Weekly Beauty Edit 3.29.2015

The moment of truth. Went away for a long weekend which means I had to pack makeup, skincare and hair products. I'm a very light packer, always have been so even I wondered what I would bring along. We've all read those cute cartoons on Facebook about, "You know you're getting old when....." I have a new one: You know you're getting old when you pack more medicine than makeup. And you have to stop at every McDonald's and rest area on the way to your destination which is only 2.5 hours away.

Weekend Away in Beauty
Here's what I chose for my long weekend away and the reasons I chose each specific product. Again, keep in mind I'm a light packer.

Mascara -  Maybelline Mega Plus Volume. I didn't want a dramatic mascara knowing I was going to be casual most of the time. I chose not to take a lash curler, again, the trip was about the trip not my face, so curling lashes, which is something I do every single day, was not worth packing a bulky and somewhat delicate lash curler. Because I was not curling lashes, I did not need a waterproof mascara.

Foundation - MAC Studio Fix Powder Foundation - This is always in my top five foundations. It is fast and easy, both important to me when traveling. I have no desire to spend more than 5 or 10 minutes on my face when I'm away on a de-stressing trip. I find this coverage to be outstanding and the finish is lovely on my mature skin. I buffed it in with a flat top kabuki. The Bare Minerals Precision Face brush was clean so that's the one  I packed. If one of my e.l.f. Flat Top Powder brushes was clean, I would've taken one of those.  I was very tempted to pack the L'oreal Infallible Pro-Matte since it comes in a tube and  am really loving it. Not sure what tipped the scale to the Studio Fix. I wouldn't have needed a brush with the L'Oreal. Thinking back, this is probably the one thing I would have done differently.

Revlon Kissable Lip Balm Stain

Lipstick - Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Lip Balm Stain. Brought two colors, one a brighter pink and one a deeper wine color. These stain the lips for long lasting color, are not drying, easy to apply, and light packaging doesn't weigh down my purse - I always carry my lipstick with me!

MAC Pro Longwear

Concealer - MAC Pro Longwear - I use this under my eyes more for brightening than concealing. This did double duty to to use on my red nose (normally I use a drier, waxier concealer on my oily nose). It's not my first choice for my nose but I was not going to be away from our room for long stretches of time and knew I could easily touch up for the evening. I was tempted to bring my Dermablend Cover Creme for my nose but light packing won out over my nose. So what if a few strangers thought I was an alcoholic? (My mother always told me a red nose was as sure sign of an alcoholic). In a pinch if I needed to look flawless, perhaps Prince William and Kate would show up in this small town and invite us to dinner, I could use this concealer as a foundation and warm it up with my multi-purpose bronzer.

Blush - Becca Beach Tint - The packaging is a small, unbreakable squeeze tube, easily applied with the fingers which means I didn't need to pack a big blush brush.  I could have skipped this and used my bronzer on my cheeks but it is so small and easy, why not?

Eye Primer -  Bare Mineral 5 in 1 BB Advanced Performance Cream Eye Shadow. Wish I could skip this step but I have extremely oily eye lids. For me, this doubles as a shadow primer and also as a brightening shadow on my lid.

Brows - L'Oreal Brow Plumper is a tinted brow gel. I didn't have to carry a brush as I would if I brought my favorite Anastasia brow powder.

L'Oreal Brow Stylist Plumper Brow Gel

Liner - Stila Waterproof Smudge Stick in Sepia and Rimmel Scandaleyes in Nude. I don't use eye liner on my top lid but I do use the Sepia, a pewter, to help define my bottom lid. Black is a huge no no for my eye shape and size. The Nude I use in my bottom waterline to cancel out my redness.

Bronzer and Eye Shadow - Revlon Desert Rose Bronzer. This is stripes of color and swirled together make a lovely matte bronzer. Because it's matte, I can use as contour (which I did not do for a

Revlon Desert Rose Bronzer and Highlight Palette

weekend trip), and several colors work really well in the crease. There is a lighter color strip for under the brow and if I wanted, to lighten the lid and inner corner.

Wayne Goss #04

Eye Shadow Brush - I can use my finger for applying the shadows but the strips are rather narrow in the brozner, above. I gave in and tossed a brush in my bag. I can make any crease brush work for lid, crease, brow bone, inner corner. The shape of the Wayne Goss )4 is very versatile.

Tweezers - Daily, I take Biotin (a vitamin known to promote healthy skin, hair and nails) to keep my thinning hair growing, healthy, and voluminous as well as my nails. Well, it makes all the hair on my body grow faster including my brows. I can't go three days without my tweezers.

What I skipped - A lot! I didn't take a slew of brushes. Let's face it, fingers always work in a pinch. Skipped face primer because I knew I didn't need to look flawless for a 10 hour work day. I do worry about oil breakthrough but I always carry a mattifying pressed powder in my purse and could use that if for some reason I felt moved to touch up while browsing boutiques. I did not, though. As mentioned above, chose not to bring my special red, oily nose concealer. I like my brows better with Anastasia brow powder but the L'Oreal tinted gel gave me enough color, depth and lift. No lash curler which was hard not to bring. That's a habit and really helps open my hooded eyes. This was not a weekend trip to the theater district of New York followed by wining and dining. This was staying at a bed and breakfast in a small, quaint Midwestern town without photo ops standing next to Mickey or Mt. Rushmore in the background. Selfies were banned!

When traveling, I try to take to drug store products whenever possible, I prefer not to travel with  my more expensive items. I always have a Dior lipstick in my purse and that is plenty of luxury for me when traveling.

If I was extremely limited, I could get away with only bringing my MAC Pro Longwear Concealer, any mascara and a medium pink lipstick. Knowing how much makeup I own, that sounds crazy! Concealer could work as foundation and even out my lids, lipstick could be doubled as blush. My lashes are long from using Latisse but they are very fine so mascara is important but probably the least important of the three.

Cheers,
Lulu

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