Weekend Beauty Routine From A Carry-On

So as you're reading this I'm currently flying back from a weekend away in Ireland for my best friends 21st birthday. I love those travel-beauty posts so I figured this was a great opportunity to share the products I took with me for the trip. With it being a weekend of nights out this is more than I'd normally pack for just a weekend.

So for skincare I had to be careful because we were flying with just hand luggage. I stripped my routine right back and it's all tiny travel sizes as restrictions on liquids is pretty heavy even on domestic UK flights. First off I have a tiny bottle of Bioderma Micellar Water, this isn't a product I have any loyalty to but it was the smallest make-up remover I had on hand and will be enough for the weekend. The cleanser I took was the Omoravicza Foam Cleanser which I really like, it's a good SLS-free foaming cleanser and it's not stripping at all, and the fact that it's foaming meant I didn't need to take up room in my tiny case with a million flannels.

For skincare treats I've got a trial size bottle of the Clarins Gentle Exfoliator Brightening Toner which is one of my favourite exfoliating toners, I love that Clarins are really good with giving you samples with your purchases as usually they're mini's of things I already love that are great for traveling. For hydration I have a mini Caudalie Premier Cru The Elixir which is a nice oil for night time but will also work under makeup if my skin is feeling a bit lack-luster. My travel eye cream of choice is Sunday Riley Start Over I like this for travel as it's good for AM and PM and it's a good sample size, can't see myself going for a full size though. Finally for skincare I have Benefit Dream Screen SPF, it's a really dinky bottle and it's SPF 45, I can't imagine we'll be getting much sun in Ireland at the end of October but I always wear a high SPF on my face just incase.

In the miscellaneous beauty product category I have a mini Mitchum deodorant, single-use sachets of the R+Co Gemstone Colour Shampoo and Conditioner and my mini pot of Bumble and Bumble Prêt-a-Powder. We're staying with my friends parents so I figure I can use the shower gel they already have but I use sulphate-free shampoo, since I wash my hair every other day so the single-use sachets should be fine. I'll be using the Prêt-a-Powder between washes if things get a bit shiny and it also doubles up as a styling product since it adds volume to the hair and best of all? It doesn't take up any of my liquids allowance. I haven't tried the Mitchum deodorants yet but everyone raves about them and I figured this was a good excuse to give them a go, I'll report back and let you know how it compare to my usual Dove Invisible Dry.

Makeup was the hardest thing to whittle down, because we're going out a lot I wanted options but I didn't want to end up taking half a case of makeup but I got there in the end. For base I've got Estée Lauder Double Wear Light because it's a nice buildable coverage and it's light on the skin but it will last well for a night out. I've also packed the Urban Decay Naked Skin Concealer because it works equally well on blemishes and imperfections as it does under the eyes and for setting powder the Soap & Glory One Heck of a Blot obviously. The Nars One Shocking Moment Blush Palette arrived the day I left for the trip so I packed that, I probably could have condensed my face products a bit more but it's got everything I need in there and I wanted to give it a good testing but you'll hear more about that later this week.

For eyes I took Urban Decay Primer Potion for a base and the Maybelline The Nudes Palette as it's got everything you'd need for a neutral eye and it can go a bit smokey for evening too. Urban Decay 24/7 Eyeliner in "Perversion" is a nice one for a night out because it's creamy and you can use it in a few different ways but it lasts like nothing else and the Maxfactor 2000 Calorie Curved Brush Mascara will be making sure my lashes are on their best behaviour. For brows I have the No7 Beautiful Eyebrow Sculpting Pencil because the pencil is nice and it has a good spool-y brush built in.

Then for lips I've been really good and got it down to just two options: a nude and a dark. For the nude I have the Fleur De Force Lip Gloss in "Written in the Stars" which has been a total favourite this month as it's a great your-lips-but-better shade. Then I have Rimmel's Lasting Finish By Kate lipstick in "107" which has become a bit of a cult classic, it's a great vampy berry for autumn.

A Face Fit For A Wedding

The other half and I found ourselves at a wedding last weekend and with it being the first time the two of us were going to that kind of event I got really excited about getting to really dress up and obviously, I anted to share that with you guys.

While I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to wear black to a wedding, I saw this gorgeous black dress in River Island and I couldn't resist, I figured since we were only actually attending the reception it wouldn't be so bad and tried to drop a bit of colour into the mix with the oil-finish clutch bag from Whistles.

The bag was pretty much where all my colour matching came into play because the oil slick made it pink and green and I found it quite hard to match but I found a good match for my fingers and toes in Butter London's Nail Lacquer in "Knackered" which has that same pink/green effect with a tiny bit of glitter that in 2-3 coats builds up to a beautiful finish on the nails.

I then played up the eyes using a mix of MAC shades - "Petina" and "Greensmoke" to create a really subtle, light green smokey eye just as a nod to my chosen colour scheme. With green on the eyes I went for a more nude lip and went for a light layer of The Lipstick Queen's Big Bang Illusion Lip Gloss in the shade "Cosmic" and then Maxfactor's Creme Blush in "Soft Pink" helped give my skin that healthy glowy skin you'd hope to have at a wedding.