My Holiday Makeup

I realise that it is rather an odd choice for me to show you my holiday makeup packing after I've been on holiday. I ran out of time before I went away but I thought it might actually be interesting to look back retrospectively, so that I can consider which items I could have left at home. Especially as I ended up taking more than was necessary, requiring a larger bag than in the picture above. You may think of it as me sharing what a wally I am!

So, here is what came with me, more or less. I actually managed to forget to pack the Spirit of Beauty facial spritz which was a shame. I would have been grateful of it after the shocking ferry crossing. I think anyone who has travelled the Irish Sea in a force 8-9 gale will know what I'm talking about. There's no amount of correctional makeup that is going to disguise that kind of horror!

I don't suppose it looks like a huge amount spread out like this and I know at home that I tend to vary the products I use a lot. However, I do have a tendency to favour new things and I wore a couple of products almost everyday which I should have predicted when packing.

Too Faced Shadow Insurance and the Rouge Bunny Rouge Sketches on Water tinted moisturiser were used daily. I avoided using the perfect skin defense spf30 as it definitely makes my skin look dehydrated. The RBR tinted moisturiser does have an spf of 15 so I wasn't going without sun protection.

I don't regret packing any of the items above. The Max Factor False Lash Effect mascara wand has a big brush head and I do find I blob on my lids but it gives good buildable definition. I forgot to apply my Shu Uemura brow pencil one day and I realised how strange my brows look without powder or pencil. This is as essential to me as covering up the grey hairs in terms of disguising the effects of age. The eyeliners I took with me were YSL Long Lasting Waterproof liner in #5, GOSH Velvet Touch liner in Truly Brown and MAC Teddy Eye Kohl.

The eyeshadows were probably one area that I could have cut back on. Surprisingly, the palette I hardly used was the Guerlain Les Fumes quad. I love this palette and ordinarily, I could have got away with only taking this one. Instead, I fluctuated between days of wearing just the Rouge Bunny Rouge Atlas Swallowtail or Julie Hewett Mystere with liner (for simplicity) or going for a more colourful look. One of my favourite pairings was Chanel Epatant with the grey from the Dolce & Gabbana Fabulous quad. It was nice to re-acquaint myself with NARS Dogon too.

Chanel Epatant and Julie Hewett Mystere

From top, clockwise: NARS Laguna, Illamasqua Rude, W3LL People #5, W3LL People highlighter

I love all of these items but for whatever reason (read holiday red wine intake), I hardly used them. I think I could have swapped them all for one cream blusher such as BECCA Turkish Rose or Edward Bess After Sunset.

L-R: EB Secret Desire, Ilia Arabian Knights, Ilia Crimson & Clover, RBR Murmurings and Hourglass Femme

I had very chapped lips when I arrived at my parents and I pretty much stuck to using the Ilia Arabian Knights and Rouge Bunny Rouge Murmurings all week as they both feel so comfortable. As a side note, these are similar colours and I must do a side by side comparison. I took Edward Bess Secret Desire along in the hope that I might do a smoky eye and nude lip for a night out. I don't really know what kind of special child sleeping miracle I was anticipating!

I could have definitely cut back on the number of brushes that I packed. I hardly used the face brushes as I hardly used the face products. I could have reduced the number of eye brushes too as several of them are multi-purpose, such as the Rouge Bunny Rouge large shader. Using the cream eyeshadows on a couple of days also cut down on my brush needs.

I suspect that I probably won't improve my packing skills next time round. Hopefully, I will remember not to pack for unlikely eventualities though. Feel free to remind me that I said this!