Over the Thanksgiving break, I flew to San Diego to visit my sister then to El Monte to celebrate the holiday there.
I didn't check in any luggage so I had to fit all my makeup in my carry-on luggage. I fit all my non fluid makeup in a Sephora bag I got as a gift from my lovely boyfriend, and the fluids in a clear quart sized ZipLoc bag. As you may know in the US, TSA regulations are strict about how much fluids you can bring on an airplane. All you have to remember is 3-1-1. Which means you can only carry 3.4 oz (or under) of fluid bottles in 1 clear quart sized bag per 1 person. Which also means you have to fit everything into there!
I used a ZipLoc bag but I highly suggest you invest in an actual bag so you can reuse it whenever you travel. Plus, ZipLoc bags are not ideal because they're so flimsy. I know you can find pretty good quality bags at Ross, TJMaxx, Target, Amazon, etc. for cheap too!
Since I knew I was going to bring a lot of fluid makeup products, I went ahead and gave my mom a separate bag of my toiletries so I can bring a total of two bags to SoCal, one for my makeup and one for my shampoo, conditioner, etc. I think that's a bonus of traveling with another person in terms of bringing more fluids for yourself. You can gift a bag to your mom, brother, or sister to bring in their carry on while you still have one for yourself.
Starting with my Sephora makeup bag (called The Weekender), I organized it in 3 sections:
I brought my two eyeshadow palettes that I use every single day, the Kat Von D Shade Light Eye Palette and the Lorac Pro Eyeshadow Palette. I also took out the shadows and insert from the NYX Contour Palette to create my own Z-Palette type of palette. DO NOT DO THIS. It was a mess and one of my shimmery shadows broke and got all over the other shadows and leaked into the bag. Immediately when I got home, I reverted it back to the original packaging. Don't do what I did...
If you turn the middle part over, in this pocket, I filled it with my powders along with makeup wipes, floss, tissues, q-tips, hairties, and a pair of lashes.
Those aren't Ardell 113s by the way, they're actually Ardell Wispies. I just lost the case for them...
Other products in this section are:
- Milani Baked Blush in Luminoso
- Mac Extra Dimension Skinfinish in Oh Darling
- The Balm Mary-Lou Manizer Highlighter
- Laura Mercier Translucent Setting Powder
- Kirkland Daily Facial Towelettes
- Reach Floss
- In the blue foral bag (I got it as an ipsy bag), it contains my
- hairties
- pack of tissues
- Q-Tips
In my TSA bag, I brought a handful of items:
I included my lipsticks and gel products (dipbrow and paint pot) in this bag just to be safe because I wasn't sure if it was considered a liquid.
Starting off with foundations, I brought three:
- Mac Matchmaster Foundation in 1.5
- MUFE HD Foundation (old formula) in 127
- L'Oreal Infallible Pro Matte Foundation in 105
I seriously didn't need all 3 of these because I only used my Matchmaster while I was down there. BUT what I was thinking while I packed was, "What if I'm going to an event with flash photography?" which idk what I was thinking because I was certainly NOT going to any events or anywhere near a camera LOL. Since Matchmaster has SPF, there's a white flashback on your face when taking photos with flash so I prefer to use the MUFE foundation on the perimeter of my face and the Infallible foundation on the center. They both do not contain SPF. Since my skin is oily, I don't like using MUFE foundation everywhere on my face because I will look like an oil slick. I use the L'Oreal one in the center of my face (pretty much my t-zone) to control my oil and the MUFE on the outside where I am not as oily.
I also brought three concealers... I KNOW, very unnecessary...
- Mac Prolongwear Concealer in NC30
- Maybelline Instant Age Rewind in Neutralizer
- It Cosmetics Bye Bye Undereye in Neutral Medium
I've been trying out the It Cosmetics concealer under my foundation and I can't put out a review on it just yet, but so far, I'm liking it!
As for everything else in the TSA bag:
- Mac Paint Pot in Soft Ochre
- Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow in Medium Brown
- Make Up For Ever Step 1 Mattifying Primer
- Benefit POREfessional Primer
- L'Oreal Telescopic Mascara in Blackest Black
- Maybelline Brow Drama in Soft Brown
- NYX Liquid Liner in Black
- Kat Von D Tattoo Liner in Trooper
- Ardell LashGrip Adhesive
- The Balm Liquid Lipstick in Commited
- Urban Decay lipstick in 1993
- Kat Von D Liquid Lipstick in Lolita
- Bite Beauty lipstick in Date and Fig
That's everything that I brought to southern California! It's a lot of stuff and I learned a valuable lesson on packing now, haha!
What are some products you must travel with?
