Packing up your kids and your beauty regimen for a trip can be an all-out nightmare sometimes. These awesome tips, tricks, and outstanding products are total beauty lifesavers for the in flight and road-tripping mama. I’ve saved myself so much hassle and space over the years by employing these smart beauty travel hacks.
Check them out in the slideshow.
One less bottle of liquid
Eye makeup remover swabs, $8, are a majorly on-point necessity for any trip. Just think: one less liquid to worry about spilling in your bag, and one less step to making your face squeaky clean after a busy “vacation” day with your kids.
Product & photo via Sephora
Travel worry-free with your most precious potions
Use a contact lens container. These small plastic containers can hold one to two days’ worth of your favourite moisturiser and eye cream, and are the perfect size to put in your carry-on. (They’re also good for storing topicals like hydrocortisone or bacitracin—two topicals I often need in my bag to combat the baby’s worst nappy rashes and a toddler’s recurring scrapes.)
Product & photo via Pharmacy.com
Prevent product leakage
Travelling with your most expensive beauty tinctures and mixtures (like the La Prairie 'Skin Caviar' Luxe Eye Lift Cream, $325, shown) can be a total crapshoot. Avoid messy product spills with this super easy tip. Cut small, square pieces of plastic wrap. Unscrew your bottles. Place plastic between your product container and lid. Retwist lid. Voila! Messy disasters averted. This is so easy, you’ll wonder why you never did it before.
Product & photo via Nordstrom
Don't be afraid to steal stuff
Don’t be shy—take the extra toiletries at the hotel…then dump them out and use them to store your favourite beauty products for your next trip. There’s no use buying plastic travel containers, or investing in the often mediocre travel-size products at your local pharmacy. Just pre-fill the hotel bottles with all the (mummy and kiddie) toiletries you love, and store them in a pre-packed cosmetics bag to grab and go when you’re rushing your family to the airport. Not up for the challenge? One of the best toiletry sets on the market is the Bliss Sinkside Travel Toiletries.
Product & photo via Blissworld
Extend the life of your blowdry
Extend the life of your blowdry while traveling—be sure to pack (or make) a great dry shampoo. (I absolutely love Oscar Blandi's powder formula.) Not only does dry shampoo extend the style of your hair, it’s also a great texturizer for the day you go from blowdry to ponytail—I like to work some dry shampoo and Bumble and Bumble sea spray into two-day hair to lock down the perfectly imperfect messy bun.
Product & photo via Amazon
THE all-in-one product
Pack a small container of coconut oil! Coconut oil is a powerhouse staple for your travel beauty kit because it has so many versatile uses: an anti-itch cream for mosquitoes, a cuticle moisturiser, even a deep conditioning treatment to tame frizzy ends on hot days. (Trader Joe’s has a great product you can score on the cheap!)
Product & photo via Pharmacy.com
The power of silk
Don’t underestimate the power of a silk pillowcase! Before bed, twist your hair into a bun at the very top of your head, and secure with an old pair of pantyhose. Sleep on your own silk pillowcase instead of the classic hotel style. It will help avoid kinks and frizz (and also doubles as a laundry bag when you pack up to go home). As an added bonus, silk pillowcases are also microbial…kinda nice when you think about how grimy hotels can be.
Product & photo via Beauty.com
Calm the crazy
Hate flying but can’t quite order a bloody Mary when flying with kids? Opt for a peppermint tea instead (bring your own bag and ask for hot water). Not only is peppermint tea an amazing de-puffer, it soothes and calms crazed nerves too. Sip it throughout the long/bumpy/noisy flight to feel calm and hydrated.
Product & photo via Amazon
The hairbrush for the entire family
If you only pack one brush, make it the Wet Brush. I promise this made-for-TV product actually works—it’s great to comb through wet hair (or stash in your beach bag), but it also allows for tearless toddler bedtime on the go. I never have to worry about detangling my daughter’s hair when I pack this brush for our entire family.
Product & photo via Beauty Care Choices
A curling iron compatible with every country
Straight-haired girls—I’m about to rock your world right now. There is such a thing as a cordless travel curling iron, and it’s only $20. Long gone are the days when you look like a wet rat on holiday because you didn’t have room to pack your curling iron…similarly…
Product & photo via Target
Ditch humidity
The mini flat iron is the perfect fix to tame MAJOR frizz on even the most humid of holidays. This one by CHI takes up close to zero space in your suitcase, and packs the same punch as your clunky iron at home.
Product & photo via Target
The only eyeshadow palette you need
Urban Decay’s Naked Basics Eye Shadow Palettes are quite possibly the best-edited eye shadows on the market, and their compact size makes them easy to take just about anywhere. There’s nothing I hate more than shadow palettes with unusable colours, but every single one of the Urban Decay travel palettes has strong, workable colours.
Product & photo via Urban Decay
All-in-one stain
Tarte Fearless cheek stain, $30, is the only other beauty product you’ll need, after the NAKED compact. It's spill proof by design and wonderfully versatile, as it can be applied on lips as well as cheeks to add the softest glow to post-beach, sun-kissed skin.
Product & photo via Ulta
Rehydrate
Long flight? Crazy car ride? Just travelling with your kids for an excessive amount of time? There’s nothing, and I mean nothing, like Kiehl’s Midnight Recovery when you travel. Apply right before bed, and even the driest, most drawn looking skin will be revitalized in the morning. It's a serious mama must-have.
Product & photo via Kiehls
Travel perfume that wont leak
A compact, TSA-compliant version of the originals, these travel perfume sprays are a godsend for any makeup bag, whether you are travelling abroad or across town on a hot day. Unlike roll-ons, they also rarely leak, which is something I’ve really grown to love, because the only thing worse than being smelly is smelling like concentrated perfume. Dolce is my hands-down, wear-every-day favourite, $27.
Product & photo via Ulta
Ditch the mascara
That said, professionally applied eyelash extensions may just be my all-time-secret travel weapon. Who needs to worry about removing your mascara when you can wake up looking like your lashes are lush and full? Major mummy bonus: The hour-long application requires perfect stillness and closed eyes while you lie down in a private room—ahhhhh...cat nap, anyone?!
Image: Getty/Tivoly
A complete cleansing refresher
And lastly, Yes to Cucumbers Facial Towelettes, $6, are a must-have for any trip. I always pack facial towelettes because they’re just so versatile. Not only do they basically guarantee that you’re going to bed with a clean face (because really, can you get any lazier than to not use a wipe?!), but they’re amazingly refreshing on hot days, and a good backup to help clean your little ones’ adorably grimy faces midday too (think ice cream and other sticky things that baby wipes sometimes just can’t get).
Product & photo via Pharmacy.com
More Travel Beauty Products:
The Beauty Junkie’s Guide to Packing for Holiday
Your Travel Makeup Bag – What to Pack
8 Space- & Time-Saving Beauty Essentials to Pack for Your Holiday
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