Cleansing
Normally I would not advocate facial wipes for day to day cleansing but when away they help get rid of grime, dust and all other things that stick to the skin without taking up that much space. Also because they are not liquid you do not need to worry about decanting cleanser into a clear plastic bottle. Nivea do a really handy travel size pack which contains sufficient wipes for a weekend break but my current wipes are Boots Botanics.
Short term this will not adversely impact on your skincare routine too much but if you are going away for longer than a week you should consider decanting some of your normal cleanser into a travel bottle.
Moisturising and Eye cream
My travel kit currently has Clinique's Moisture Surge cream and All about Eyes which came as part of a bonus gift. Normally I would suggest that you are better placed to use they same products that you use day to day but these are hypoallergenic and very thirst quenching, perfect for when you find yourself stuck in a trains air conditioning. Plus once the containers are empty you can fill them up from a full sized container.
Freebies and samples
These are made for travel and I try and collect the free samples of products that come with magazines that are for my skin type or for all skin types for trips within the UK as they take up less room can be thrown away and your not committed to sticking to the product if it does not work for you (clearly I avoid those products which contain ingredients I know do not work for me) . There are also certain brands that are very liberal with samples as they want to induce you to try out their other products and potentially buy those. These tend to be the higher pricing brands and I always try and see if they will give me samples in the product ranges that I naturally buy anyway and use these for overnight work trips.
Other travel kit essentials
My travel kit includes a sample of toothpaste, all purpose balm, body lotion an a travel sized body wash and (unseen) shampoo and hair oil samples. I also throw in a sample of perfume or one of my travel size perfumes. Why do I do this when most hotels will have products in their rooms for you to use? Well essentially it is because I have sensitive skin; if a skincare product so much as has a whiff of strawberry perfume in it I get red blotchy and itchy and for some unknown reason Simple skincare products dehydrate my skin. Secondly I like to smell like me rather than the hotel I stay in, if I pack my own products I know that their scent harmonises.
As for perfume I tend to buy perfumes in handbag sizes so that I can throw them in my bag and give myself a refresh latter on in the day if I am going out straight after work or if my scent has worn off during the day. Recently I seem to have gained a number of perfume samples and if I like them and want to wear them again I keep them in my travel pile, that way I can wear them for a few days to decide if they really are me or not without being tempted to go back to my normal perfume and keep a note of what works and what does not so when I run out of my full size perfume I can review whether there has been another scent that I have preferred.
So what's in your travel kit?
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