I’m a dreadfully heavy packer – mainly, in my defence, because I’m always working and invariably have to drag along heaps of product testers so I don’t fall behind schedule. But for my latest week’s trip, I was determined to downsize my skincare haul to a literal handful without compromising my routine.
I boycotted non-refillable minis a while back. There was something about those huge, colourful, once irresistible Sephora and Superdrug displays of tiny travel plastic that suddenly seemed indefensible to the point of grotesque. So now, travelling light involves decanting and downsizing – and, if anything, it’s more thrilling. Having donated all my minis to my own charity, Beauty Banks, which distributes toiletries to people living in poverty, I selected washable and reusable plastic containers from Muji, from 95p. They have every possible shape, purpose and size, and all are fantastic except for the pill box (the doors don’t open individually, meaning you have to spill everything out at once) and the clear plastic (too stiff to squeeze, plus they go cloudy). If you don’t have a branch nearby, Primark has a smaller-but-still-good-selection from £1.
Into one pot, I scraped Beauty Pie’s delicious-smelling Plantastic Apricot Butter cleansing balm (£11.92), which removes all makeup in a smear. Loose, I packed sachets of Dr Dennis Gross’ Universal Daily Peel Pads (£18 for five), but you can just as easily decant your favourite liquid exfoliant into another of the travel bottles; I also love The Inkey List PHA Toner (£9.99 for 100ml). Either will de-flake and smooth, add glow and give an ideal base for makeup.
Over that goes serum – for me, always a vitamin C to act as an antioxidant, maintain brightness and help even skin tone. This is where one must be more careful. To remain stable and effective, active skincare should stay either in its original packaging: the terrific Garden of Wisdom C-Deep (£18 for 30ml) comes in a dinky enough bottle for travel), or try sealed monodoses, as in Elizabeth Arden’s biodegradable Vitamin C Ceramide Radiance Renewal Serum Capsules (£42 for 30).
I squeezed plain old moisturiser into a pot (whatever your skin likes) for day and night, and decanted some Thank You Farmer Sun Project Water Sun Cream SPF50 (£18 for 50ml), a light, velvety high-protection hydrator and among my favourite new discoveries. I then used my Dymo machine (£21.95), to label practically everything but the dog. The indolent may prefer a Sharpie.
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