To give you a little background on why I call my travel cosmetic bag as Quarantine Survival Kit – I packed this bag exactly 2 months ago for my 30 days India trip. Covid-19 hit, and so the lockdown in India, and I have no other source but this bag to take care of my skin and hair. I’m astonished at how little bit of planning into packing process and the items I chose has got me through the extended staycation and I’m not sure how long this will help me through these uncertain times. So while I have it and I’m in that proud and happy boat, I better write down it.

Since this is a 1-month travel cosmetic kit, a disclaimer that this wont have typical travel tips that can help you with planning on travel size items. Most of the items I carried with me are full size products and I put them in my check-in bag.

Travel Skin and Hair care items:

When it comes to travel, pack only essentials, its an unwritten rule that I abide by. So I stick with basic items like face wash, moisturizer, sunscreen and lip balm. All these items are my staples, I make sure I dont pack items that I intend to try or recently explored, rule number 2.

Face wash -This Loccitane cream cleanser is my budget friendly and oily skin friendly face wash that I’ve been using for more than 5 months. It doesn’t foam but does the job neat and clean, gentle on the skin too. I haven’t seen my skin break out after I started using this cleanser.

Moisturizer – Drunk Elephant Protini Polypeptide cream lives up to the hype. Its a bit pricey but definitely worth every penny. I’ve tried most of the best selling high end products but this one does the job. For that reason, I’m using it very responsibly, because if I run out of this cream, I will literally cry.

Sunscreen – Glossier Invisible shield sunscreen is my first purchase from Glossier and I’m loving it. As the name goes, this sunscreen once applied is invisible, therefore no typical white residue seen on the skin. Albeit, skin looks little oily in humid conditions (I can take little oily over white residue)

Eyecream – I came across this Ole Henriksen Banana Eye Cream from Hitha’s (@hithapalepu) recommendations. I had to try it because she only recommends products that she truly likes. I’m glad I tried it because this is one of the best eye creams on the market. Its on the pricey side too but definitely worth the buck because a very little product goes a long way.

Body cream – If you haven’t tried Brazilian Bum Bum cream, you’re missing out. It works on all types of skin, works wonders on dry skin.

Hair care – This OGX Argan Oil Shampoo and L’oreal Elvive Conditioner is the best budget friendly combo for my hair after trying multiple products. I always carry them with me while I travel, dont trust shampoos and conditioners in hotels. Other than a regular conditioner, the only other hair care product I carry with me is Moroccan treatment oil. Its the best hair oil I’ve ever used that helps with preventing split ends, adds shine and also the one that doesn’t leave residue. I’ve to admit that I am late to Moroccan oil fan club but once I tried, I’ve got hooked. I use it on my hair religiously every night.

Travel Makeup Essentials:

Like Skincare items, I like to keep my makeup essentials to basics, not packing multiple items that serves same purpose. Out of all the foundations in my vanity, I chose this Estee Lauder DoubleWear because its well suited for the hot and humid weather in India. For Concealer, Nars Creamy one has always been the first choice because of its travel friendly package and ofcourse the beauty blender (I dont have to worry about the number of brushes). Only brush I wanted to carry is this Chique Blush brush (not available right now, similar one here) along with this blush “Ciate London Glow-To Illuminating Blush“

For Eye Makeup, you can never go wrong with Naked2 palette for its efficient eye shadows and travel friendly package. For brows, I cannot emphasize enough on how amazing this Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz is, my shade is brunette (now its called “Dark Brown”). Best mascara after Too faced Better than sex mascara is this Lancome Monsieur Big Mascara. My eyeliner needs are satisfied by monthly Ipsy subscription, for this time, its Araceli Ojos eyeliner, its a black liquid eyeliner, has sketch like thin pointed applicator, makes it easy for applying wing eye.

And oh, I cannot forget my trustworthy Eyelash curler. For lispticks, I like to keep it to a minimum too, like 2 or 3 (I like exploring lip products in the places I travel, even this time, I had plans to shop some lip products from Indian brands but Coronavirus happened). These are the lipsticks I carried with me – Huda Beauty Liquid Matte Lipstick in the shade Trophy wife and L’oreal Infallible Pro-Matte Lip Gloss in the shade Nude Allude 314.

I carried them all in my Victoria secret Cosmetic bag which I’ve been using for travel purpose for more than 4 years. Unlike other cosmetic bags, this is easy to pack and very easy to find the product without pouring them all out.

Hope this post helps to pack the travel cosmetic bag efficiently. Let me know your thoughts in the comments section.

Dstylebook xoxo
Celebrate beauty responsibly.