Favorites – Travel Edition !

So the month of October was super busy, between my trip to Lisbon and Sintra in Portugal, and then to Montpellier in southern France to finally Belgium last weekend, it’s been a lot of fun. I’m going to have to find the time to do blog posts on my travels, but they take more time to write than the beauty ones for some reason, so please bear with me.

Here are some of the trusty products I’ve been lugging around in my various suitcases.

Kat Von D : Shade and Light contouring palette

A friend from Indy that I met in Chicago brought this over for me in September as you can’t purchase this brand in France. It’s been this months’ #1 favorite even if it isn’t the most travel-friendly packaging in terms of size. It has 6 very decent sized colors so it can’t be as compact as a smaller contouring kit. However the cardboard packaging is very sturdy and lightweight. It has a nice mirror but the design around the edges of it take up some of the real estate. However it’s still very usable.

I’ve been taking it everywhere with me. The powders are pigmented if a bit powdery, but it doesn’t bother me, you just need to tap your brush off for any excess. I especially love the cooler contour shade which is my favorite contour shade so far. It has a grey under-tone that I love as it doesn’t make you look ashy. I use it to contour my face and my when nose when I feel like it and have the time. The other shade I really enjoy is the banana highlighter shade. I use this to set my concealer under my eyes. It works wonders for brightening that area which is always something I’m looking for!

Catrice Liquid Metal eyeshadow in 040 Under Treasure

I picked this up while in Bucharest as you can’t get Catrice products in the US or in France. I had heard Swiss YouTube beauty Guru Misschevious/Julia Graf speak about this drugstore brand and have wanted to try it ever since. Well it certainly didn’t disappoint. The pigmentation is very good. It has a very high shine in natural sun light or under florescent lights as can be seen in the swatches bellow. This shade is a perfect complement to a matte palette when traveling (I love the naked 2 as you can see later in this post). You can use it for an inner corner highlight or just all over your lid for a bit of pazzaz ! Sometimes metallic finishes give your eye lids a “crepy” look, but don’t worry it doesn’t happen with this one. Go try it out !

Sephora Targeted Eye Remover Pads

Sephora claims these are “correction to perfection to go” and they are a travel friendly product for sure. They are really a fancy Q-tip with makeup remover liquid in the tube. The down side is you do need a pair of scissors to cut them in half and get to the makeup remover. This can be a messy process if you’re not too careful. I wish they came with a way to break them open without another tool. I have oily eyelids so I always seem to get transfer either from mascara, from eyeshadow or even liner (if it’s not very waterproof) underneath my eyes. This provides you with a nice beauty hack on the go!

Too Faced : Better than Sex Mascara

This is a travel size, but since I am a Sephora Gold card member in France (something like a VIB Rouge in the US) I think I always get a lot of samples, and have already worked my way through two. I love this mascara so much ! It’s of course made for travel and the brush is a regular size. These samples actually last a pretty decent amount of time, several months for sure.

It’s not too difficult to take off which is one of my main concerns with mascara, as I can’t stand losing a couple lashes every time I want to take it off. I love thick full lashes so I always use at least two coats. It doesn’t smudge or flake on me either. I don’t use it on my lower lash line because as mentioned, I get transfer quite easily, so my go-to lower lash line mascara is the Clinic Bottom Lash Mascara. I’ll do a review on it, it’s worth it’s own post ;). This mascara does the three important things I need : separate, adds length and volume ! As always with Too Faced the name cracks me up. Does it live up to the name ? Almost, but let’s be real here… 🙂

Amazon : Kindle Paperwhite

As you can read on my About page, I love reading and never go anywhere without my Kindle. I’m not that patient of a person, even if I can stay calm when waiting. Getting aggravated doesn’t help the situation. I usually just pull my Kindle out and loose myself in my current book. I love paper books for sure, but they are usually heavy and cumbersome. Especially if you love traveling a Kindle (or any ebook reader for that matter) is a god-send. I used to lug around as much as ten books when I left on a long vacation. Now I have thousands of books at my finger tips !

The other feature I really love is the built in back light. It doesn’t hurt your eyes one bit and is very useful when sharing your room with someone. I always read before going to sleep and this way you don’t bother anyone. I take the subway to go to work, and sometimes the lights go out, but that’s fine by me I can just keep reading away ! Lastly you can hold the Kindle and turn your pages with just one hand. This is a huge plus when your holding yourself to the subway or bus handles with your other hand ! 🙂

Bliss Shampoo and Conditioner

A friend from New York brought this over and I have to admit I kind of stole it from her :). It’s a great travel size at 250ml though you would have to check it if you are taking the plane.

I don’t like overly sweet scents, and the scent of this Shampoo and Conditioner duo is right up my alley : freshly scented with lemon and sage extracts. Its formula has wheat proteins and pro vitamin B5 which Bliss claims “leaves your locks bouncier, glossier and sans static”. This does increase shine in your hair. My hair hardly ever gets “staticy” so I can’t say whether it’s true or not. But I definitely enjoy these two products. The shampoo lathers up rather nicely and I use the conditioner as a mask for the duration of my shower. It’s not the richest conditioner but it does the work.

OPI Gold Glitter in Gold Shimmer & Glitzerland Nail polish

I was invited to a Gold Party in Belgium last weekend, and this combination was just perfect to finish off my look. You needed to wear gold as part of the dress code. the OPI Glitzerland nail polish was part of the Swiss collection for Fall 2010. It’s a metallic finish shot through with tons of gold micro-shimmer. It actually can be pretty understated for a gold shimmery nail polish.

That’s why I used it as a French tip and then added real glitter on my nails. The one I used was the Gold Shimmer in P/N 21461 by OPI. This added the crazy sparkly party effect I was going for. I did a gradient effect and added a third polish with silver and holographic micro glitter.

Both the OPI products performed really well and stayed on my nails for a record of 9 days! I think glitter has great staying power, maybe that’s why it’s a pain to get off your nails :).

Maybelline 24h Color Tattoo in Crème de Nude 93

I love the Maybelline 24h Color Tattoos as you can read in my previous post. I was looking for a good nude one to use in combination or instead of my Urban Decay Primer Potion in Eden. The Crème de Nude 93 is the perfect flesh tone to even out the color of your eyelids if you have fair skin around NC25 (in MAC brand). The formula is a gel cream eye shadow with a creamy matte finish. As with all the Color Tattoos it’s long wearing and smooth. It’s the perfect base for any eyeshadow look or for a no makeup makeup look. I took this around with me and was not let down.

Eclairs from Eclair de Génie by Pastry Chef Christophe Adam in Galeries Lafayette

Did I mention I have a sweet tooth ? In December 2012, Christophe Adam (famous French pastry chef) opened L’Éclair de Génie in the Galeries Lafayette Department store in Paris, a creative concept that is as novel as it is indulgent. I’ve been wanting to check it out ever since. The name is a clever play on words with éclair having two meanings in French (the  pastry duh, and lightening) : it’s a pun translated by “Stroke of Genius”.

With a vast selection of éclairs to choose from, you just can’t make up your mind (which means I had to taste several haha) ! I used the excuse I had friends visiting to indulge in the sweet delights of L’Éclair de Génie. It’s on the Boulevard Haussman on the ground floor Lafayette Maison & Gourmet across the street from the Galeries Lafayette main store.

You do pay a steeper price for your pastry but the deliciousness definitely makes up for it. And I think it’s actually quite ok between 4.50€ to 8.50€. I’d rather eat one of these éclairs than plenty industrial supermarket ones anyday ! If you’re visiting in Paris and love chocolate, go taste these éclairs you won’t be disappointed!

Urban Decay : Naked Basics 2

I love Urban Decay palettes, as my Naked Smoky post can attest. When traveling though my favorite UD palette to take with me is the Naked Basics 2. I don’t own the first Naked Basics because I prefer cooler tones to warm ones. This palette is perfect for me and I can create a variety of makeup looks from very natural (ideal when traveling) to dark and smokey when going out. It has 6 mostly matte shades with only one slightly satin finish. Matte shades are the most flattering shades universally, not everyone can pull off the glittery or neon shades! (even though I do enjoy them on occasion). When you don’t have a lot of room, taking this sleek and compact palette is perfect. You can then bring an extra shimmery shade like Catrice in Under Treasure and your good for most anything. If you have more space or are leaving longer, this palette has many great transition shades and can be the perfect complement to another more colorful palette.

What were your October favorites this year?

Shop my post :

Kat Von D Shade and Light Contour Palette here (*)

Sephora Targeted Eye Remover Pads here

Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara here (*)

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite here (*)

Bliss Shampoo here or both (*)

Bliss Conditioner here (*)

OPI Glitzerland Nail Polish here (*)

Maybelline 24h Color Tattoo here (*)

Urban Decay Naked Basics 2 Palette here (*)

(*) affiliate links