha's Vineyard and NYC.  I mean, you'd know that already if you followed me on Instagram, but it's all good. #ijs  I thought I'd do a skincare and makeup packing guide to show you what I packed and give you my thoughts on what not to do.Anyways, I'm really nosy and I love reading about what people pack when they travel, and in case anyone out there feels the same, here's my packing guide.

Note: I was super extra and decided to check my bag so that I could pack all the things, so keep in mind this is **not** carry-on friendly.  Not in the least.  My bag was heavy as hell.

Now that I've gotten that little disclaimer out of the way, onto the good stuff.For this trip, I was going for a warm, bronzey / sunset look, so I packed a bunch of ColourPop single eyeshadows.  I haven't really gone into detail about these, but they're damn good.  The shadows are super pigmented and pretty smooth, and they're only $5 each.  I also packed my Natasha Denona eyeshadow palette (from this Beautylish haul) and a few CP Super Shock Shadows because I was planning to film a makeup tutorial, but I didn't.  Wishful (or maybe delusional) thinking.I actually didn't even touch any of the CP eyeshadows, or the Natasha Denona eyeshadows.  It was too hot and I was feeling lazy.  I did, however, wear the Tarte eyeshadow in Exposed a couple of times and it's gorgeous.  I even got complimented on it by a MUA at NARS, so that made me feel extra special. :-)It was hard to capture the color on camera, but Exposed is a cool-toned pink/beige color that's very metallic.  In person it looks more bold, but the lighting was tricky.  I think it would look good on lots of skin tones.  The formula is great and lasted well without any primer.  T

lipsticks + lip glosses

For lips, I packed mostly reds, pinks and oranges.  Can you tell I was committed to the sunset theme?

blush

I only packed one blush, which was the MAC Cosmetics Creme Colour Base that I've mentioned a few times before. When it's going to be really hot, I prefer to use cream products on the face.  I think they're more forgiving when it comes to humidity and sweat.

liquid luminizers

Even though I packed a crazy amount of makeup, I almost exclusively wore the lip glosses and the liquid luminizers that I packed.Most days, I just put on the Sunprise sunscreen (reviewed in this post), clear brow gel, waterproof mascara and one of the luminizers pictured above.The CoverFX Custom Enhancer Drops in Rose Gold are a really subtle pinky-gold color.  The MAC Lustre Drops in Bronze Hero are gorgeous.  I would just pat a little on my cheekbones and brow bone to get a super pretty warm bronze glow.  If you're my skintone or darker, you might wanna snatch these up.One of my OG favorites that I had to bring along was the Becca Cosmetics Shimmering Skin Perfector Liquid in Topaz (you might remember it from this post).  Sometimes I'd just smear this all over my face (except my nose) to make my skin look super bronzey.  Now this only works if you're at least my skin tone because this is pretty pigmented, but it gives the skin a really pretty glow.As you can see by the last package on the right, some things got packed but were completely neglected.  I got the Tarte PRO Glow Liquid Highlighter in Stunner as a 100-point Beauty Insider Reward at Sephora.  It's a metallic champagne color, which is nice but I guess it didn't go with the sunset theme.For skincare, I used a little bit more common sense and only packed the basics.

cleansers

This First Aid Beauty Skin Rescue Deep Cleanser should be familiar if you've been a longtime reader.  It's one of my favorites for when I'm dealing with oiliness and/or acne.  I actually haven't been breaking out much lately, but since I knew it would be really humid, I thought I would need something like this.  I also packed a cleansing oil from Kari Gran*.  It was nice to have a cute little bottle, but I think my tried and true DHC Deep Cleansing Oil works so much better.

serums + toners

I LOVED the Kari Gran Hydrating Tonic* and Essential Serum*.  I'll have a blog post later reviewing everything that I tried from the Kari Gran line, but these were the best ones.  The Hydrating Tonic was super light and refreshing and the Essential Serum (which is a blend of many different oils) was soothing to my skin at night.  During the day, I'd usually spray the Hydrating Tonic on my face and then follow it with Glossier Super Bounce (shop with me for 20% off your first purchase), then sunscreen.

moisturizers

The Peter Thomas Roth Water Drench Hyaluronic Cloud Cream is a little sample that I threw in my bag because I like to be extra.  I'm glad I packed it though because it's very light but still moisturizing.  It doesn't feel greasy or heavy at all, so it was nice to put on at night, or dab on my cheeks during the day if my skin felt a little dry.The Hada Labo Age Correcting Eye Cream is such a good eye cream.  I need to put eye cream under my eyes and I like that this soaks in right away.  I bought this on a whim from Target and don't regret the purchase at all (unlike many other Target purchases smh).Those are the highlights of the makeup and skincare that I packed on my latest trip.  I called this a Skincare and Makeup Packing Guide, but it's more like a cautionary tale.  I think I did a good job with skincare, but went crazy with makeup.I need to learn to pack for what I'm really going to be doing (walking around all day in the sun), not what I wish I'd be doing (going to fancy parties at night).I probably could have gotten away with just packing the lipsticks, a couple of the luminizers and one eyeshadow.  Lesson learned.Looking back at it now, I'm almost embarrassed at how much I packed.  But to be fair, the makeup all fit in a fairly small bag:Clearly, I have much to learn with it comes to packing makeup for a trip, so please please share your tips!