My Cosmetic Bag Travel Essentials for 10 Days in England

If everything has gone as planned, I am enjoying a Walkabout adventure in England right now. I’ve traveled with my friend Shelly who curates boutique style trips for very small groups of women who want to travel alone or with a friend to Europe. Because we are moving about a little (from London to the Cotswolds) in this trip, Shelly suggests we pack carry-on only. I’ve grown to love the ease of lighter packing anyhow, so I found it fairly easy to oblige. In yesterday’s blog post I shared the wardrobe I packed for this trip. And today I’m giving you the scoop on my cosmetic bag travel essentials for 10 days in England.

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I put my Madeleine cosmetics bag, shown above and below, in my Away overnight bag, which I put under the seat in front of me on the airplane. Sometimes I do put the cosmetics bag in my suitcase, but I like having it handier on long, international flights. This bag is an investment, but the construction is top quality. It’s held up beautifully for me on so many trips at this point. I can easily unfold it and hang it on a door hook or a knob on a dressier or the back of a chair for easy access. And I like that the fabric cosmetic bag zips off of the rest of the bag, so I can take that section somewhere else to do my makeup.

Most of the items I’m sharing below are in that bag, but some are packed in other compartments of my Away overnight bag. And when I check in at the airport, I do have all of my liquid items in this TSA approved zipper bag for easy access at the security check-in. Once I arrive at my destination, I usually transfer them to the Tumi bag for easier organization.

Grooming Essentials

When it comes to grooming essentials I pack as little as possible. If I know the hotels or houses I’ll be staying at have haircare and bathing essentials, I don’t take them. I’m okay with using a different shampoo or bath wash for a week or two. But always check! I emailed our hotel in London (a VERY nice boutique hotel) and inquired about hair dryer, bathing products and hair products. Surprisingly they notified me that they have hair dryers and bath products in the rooms, but not shampoo or conditioner. Thus, I packed selections from my Colleen Rothschild hair care travel set.

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I always travel with a shower cap; in fact, sometimes I carry two because I’ve been known to accidentally leave them behind. My friend Candy, with whom I am traveling, reminded the group in our recent Zoom meeting that they rarely furnish wash cloths in England, so I packed two muslin cleansing cloths in a plastic zip bag for my skincare routine. And as you can see in the graphic above, I invested in travel size products of my usual skincare for this 10-day trip. Yeah, I’ll use any ol’ shampoo, but I like to be consistent with my skincare. (By the way, you can use code KAYHARMS for 20% off at U Beauty, but I don’t think the code works for the travel size products.)

Beauty Essentials

I already use some travel size beauty products on the regular, like this Doll 10 setting powder and this petite sized blush stick. For my foundation, I squirt my Estee Lauder Re-Nutrive liquid makeup into a small vial they gave me at the makeup counter. Ask! They’ll give you a few, too. The ones they have at the cosmetics counter (at Nordstrom or Dillard’s) actually have a little applicator wand in them, so I like those better than the ones I linked to below.

Favorite essentials I don’t leave home without include my Angie Hot & Flashy travel makeup brushes (use code kay10 for 10% off at BK Beauty) and the makeup brush soap with cleaning pad, as well as the two-way lighted folding mirror. I also make sure I always have tweezers, a liner pencil sharpener and a handful of cotton swabs in a plastic baggie. In fact, I take a half dozen empty plastic zipper baggies for just in case.

You can see and shop the entire collection of my cosmetic bag travel essentials for 10 days in England through the shopping boutique below. Thanks so much for stopping in!

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