Packing for your holiday: Toiletries

Although packing toiletries might seem like a small task, these bottles, liquids and potions are actually quite a stressful part of packing. It might not be what you're packing but how much and where (think carry on or suitcase.) So without further ado, here's my best advice on packing your toiletries.

First you have to get a few things clear in your head:

• You will need two bags of toiletries: one in your suitcase and one in your hand luggage. We're not doing any swapping about at the airport so lets just try and get it right first time.

• There will clearly be a restriction on liquids in your hand luggage so please don't take your favourite hand cream in your hand luggage to find out it's too big and lose it forever. *cries violently*

• Related to the previous point, check the restrictions at your particular airport for liquids in hand luggage before you pack! It's pretty easy to find online but if you really can't find it out, most are 100 ml maximum for each item. Also make sure you have a suitable plastic bag for your liquids in hand luggage, don't be that person that is fussing and flapping at the front of the queue; stressing us all out!

• You wanna be prepared for everything but don't be stupid.

Okay, so what kind of thing will you need?

- Shampoo and conditioner
- Moisturiser (hand, body and face)
- Face wash (the one that will prevent a break out, no matter what!)
- Makeup remover
- After sun and sun cream (please!!)
- Fake tan or tan maintainer
- Tooth brush & tooth paste
- Deodorant
- You're favourite summer scent (body spray or perfume)
- Insect repellent and insect bite cream (depending on how adventurous you're being)
- Razor or waxing strips
- Roughly 3 nail polishes and nail polish remover
- Hair brush and hair ties (for that unruly holiday hair... we all have it.)
- Medicine (paracetomol, travel sickness, hay fever, diarrhoea as you never know what you're gonna eat)
- Moisturising lip balm

Hmm... that's quite a lot. But being a DofE and 'restricted space' sufferer on family holidays, I have quite a few tips to pack lighter.

• So although at home I have about 10 different bottles in my shower, that's just not effective while you're on holiday. Forget all your face scrubs, masks and body buffers and restrict yourself! Try a 2 in 1 shampoo and conditioner and a face wash that doubles as a makeup remover. If you're desperate for your hair masks and shaving creams, buy some smaller containers so you don't have to take loads of massive bottles. And don't forget that they do sell shampoo in Spain!!

Think about different ways to carry the same thing...

• The new compressed deodrants by the big brands are great because they're so much smaller but last just as long! A great buy.
• I would not recommend taking a glass perfume bottle. You could decant a body spray into a small plastic container with a nozzle. If you want to take your favourite perfume, try purchasing something like the travolo so it is a much better size.

Minis!!!!

• Minis are your new best friend! Personally, I love minis because they're so cute but more importantly they are so useful for holidays and travelling. If you go to a big Boots you can find almost anything mini: toothpaste, moisturiser, face creams, hand creams. Even better is that they do minis of your favourite brands (look out for Soap and Glory minis!)

Advice on what to take

Sometimes its the deciding that really is the hardest part, especially when it comes to nails and makeup.

These are my 3 summer colours- look out for a post on these

I recommend taking about 3 nail varnishes. Any more is a bit over the top and you'll spend more time painting your nails on holiday than actually vacationing. Colour wise, summer holiday is all about light pastel colours. Not only are they more summery but they also make your tan look stunning! My favourite are pale lilac, pale blue/pink and white. *Can we just take a moment to appreciate how stunning white nails look in the summer. Thank you.*

Don't take a whole bottle of nail polish either, most super markets or drug stores normally sell these little pre wet pots of cotton pads. Or you could try out Bourjois magic nail polish remover as it's less fiddly for the summer.

White musk set from The Body Shop

A mini perfume set from Next

Try buying the mini sets that you find in places like the Body shop or Boots. Normally they will contain mini perfumes or mini body washes that all coordinate scent wise so are perfect to take on holiday.

To take straighteners or not to take straighteners: that is the question. And unfortunately, that's the one question I cannot properly answer. As someone that straightens their hair regularly to make it look decent, I can't imagine 2 weeks without straightening my hair. I've kind of forgotten how to style my natural hair... it's got that bad. But on my other shoulder is a little angel telling me how good it would be not to take my straightens. My hair would get a break from constant damage and (no matter how much we insist we like doing it), I'd get a break from straightening my hair. I'll keep you updated on my final decision via twitter.

Whilst on summer holiday, everything is dry. Your hair, your lips, your face. Unless you have particularly oily face or hair, I would 100% go for moisturising everything!! Try Sudocrem for your body if it gets super dry. It's the heat guys, our little hair follicles can't take it. Talking about hair, you might also want to consider taking some kind of 'taming' product. Whether that's a leave-in-conditioner, an oil or a spray. Holiday hair is definitely a thing and (no matter how much you tell yourself otherwise), it will definitely come back again this year unless you do something about it!

Try buying small plastic pots and decanting your fav products

Try to take solids as much as possible. From solid makeup, solid soap, solid perfume, solid body washes to solid shampoo and conditioners (yup, I'm talking about good old lush right now.) These all reduce the risk of leaks into your bag and ruining your clothes. If you have solids that aren't in pre-packaged containers, but them into a small plastic box. Good thing about solids is you can leave them which leaves more space for all your holiday shopping in your suitcase coming home.

Whilst many people take fake tan on holiday, some are not about the whole fake life. A pretty good alternative is either a gradual tanner or tan maintainer. With both of these, there is no awkward application where you turn orange and sticky for 8 hours until you shower which is probably a benefit for your busy holiday schedule. I really recommend the Ambre Solaire After Sun Tan Maintainer. It's kind of like an after sun with a teeny bit of fake tan mixed in; apart from a slight weird smell, you'd never know it was fake tan. In fact I used it last year and I honestly didn't realise it was at all fake tan for about 2 weeks and I noticed how tanned I had gotten.

Okay, being a makeup-oholic, I have been writing this whole post thinking about the massive elephant in the room: what makeup to pack. I have been deliberating whether or not to do a separate post on what makeup to take on holiday and concluded I should. Because it's quite a big topic so this post would be megaaaa long.

 

 

So to finish off this post, I'm finally going to be talking about the age old battle of hand luggage versus suitcase.

Basically, toiletries that go in your hand luggage are anything that you desperately need or you have to use the day you travel. For example, I put most of my makeup in my suitcase so there's no chance of it being "confiscated" at security. However I put minimal makeup on to travel (think bb cream, concealer and mascara), so this would have to go in my hand luggage.
But what else do you need in your hand luggage?
 
- A moisturising lip balm as your lips always get really chapped when flying
- Hand cream (for a similar reason)
- A teeny tiny spray of some kind (like those sample perfumes) to smell nice once you get off the plane
- Maybe a mini deodorant if you're worried about sweating throughout the day
- A mini tooth paste if it's a long flight as you'll probably want to brush your teeth again
- Any medicine for travel sickness or other illnesses

 

 
Most other things like shampoo, conditioner, fake tan and after sun, can go in your suitcase to use once you're there. But be careful to keep them in air tight containers or bags so if they leak they will not ruin your whole suitcase full of clothes.

Thanks for reading and I hope this helped break down packing your toiletries for some of you. In the end, do not stress too much, just try and enjoy your holiday as much as possible.

 

See you next time,

Laura Stone x

 

* You may or may not have noticed, but this is my first blog post in which I have only used my own photos. I hope it is an improvement but you might have to bare with me for a bit while I work out which are the best angles and where I can find the best lighting! Thank you for sticking with me, Laura x *