Your flights are booked, your itinerary is set, your luggage is filled to the brim with your ideal vacation outfits—all that’s left to pack are your travel makeup essentials for a fun holiday ahead. Whether you’re adhering to TSA guidelines or just want to pack lightly, most of us will not be taking our complete makeup collection along for the ride—making the unavoidable task of paring down your beauty stash an important one.
Our Top Picks
- The Makeup Organizer: July Vanity Cosmetic Case, $85
- The Priming Moisturizer: Embryolisse Lait-Crème Concentré, $17
- The Makeup Brush: Saie The Double-Ended Sculpting Brush, $30
- The Tinted Moisturizer: Rare Beauty Positive Light Tinted Moisturizer, $30
- The Bronzer: Chanel Les Beiges Healthy Glow Sun-Kissed Powder, $95
- The Lip Oil: Summer Fridays Dream Lip Oil, $26
A beauty editor’s tip? Visualize the entire routine you’ll practice once you land from start to finish. You’ll want at least one complexion product to even skin tone and veil imperfections, along with multitasking pigments to bring warmth and subtle color to the face—plus, whatever you use to awaken your gaze, like eyeliner or mascara. And if your plans call for glam, eyeshadows and lipsticks are worthwhile additions, too. Below, we’ve created the ultimate makeup packing guide for your summer holiday and beyond.
Trusted Organizers
First things first, determine what travel makeup organizers work best for you. Maybe you already own the best toiletry bag that can fit both your skin-care and makeup necessities, or perhaps you’d prefer to store them separately. July’s water-resistant case has spacious compartments, transparent pockets, and even a detachable wet pouch—perfect to secure in your carry-on. Otherwise, consider Telena’s zippered pouch, which is wide enough to fit all your cosmetics, yet still compact to pop in your purse or personal item for easy access.
Vanity Cosmetic Case
Skin Prep
From the Oscars red carpet to the Met Gala, experts routinely emphasize the importance of skin prep for glowing skin with or without makeup. Our takeaway? Rely on nourishing formulas and face primers to prep your base. We’d reach for an exceptionally hydrating and soothing serum first, then the French pharmacy favorite Embryolisse cream to restore moisture and ready skin for makeup.
Refreshing Mists
The best face mists can be used to give skin a generous moisture boost before makeup application, or even lock in hydration throughout the day. Either way, these formulas will always come in handy. La Roche-Posay’s is made with the brand’s soothing thermal spring water, which boasts skin healing properties; whereas Tatcha’s delivers ingredients like Uji green tea, Akita rice, and Mozuku algae to reveal a luminous glow.
Multitasking Tools
You might be fine with applying all of your makeup with your fingers; if you favor a more precise approach, don’t forget to pack the beauty tools you rely on at home to perfect your look. Consider taking a makeup brush set like this one by Hourglass which features 17 super-soft, vegan brushes designed for the face, cheeks, and eyes. Or, opt for a single dual-ended option that pairs two different brush types in one—a larger side for sculpting and a smaller end for deft blending of the under-eye or eyelids.
Flawless Complexion
Selecting your vacation complexion products is arguably the hardest part, with so many different types of foundations and tints to choose from—not to mention your own skin color potentially changing after spending time in the sun. You can't go wrong with Rare Beauty’s tinted moisturizer that even boasts sun protection plus soothing agents like lotus, gardenia, and white water lily, whereas someone after a more skin-like finish will appreciate the ever-evolving world of complexion balms. Anastasia Beverly Hills’s latest launch blends shockingly easy, making it seamless to swipe on and go.
Customizable Concealer
With your complexion set with an undetectable wash of skin tint or tinted moisturizer, next is to turn to a concealer to brighten dark circles and/or cover up blemishes. Merit’s The Minimalist stick will do just that. While many use it in lieu of foundation, I’m quite fond of it as a concealer—it is, after all, just small enough for deft application along the under-eye and never budges when swiped atop a pimple. For those interested in more traditional options, Natasha Denona’s concealer goes a long way. It’s very creamy but blends with ease, meaning you can cover whatever you like with just a dot of product.
Adaptable Color
The secret to keeping your makeup bag light is opting for versatile pigments that can quickly and easily awaken your complexion—instead of, say, carrying around several blushes and bronzers. Versatility is key on any kind of vacation! Make Up For Ever’s HD Skin Face Essentials palette is my favorite at the moment; it contains hues perfect for blush, bronzer, highlight, concealer, and foundation and cuts my beauty bag in half. Those partial to powders will love Chanel’s Healthy Glow powder. With a simple sweep, the formula creates a natural-looking flush that combines a blush, bronzer, and highlighter in one.
Set & Blur
Even on vacation, it’s important to lock your look in place appropriately. Charlotte Tilbury’s setting powder is excellent to have on hand to reduce shine and blur skin where you need it, earning bonus points for mess-free application (as opposed to loose setting powder options). Same goes for Kosas’s Cloud Set which delivers a soft blur and dreamy skin—so weightless, you’re likely to forget you’re wearing it.
Enticing Eyes
Play up your eyes by way of the a multitasking eyeliner or eyeshadow palette—both of which work wonders to make your eyes pop and enhance their shape. To perfect your signature wing or add dimension to your look, Victoria Beckham’s water-proof formula allows you to precisely etch color however you see fit, and even smudge it out for a more sultry, smokey effect. To amp things up a tad more, take your pick of two Ilia eyeshadow palettes—one Cool, the other Warm—to give lids a dusting of modern matte, satin, and metallic hues.
Fluffy Lashes
Even a lazy, post-beach look can benefit from several strokes of mascara. I mean who doesn’t want their eyes to pop? When it comes to fluffy, fluttering lashes on vacay, you’ll likely want something waterproof and flake-free. Makeup artists say L’Oréal's Lash Paradise is a classic that opens the eyes with a feathery bristled brush. Dior Diorshow Waterproof Mascara is equally as sought-after for its ability to deliver buildable volume, length, and fullness.
Tinted Lips
Makeup artists say that the key to nailing a minimalist makeup look is adding an accent of color. One of the easiest ways to do so while traveling is by keeping a tinted lip product on hand for a statement-making moment. Summer Friday’s lip oil has been a hit since its debut earlier this year; it leaves your pout softer and moisturized after each application. Not a big gloss fan? Reach for Westman Atelier’s matte lipstick for chic, buildable color no matter the occasion.
Defined Arches
Brows say a lot about a person, so think ahead to perfecting yours when you’re packing for travel. Draw realistic hairs in sparse areas with Anastasia Soare’s ultra-fine pencil, or comb bushy arches in place with a brow gel like Glossier’s that also volumizes and thickens with flexible hold.
