Beauty on the go, destination: Milan (+mini Kiko haul)!

So, hello, long time no blog. Missed you. Have you missed me? Anyway, enough chit-chat, let's get right into this post. A while ago I got to travel for work, sort of, for the first time in ever, and it took me to fashion capital of the world, Milan. I know, exciting. Italia, Milano, Ciao Bella et al... However, I was not traveling for fashion related work. Not even close. I was supposed to be assembling some exhibits, which was complicated by the fact that the venue was still very much a construction site. I didn't know this, per se, prior to leaving, but I had anticipated it being a physically demanding, sweaty, grimy week, where looks would not really be a priority. I packed a change of my most comfortable, practical clothes with 1,5 outfits for a potential nice dinner out (didn't happen), and the makeup pretty much followed the same formula. Enough product for a nice, comfortable, put together day look, with extra means to pull out a kitten flick and a Dolce Vita red pout should the opportunity present itself.

Usually what causes me the most anxiety and confusion when packing makeup for a trip is foundation. Foundation is my weakness, the subject of my ongoing dramatic search for “the one” and so forth... I think the problem is, I don't really have a completely reliable tube of foundation when I'm home, never mind having the perfect one on the go. Since I was flying on a budget airline and with no checked luggage, saving space was obviously a priority as well. I didn't want to bring my pre-mixed “my” foundation, as I'm currently out of some of the ingredients for it, and I'm not quite ready to repurchase a premium foundation to make more, so the little bit I have made, is all I'll have for a while. Also, it lives in a pretty substantial glass jar, which isn't ideal for travel. Point of this story is, bringing it was not a serious option. Instead I chose to make do with my Mac Studio Fix powder foundation. I don't know what I was thinking. I've worn it several times in this manner – spray some water on a foundation brush (my Shiseido), get the bristles damp, and swirl it in the compact, buffing the product into skin using top to bottom strokes. My problem with this foundation is that it looks cakey, even with light, barely medium coverage. It looks fine initially, but after a few hours it darkens and cracks in an unflattering way. Just in case, I'd also brought an unidentified sample of some liquid foundation, which turned out to be useless crap, so I did end up using just the powder foundation for the duration of my trip. It worked... Alright. Not my favorite by any stretch. I think a powder or cream foundation is an awesome product to travel with, one less liquid for security to check, but for my skin type, this formulation is not really ideal. The finish isn't as nice as I'd like, it doesn't wear too well and my skin felt very dry, sensitive and irritated at the end of the week.

The only other face products I grabbed were my Clinique Redness Solutions powder, which lived in my purse and served as a mirror for getting ready (hit pan on this while on the trip, super excited about that!), YSL Touche Eclat, what else, and Chanel blush in Rose Ecrin, which I piled on to not look so flat and exhausted (which, in all fairness, I was).

For mascara I brought my Kanebo volumizing 38C, which I got specifically because I knew there would be travel and I wanted something long wearing, but removable with water. Also for the eyes, Dior's Chimere, my go-to, daily one shadow look; and my Smashbox eyeshadow trio in Cover Shoot, because I'd successfully used the darkest shadow with a damp brush for winged liner, and that was my way of getting a potential evening look, as well as a slightly smokier daytime look. For eyeliner I packed my Kanebo brown pencil liner in EL02, and for brows my Chanel Crayon Sourcils in 30 Brun Naturel. I'm not in love with either of the two, but this was the kind of trip where I wanted to just use something and get closer to using it up, rather than using my absolute favourites. Both the pencils are mighty short and close to being on their last legs, but while the Kanebo held up fine, the Chanel BETRYAED ME! Thankfully this happened on the very last day when I was traveling home. The pencil was a little blunt, usable, but I was in a good mood and wanted a sharp point. I go to sharpen it, and it breaks. I sharpen it again, and again. Same thing. Finally, the whole center of the pencils just falls out! WTF! I would say there was still a quarter of the pencil left, so just an FYI, if you're buying this pencil, chances are only ¾ of it are usable. Since I can't be seen without my brows penciled in, what I did was I mashed up what had fallen out of the pencil and sprayed it with water and used my eyeliner brush to try and shape my brows with this mess. It kind of worked, but that was a close one!

For lips I brought my tomato red YSL Rouge Volupté in nr 15, with a corresponding red YSL lip pencil in nr 10, and a Rouge Volupté Shine in nr 8, which I went through like crazy on site after I'd lost my chapstick. All of these also lived in my purse.

For tools, my two double-ended eye brushes for lay-down, blending and lining (Laura Mercier, The Balm); my Shiseido (perfect) foundation brush; for powder and blush my Fine Kalla kk002; and, finally, a pencil sharpener.

This was the first time I got to test drive a pencil box I'd bought in the fall with the intention of using it as a makeup bag. It's a solid foam material, with a mesh half-pocket on one side and a divider with three slots for pencils/brushes in the middle. It's by a company called Brunnen and is made in Germany. I must say I got very excited about something NOT being made in China or Bangladesh. It was reasonably priced as well, 6.50€, and given the choice, if it doesn't break the bank, I'll always choose a product manufactured in the West. It's second nature for us to consume whatever is cheapest without caring about its origin, and it would require writing a doctoral thesis on the true cost of manufacturing in Asia, to illustrate how I've arrived at my philosophy on consumerism, so for now, it's simply a side-note.

As for the pencil box itself, I think it worked great. It's definitely very restricting, or rather, disciplining in the amount of products you can bring. I like that it's organized enough where it's not a chore to pull things out of designated pockets and it's not this one section where everything just floats around, making an insufferable noise as you frantically search for something and go through every single other item first. It fits everything one (really) needs and the soft, solid material keeps the items safe.

A quick rundown of my skin care and toiletries: Avène emulsion as my daytime moisturizer with spf 20; Vichy's Aqualia Thermal crème légère for night; eyedrops; dry shampoo; a tiny thing of regular shampoo (because I usually wash my hair every third day, so really only needed 2-3 uses for the trip); Kendi dry oil mist in place of conditioner; a little Body Shop body butter for all over moisturising; toothpaste; crystal deodorant; a thing of water in a spray bottle; a bit of my acid acne treatment cream in a sample pot; Bioderma; Garnier toner; cotton; blotting paper; a razor; a sponge with leftover pieces of soap in it (which didn't work, but thankfully the apartment we were staying in had shower gel on hand); L'Occitane almond shower oil; a Travalo of L'Eau d'Issey... That's it, more or less. I think. A lot of teeny-tiny things that were all absolute necessities! By the way, most of these are in re-purposed packaging, so what I'm listing and what's in the pictures won't exactly correspond to one another...

I wore and used pretty much everything, including the bright red lip, even if it was on the last day before heading to the airport, on a stroll/shopping trip to Kiko. This was initiated by my co-conspirator Kätlin, whose makeup bag consisted almost entirely of Kiko products, so naturally, I had to be converted. I loved Kiko! Started out with 20 items and then slowly started putting things back. I left with two lip products- Creamy Lipgloss nr 101 and Ultra Glossy Stylo in 819; two eyeshadow sticks in nr 10 and 28; and two nail lacquers in 485 and 374. Sadly, and mysteriously, I've lost the lavender lipstick I bought. It was in my pocked and two days after I came back, only its lid remained. I looked everywhere, it's gone... I've enjoyed using everything else though. For the price, the quality is really nice and I'd definitely get more in the future.

All in all, much learning was done on this trip, and much fun was had, while looking decently fabulous, I think =).