Traveling makes me anxious — did I forget to pack something, am I going to miss my flight, will the hotel “forget” my booking? And as someone who both loves skincare and hates spending money, I am always looking for ways to maximize my skincare routine in my small carry-on luggage.
In this blog, I share a few tips of my many years of work travel to make sure I have what my skin needs, all packed away in a single carry on. I also include some strategies of how and where I purchase the products to maximize my savings. And yes, this is all inspired by my most recent work trip to Las Vegas for CES, and it includes the products that I brought with me.
And before we get started, it’s important to note that there are brands that sell little jars you can use for your skincare. But I dislike that for 2 reasons:
Skincare (and makeup or haircare) have formulas that have been tested in the packaging they come in. The materials of the jars that you decant into have not been tested with that specific formula, unless the plastic/glass/metal is the same as what the original brand had.
I hate paying for more things that I won’t use that frequently!
So let’s get into how I pack as effectively as possible.
What Does a “Standard” Skincare Routine Look Like?
Every single person out there has a specific combination of their skin type, concerns, and treatments they like to use. I’m no different, nor are you. However, I’ll share what I like to travel with in a “bare bones” routine:
Cleansing balm
Cleanser
Toner
Hydrating serum
Treatment serum
Eye cream
Day moisturizer
Night moisturizer
SPF
Lip balm
Misc. products (beyond skincare)
Shampoo
Conditioner
Hair pomade
Body cream
Deodorant
Makeup
What types of products am I missing from my normal routine:
Treatment serum: I normally alternate with retinol and exfoliants, but when I travel, I opt for just a retinol serum
Facial oil or overnight mask: At night, I often like to layer an oil or mask on top of my nighttime cream for an extra dose of hydration and moisture. When I travel, I skip it.
Lip sleeping mask: When I travel, I rely on a lip balm that I can use both at night and during the day. And because I am not the one doing the laundry, I usually am not too afraid of using a tinted lip product at night — as long as it is moisturizing enough for my lips. My main goal is to not wake up with dry lips.
Toner/essence/mist: I usually have one toner or essence for day and one for night. When I travel, I only use one.
What’s in My Bag?
Instead of thinking of it as a routine, I break down my products into TSA-relevant and TSA-irrelevant products.
TSA-Relevant
These are any products that are gels, liquids, aerosols. Basically, if it is liquid-y in any way, I classify it as TSA-relevant and sort it into one dopp kit.
So here’s what we have:
Cleanser
I’m pretty picky about cleansers when I’m at home. I like a gel that makes your skin feel “squeaky.” When I’m traveling, I am more lenient and go with whatever cleanser I have in a travel-size product.
This does have the option to go to a solid product, but I honestly don’t like solid cleansing bars because they give me soap vibes and I also don’t like how they dissolve and get gummy on the bottom after multiple uses.
My choice this trip: Biossance Squalane + Amino Aloe Cleanser
Toner
When I choose my toner, I like slightly exfoliating ones that I can use daily without irritating my skin. Emphasis on slightly because I don’t want it to be harsh. So what I’m looking for is gentle exfoliation from willowbark extract, not from salicylic acid or enzymes or lactic acid. While it is true that they can be at lower, gentler concentrations, I typically shy away from them because almost all brands are trying to advertise how “effective” they are with a “high” percentage of ingredients now. No thanks. I don’t want to fry my skin when I don’t have my holy grails to rescue me.
My choice this trip: Biossance Squalane + BHA Pore-Minimizing Toner
Hydrating Serum
I will choose a hydrating serum as a staple for both my daytime and nighttime routine. Since my toner is going to have light exfoliation, I skip toner in the morning and use just the hydrating serum on dry skin. It gives a level of hydration still, so I don’t worry too much.
My choice this trip: Biossance Squalane + Copper Peptide Rapid Plumping Serum
Side note: the sample-size of this serum is a dropper bottle, meaning that I can refill it from the full-size product and not have to worry about the packaging affecting the efficacy or safety of the product. Win!
Treatment Serum
My treatments I normally use are either exfoliation, retinol, or clay masks. When I travel, I cannot be bothered to do a clay mask. And because I have an exfoliating toner, the only relevant treatment was the retinol. And like many other treatments, the retinol I am currently using at home is a TSA-friendly size.
Sometimes if the treatment serum i am using is oil-based, I delude myself into thinking this takes the place of a facial oil as well. But honestly, that is more of me being psycho than it being a tip.
My choice this trip: Maelove Moonlight
Eye Cream
My eye cream has to double duty as well for both a night and morning product. Because of that, I typically opt for more of a gel-based eye cream instead of a thick one. I’d rather my eyes look good during the day than prioritize drenching myself in moisture at night.
My choice this trip: Biossance Squalane + Peptide Eye Gel
Moisturizer
Normally, I pack 2 types of creams: one for the day and one for the night. But for this trip, I actually wanted to finish a pretty large (but still travel size) already-open tube, which I ended up using twice daily. So it was a day cream but I just ended up using it at night as well. And spoiler: my skin ended up fine.
My choice this trip: Three Ships Radiance
Sunscreen
Obviously this is a non-negotiable. And for better or for worse, facial SPFs typically come in TSA-friendly sizes. So I just took the one that I currently had open at home.
My choice this trip: Algenist SPF 50
Pro tip: I bring a second sunscreen that’s tinted and use that as my makeup base. Because I am an anxious traveler, the intrusive thought that I run out of SPF is always there. So having this extra bottle of (tinted) SPF makes me feel more at ease. Plus, it gets used anyway for my makeup, so it isn’t deadweight. Yes, you can bring a solid foundation stick. But then you don’t get a backup SPF.
My choice this trip: InnBeauty Project SPF 43
Also important to note: you could rely on a solid SPF for all of your sun protection needs. But I don’t feel comfortable using an SPF stick as my first application. I love them for a reapplication, but there are many people out there who say the application of an SPF stick is not thorough enough (in terms of amount applied) and misses spots still (in terms of parts of the skin did not ever receive product). So I will continue bringing fluid SPFs with me.
The rest
And then I’ll bring travel-sized shampoo, conditioner, body cream, and setting spray.
My choice this trip: JVN Hair Nurture Shampoo and Nurture Conditioner, Youth to the People Body Cream (available in travel size as a kit!), Milk Makeup Setting Spray (since I only use setting spray and not setting powder). But honestly, most drugstore setting sprays will fit the TSA size, so I would just recommend that (my favorite is the ELF one).
I’ll also get some of the sample sizes of fragrances and use that instead of the full-size bottles. And these are literally the easiest to pack because they’re approx 1 ml and take up no space.
TSA-Irrelevant
These are all the products that are solids or balms, so they don’t count towards your liquid allowance. The goal here is to maximize how many products you can get into this category instead of the TSA-relevant ones.
Cleansing Balm
If you’re not using a dedicated cleansing balm or oil to take off your SPF or makeup, we truly cannot be friends! They quickly and thoroughly remove your makeup in the first step of your double cleanse.
Choosing a cleansing balm takes the place of a cleansing oil or micellar water, thus freeing up some space in your TSA-relevant bag.
My choice this trip: Milk Makeup Hydro Ungrip (discontinued product)
I do enjoy using this product, but it is honestly more on the creamy side than it is on the oil side. Instead of it being highly slippery and easily gliding over your face to remove makeup, it soaks in to your skin a little bit and dries off. It still removes the makeup from your face very effectively, but I feel like it does most of the action after you emulsify with a little water.
In contrast, when you use a cleansing oil or you melt down the Farmacy Green Clean, you get a lot more slip with the product and it glides over your face many times before you add water in.
Solid Skincare Boosters
When you hear skincare booster, I assume your mind automatically went to the serum-y products that are more expensive than serums. And you’d be right.
But here, I mean your vitamin C or niacinamide powders. Because I am only relying on a hydrating serum in my routine, I am looking for a little more oomph. Vitamin C is typically not at a high concentrating in hydrating serums because of its propensity to oxidize quickly. But if you bring a solid powder version of the vitamin C, you get its benefits without adding to your TSA count.
My choice this trip: Vitabrid C12 Face Brightening Powder
Lip Balm
If your lips are not getting any amount of moisture, you need help! Since lip balms are not counted towards your TSA allowance, I will typically bring a couple balms so that I don’t need to bring any lip oils or lip glosses (which would technically be liquids and count against the liquid amount).
My choice this trip: Summer Fridays Lip Butter Balm (Brown Sugar) and Biossance Lip Balm
Makeup Products
For my non-setting spray makeup products (after the Inn Beauty Project SPF 43), I opt for solids all the way:
Contour — currently using the Makeup by Mario sample sachets, which have a HUGE amount of product in them
Blush — Tower28 Party Hour (my everyday product)
Highlighter — Rose Inc Solar Radiance (Prismatic)
Brow Pencil — Sephora Collection
Brow Gel — Anastasia Clear Brow Gel
Lip — Summer Fridays Lip Butter Balm (Brown Sugar)
Misc Products
For things beyond skincare, I’ll add in my hair pomade (which is a thick clay, so not a liquid) and solid deodorant. Again, choosing solid deodorant instead of aerosol will help remove things from that bag.
One thing I don’t use (as frequently anymore) but is important: dry shampoo. Living Proof PhD Dry Shampoo is the goat, but it is pretty large. If you are able to part ways with it, I’d recommend going with a brush-applied powder dry shampoo instead. But honestly, they just don’t hit the same.
For fragrances, I mentioned the small sample sizes that are super easy to pack. But if you wanted to be extra conservative, you could look into solid fragrances. Or you could try that TikTok hack with Vaseline (but YMMV because I have never tried it). Just use the trial sizes to be safe.
How to Purchase Skincare Minis Strategically
Right now, it's January.
You’re going to hate this, but the best time to buy skincare minis just passed. After the holidays, retailers are literally throwing holiday skincare sets at you for 50% off or more. So you know how each skincare set says “compare at $X for X% savings!” it is basically that but even more discounted. My favorite place to pick these up is Sephora, and I’ll grab a few during the 20% off sale (either the Sephora sale or the one that’s around Black Friday time).
Skincare Minis from Brand Websites
You might have noticed that I had a lot of mini Biossance products I packed on this trip. It’s not because it was from a holiday set, but it’s because the Biossance direct-to-consumer website often does gifts with purchase with substantial sized gifts: ones that will last you over a week of travel. Throughout the year, they have different promos. But I usually see the biggest gift with purchase offers around the holiday times.
I’m honestly a sucker for the Sephora, but there can be real benefits to buying your products directly from the brand itself. The only caveat is that the minimums for free shipping are typically higher than Sephora and you may or may not get the free gifts with purchase. I know from my experience, Tatcha is usually the most stingy. I drop like $100+ on one order and I get one little sample sachet with a droplet of Water Cream in there.
But don’t get me wrong — I am still bringing that sample sachet to travel with me! I just need to accumulate enough sachets for me to have enough product to rely on for the entire trip.
How to Get Sample Size Fragrances
For the sample sizes of fragrances, you have two routes:
Go in store to Sephora and ask for a sample of whichever fragrance you want and the sales associate will manually make one for you
Buy a sample kit that has a redeemable coupon for a free full-size product (my choice!)
When you buy a Sephora Favorites sample kit with the redeemable coupon, try to buy it during a Sephora sale. The 20% off discount stacks with the pricing for the sample kit, making the full-size product already really affordable plus you get a wide assortment of sample sizes that you can bring on your next trip!
You can also buy brand-specific sample kits. But they often won’t have that same redeemable coupon that I love from the Sephora Favorites products.
Streamlined Travel Skincare Routine
In the end, you have to remind yourself that it is not the end of the world if you’re not able to pack every single product in your routine. If you forgot something, there’s probably a CVS or Target near you with an amazing drugstore option for that step in your routine. Or if you’re traveling to France or Korea, you can pick up the local products and test them out! (Side note: my dream in life would be to go to Korea with an empty suitcase and purchase a brand new routine.)
I hope these tips help you better understand how to navigate a huge skincare routine. Paring things down to what you actually need, combined with strategic purchasing, will help you go a long way.
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