travel Archives » Alina Avery

Friday Five

November 13, 2015 by Alina Avery Leave a Comment

For today’s Friday Five: Five products I keep in my purse (well, today).

I’m known for hoarding makeup in my purse and carrying it around with me everywhere. Which is crazy because 1. I never really use it, and 2. it makes my bag super heavy.

The other day I had a handbag clear out and stripped down to just the on-the-go essentials. Here’s what I kept:

First: a rollerball of Balenciaga’s Rosabotanica. I love this scent. It’s so unique and complex and sexy. I keep the rollerball for fragrance emergencies (it’s a real thing I promise) or just when I need a pick me up.
Next up, the concealer I have been loving lately, bareMinerals BareSkin Complete Coverage Serum Concealer in Medium. This is really lightweight, like a blend between the Urban Decay Naked concealer and the NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer. The shade is a perfect match for my skin, meaning I can use it on blemishes or dark circles and redness, so it’s a no-brainer to carry with me for touch ups. I’ve also been wearing the BareSkin serum foundation and loving it, so more on that later!
I LOVE the Buxom Full-On Lip products, both the Lip Polishes and the Lip Creams. This one is a Lip Polish in Erin in a deluxe sample size that I recently claimed in a 500 point perk from Sephora. I pick up samples of these whenever I see them and have yet to find a shade I don’t like. They feel a bit cool and tingly but don’t burn at all, and plump gently leaving lips hydrated and radiant but not glossy or sticky. I’m a big fan. This one is also easy to put on over lipstick but looks great on its own, which is why it made the cut.
(and 5.) Finally, two products from my October Birchbox. The leaky hair serum: Number 4’s Fluoro5 Elixer Restore & Repair Oil and the Too Cool For School Dinoplatz Highlighter. The serum is perfect for working into the ends of hair to tame them, especially during the dry staticky winter weather. And the liquid highlighter is super easy to apply on the go since you don’t need a brush (or even a mirror, really). They’re the perfect size for carrying around and exactly what you need to brighten up and polish your hair and makeup on the go.

What products do you keep in your purse?

Travel Beauty Essentials

October 1, 2015 by Alina Avery 5 Comments

As I mentioned on Monday, I’m in San Diego this week. Which means a few long flights and a week in a hotel. Of course, I brought my usual makeup, most of which will be in my September Favorites soon, but there are other specific bits I make sure I have to make traveling a little easier.

Ok, let’s get this out of the way. The R+Co Dry Shampoo Paste. Seriously, Alina, enough. We get it. But honestly, this is the only hair styling product I brought. It’s great for wet hair, dry hair, clean hair, dirty hair… AND it’s not a liquid, gel, or aerosol so perfect for taking in your carry-on luggage.

A similarly TSA friendly product: Lush Solid Shampoo. This one is scented like Rose Jam, which is one of my favorite scents from Lush. If you’re not familiar with solid shampoos, they’re the most convenient little discs. You just rub the bar against wet hair and scalp to produce a lather. Work with it a bit and rinse as usual. So much more lovely than the usual hotel shampoos and doesn’t require any space in your quart sized clear plastic bag.

Staying in the hair realm, my Harry Josh blowdryer. Yes it’s a splurge, but I picked it up for 50% off during a Black Friday sale (which is still way more than one person should ever pay for a blow dryer) and I’m obsessed with it. It’s almost identical to my previous dryer, the Sedu Revolution 4000i, but it’s in an adorable mint green color. No, the color doesn’t justify the higher price tag, but both dryers are high-powered, lightweight, and compact. The Harry Josh is also a celebrity cult favorite. Have you ever tried to dry your hair with a hotel bathroom blow dryer? Are you still trying? It takes about a decade and the results are… well your hair gets dry. Bring your own.

Tangentially related to hair, if your trip is any longer than 3 days, pack some tweezers and a razor. I think you should have tweezers at all times: you never know when they’ll come in handy, and stray eyebrow hairs tend to pop up overnight. I’ve had these for years and they’re still sharp (and I haven’t managed to lose them!) I also try to remember to pack a disposable razor so I can throw it away at the end of the trip and not worry about bringing it home.

A rollerball perfume is a much more compact and travel-friendly way to carry your favorite scent. You can bring one for daytime and one for evening, but I just took Balenciaga Rosabotanica for both. This is one of my favorite scents, since it’s unique and sophisticated, and not sugary sweet, which I used to love but now gives me a headache.

Traveling, especially on airplanes, makes my skin really dull and dry. I always want to give it a good exfoliating when I get to the hotel, but carrying a big ol’ tub of face scrub isn’t ideal. So I reach for these Dr. Dennis Gross Alpha Beta Peels. They are my favorite exfoliant day-to-day and are even better for travel. You can bring exactly how many you need and they take up very little space and aren’t at all likely to leak all over your clothes.

Finally, now is the time to break out the packettes. Single use foils of both your favorite products and new ones to try are ideal for traveling. Sometimes a single use sample isn’t enough to get a good idea about whether or not the product will work for you, but it’s perfect to throw in your carry-on if you know you’re going to want to do a face mask, moisturize your legs, or deep condition your hair, and you don’t want to bring a whole tube/jar/whatever. Just be careful if you have sensitive skin since a new product can cause a bad reaction and ruin your trip. Always do a test patch!

What are your travel beauty essentials?