What’s In My Travel Beauty Bag?

I’ll tell ya—not much!  I  haven’t assessed all the travel beauty items in a long time and many of them have been used up. It’s time to refill or at least make an attempt at organizing.  ( I hate my effing laptop so much. I need to to go back and edit all the errors due to this friggin’ keyboard)

And since it’s all of six weeks until we leave for (click on shameless link to my post) our annual summer trip to Theoule-sur-Mer, I need to start packing stuff now.  OK—maybe not clothing yet, but I need to get the important stuff out of the way.  The items that help to make me look human especially since everyone along the Mediterranean has a tan, olive skin, is incredibly thin from all the tomatoes they eat and the cigarettes they smoke and they all have hair!

Smoking keeps the French thin and the nicotine gives their skin a permanent tan.  I need to try a bit harder.

But now, let me concentrate on what’s in my travel beauty bag and what isn’t.

I have two travel cosmetics bags.   One is really old and filthy. Actually, I’m ashamed to let you see just how disgusting the black and white one is.

This is the black and white travel cosmetic bag from Thirty One.  It looks really pretty from this side….

But from this side it is a filthy mess. I’m a disgrace to all bloggers everywhere! Who saves old paper towels???  Who puts old, used paper towels in their travel kits??  I do. 

No, I’m not. It’s from  Thirty-One, a company that has all sorts of cute totes and boxes and all things to make you think you are organized–when in reality the only time you are organized is when you first make the purchase and bring the items home with you and look at them and within two weeks, you are back to being completely disorganized!

When I was working at Healthways, one of the nurses was selling this Thirty-One stuff. I felt obliged to buy something because of my constant ability to annoy her with hypochondriac questions. I settled upon a large tote that is now in the garage and a hanging organizer that I use as a travel beauty bag.

We will return to THIS bag later..

But let’s take a look at my red oriental themed cosmetic case and what I have in here.

We all know I have a “thing” for red.  But in all honesty, this travel organizer or whatever it is, is my favorite for lugging cosmetics around when traveling.

This is what I really need to assess. As you can see it looks pretty much empty

That’s because everything is crammed into this one zippered compartment!

I’m pretty bad with trying to organize. It’s been a complete Pinterest and blogger fail for me.  But–I still manage to try. Look what I have. Do I keep or throw away?

Urban Decay Basics Palette. This is a great travel palette because it is compact and the choices are matte and neutral. I purchased this back when it was $27. as opposed to the now $29.00. The little “spots” you see aren’t glittering drops of water. It is where Chippy decided to snack upon the palette…

Note the lower right-hand corner. I dropped this and the mirror broke. Luckily shards did not get into the shadow.  I’m keeping it. Damaged and all. It’s staying.

The hot mess on the left is some sort of highlighter/concealer from Benefit cosmetics.  I have no idea how old it is. But–it is still pretty creamy. It’s a keeper.  On the right is a travel-sized Yogourt face sunscreen by Korres.  This is a multi-tasker. If I get hungry on the plane I can eat this. It’s yogourt after all–it’s just spelled in a fancier way!

Will ya look at this?  iT cosmetics has outdone themselves in being “World” friendly!  A French spelling for “cream”, made in China and distributed in Jersey City, NJ. Why did I buy this.

This is the “creme”. Does my pasty white face REALLY need this?  No. It does not. But just in case this is the year that I get that natural tan and need a glow, I’ll throw it into the makeup case!

Thank God I decided to do some assessment. After all the years of travel, I am at the bottom of the barrel. Back to the bareMinerals shop for yet, more, Well Rested this weekend!

I have NO idea what this is but it looked like salted caramel frosting and I was tempted to eat it.

It didn’t match my skin tone and didn’t taste that great either. Yes. I did. It’s a toss! I still have no idea what this is!

A perfect little example why samples are great. I forgot about this. Lancome gave this out as a promo and it’s a great little gift-with-purhase. I’ve used it to give my evening eye a little “oomph”. It stays!

Now that wigs are a staple for me, I can use this powder  SAMPLE as a way to make the parts in my wig more realistic. The things you learn on YouTube! Keeper!

Only two Q-tips?  I need to get more–actually I do not. I found a bunch of them as I started to edit this post.  The Toppik—I’ll keep the travel sizes just in case I feel like wearing my bio hair in a bun.  I doubt it though.

I can’t believe I had GOOD concealer in my travel stash.  No. This stays home.  I got this in Paris for a “deal”. Daniele’s maid’s cousin was working for Chanel and I loaded up on the good stuff for next to nothing.  I know people. Are you impressed yet that I know people in France no less? I have no American friends except Marybeth. The French love me! Actually they probably just think I’m a silly American,

Mascara, eyeliner, brow pencil, eye shadow, bronzer. I’m good to go. 

I’m pretty much set with the exception of cleaning my brushes and packing Chapstick.  It’s funny because I really don’t war that much makeup when I’m on vacation. I let mother nature take over, but I still need my stuff.

Back to the filthy Thirty One organizer. I ended up washing it in the kitchen sink..

This was the best I could do. But, I can store the skincare and toiletries in it.

…such as more fake tanner, sunscreen and more lip product!

Who am I kidding????  I’ll just buy more makeup and skin care products when I get to France!!! 

It’s true.  I’ll run around Chateau Bonaparte “gathering” more beauty products, shoving them into both travel bags because I have to have!!  Then we’ll take a trip to my favorite store of all time–Geant Casino Hypermarche in Mandelieu La Napoule to load up on the groceries and when Bonaparte is over in his favorite area–the wine aisles, I’ll be in my favorite area–skincare and beauty!  And I’ll be “sneaking” every product that I can get my grubby manicured hands on into the shopping cart!

Bonaparte’s favorite aisle at Geant!

THIS, is my favorite haunt.  I”m obsessed with this hypermarche and will be loading my travel bag with necessities and unnecessities!

And so the preparations begin.  Tell me. When do you start thinking about packing for a trip or your vacation?  Are you like me?  Are you a last-minute packer? Do tell!

Anyway, I am not ready to weigh myself. This week was bad for me. I’m really stressed–especially over the healthcare situation. But that means really reassessing what I’ve been eating because moving forward I’ll have to eat to live. I’m thinking of becoming vegan–but only maybe two or three days a week.  I need more kale in my life.  In the meantime, here’s what I wore this week.

On Monday I wore this little number that I found in the garage. Remember?  I paired it with a very lightweight dotted scarf because the top of the dress is a bit on the low-cut side and I bend down a lot at work–from picking up things I clumsily drop!  Notice the hair, I’n wearing wigs every day now and I LOVE IT!  I don’t have to bother with how dry and craggy and thin my bio hair is anymore!

Tuesday’s ensemble was an homage to menopausal dressing. I wore a sleeveless shirt. Note the pom-pom trim. This is from last year. I’m fashion forward, I am!  J. Crew pants from the year of the flood, the ruffled chambray Regent blazer from J. Crew (one of the very few purchases made this season) and an old lightweight striped scarf.  My messy bun is made with the assistance of a Tony of Beverly topper (ok. I lied. I didn’t wear a full-on wig every day). Red ballet flats add a bit of oomph!

Wednesday’s outfit!!! I was so ‘eppee to wear this dress again!  It was in the garage and I’m thrilled that I never trashed it.  This dress is by Cos. I purchased it at Galeries Lafayette in Paris on my thinnest trip. That was many moons ago. It fits again and I cannot begin to tell you how much I love this dress. The top is knit. The botton is cotton and has pockets and I just love this so much. The length is perfect for the office and it is comfortable as all get out.  Bonaparte just took it to the dry cleaners because I didn’t have a tissue handy so I used my dress to….clean my eyeglasses and got makeup on the dress.  What can I say??? There are no words!  I felt very French as I wore my Repetto ballet flats and carried my nat et nin bag!

Thursday’s outfit was my favorite this week–I couldn’t believe the compliments I received!  Dayum!!  I felt good!  The dress?  From Loft and it is so old I cannot even remember buying it.  Which means it hasn’t been worn in years!  The higher neckline is perfect for a mature neck if you know what I mean!!  The length is so lady like. I could bend down all day in this getup!  To make the outfit a bit happier, I wore red heels and carried my red Longchamp bag.  Hahahaha. One of the clients said he couldn’t stop looking at me because I looked so nice!! Zowee!  What a compliment.  My boss even complimented my look! (Wait–does that mean I look like crap every other day?)

Friday’s ensemble. What better way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo than with a French-language tee?  I’m wordly–I mean WORLDLY!  This was a fun Jeans Friday Look.  The blazer was lightweight to wear in the cool morning, but by the time I left the office, I didn’t need it.  I love that plaid blazer.  It was purchased sometime last year or the year before during a huge sale at J. Crew.

And that rounds up my week!  Not too exciting but nonetheless,  it was fun!

Seems like I’m on a bit of a Frenchie kick this week with the preparations and the clothing.

Here’s a pretty song by Les Innocents “Colore”. I have this on a CD and always press “repeat”!

Have a great weekend! XOXOXOXO!!!