Beauty on the move

From September to Christmas this year, I have done/will do a fair bit of travel. I'm not complaining, I like to travel and I always enjoy it for work. I get bored going to the same office every day so a bit of travel breaks that up.

Also, let's be honest, travelling allows a whole new world of beauty shopping. There's the duty-free joy both at the airport and on the plane, the exploring different products in other countries and perhaps, the best part, collecting my favourite beauty treatments in dinky sizes. This is one of the reasons I am obsessed with beauty box offers because I can collect the little sizes for my travels. I also really enjoy trying new products in swish hotel rooms. I actively collect face masks, treatments, bath oils, deep moisturisers so I can create a spa in my room.

Let's talk about duty-free. I don't think it's possible to fly from London Heathrow and not buy something. Well, ok, it's possible but why? Where's the fun in that? I always allow 30 minutes or so to peruse the beauty counters. Terminal 5 is perfect for this but I like Terminal 3 too. You get a few quid off the products but for me, it's all about getting on the plane with new swag and playing with it. I love to get a new perfume when I go somewhere although I do this more for holidays than work trips. At a minimum I buy something like a new mascara or lip gloss. Nothing too bank-breaking but a treat. If I am meeting a colleague at the airport and need to chat in the lounge then I wait and buy something on the plane. I once bought four products on the way to LA because 12 hours is a long time and I was bored. I managed to convince everyone I was with to purchase too and we basically made like Frenchie's bedroom in Grease for the rest of the flight.

Not all airports are created equal. US airports are awful. For the country that leads our capitalist hearts to the till and invented Black Friday, I don't understand why they can't see what a great retail opportunity airports are. Instead they make their airports as unwelcoming and downright communist as possible. And don't even get me started on their airport lounges. Dubai is very good but enormous and I've now been lost twice there. And I've only been to the airport twice. Singapore is marvellously good as is Hong Kong.

Once at your destination, beauty shopping is a whole new world. The mothership of this is New York City. Sephora, Duane Reade, nail bars, Rickys and all the fabulous department stores, the list goes on and on. I need at least a day to do them justice. When I was living in New York, if I had a bad day, I would walk home via Sephora and life just felt better. Often I bought nothing (no, really) but going in and playing with make-up for 20 minutes soothed me. I also love a European pharmacy more than is healthy. The French brands are wonderful and so chic.

For make-up, when I travel, I like everything to be in a stick format as much as possible. Stick foundations, eyeshadows, blushers, lip glosses etc. If I don't need a brush, so much the better. My new favourite stick is this Chubby Stick from Clinique:

I got a baby version (still big and would take months to finish) with a Clinique offer. It's very good. It only comes in four colours which I find refreshing in a world of endless choices.

For my upcoming trip, I bought this from Caudalie:

Three different masks and all nice and small. I plan to take the moisturising one on the plane with me. The trend for doing facials on planes is a little exhibitionist for my liking but this I can just slap on and wait for it to absorb. I don't think anyone will notice.

I wouldn't sit with a sheet mask on the plane (although each to their own!) but I do always take one with me for arrival. I always get jet lag so when I wake up early the next morning, I slap a sheet mask on and feel like I am accomplishing something. I don't have a favourite, I will literally put any of them on.

However, I do adore this from Skyn Iceland:

Hydro Cool Firming Eye Gels. Bliss in a pack. I've recommended these before and I continue to love them.

I could go on and on. I may do another post about travel beauty. Meanwhile, I am plotting what I plan to buy at Terminal 5 tomorrow...

Caudalie

When I was in New York I discovered this brand which is, of course, French. It's actually cheaper over here which is novel. It's made from grapes and vine and suchlike. Oh la la, only the French can put wine in skincare.

I have tried two products that I love.

The make-up cleansing water is fabulous, it's very gentle and gets rid of eye make-up perfectly. It's taken me ages to find an eye make-up remover that isn't greasy or stings. This works. I am on my third bottle.

The hand cream smells like heaven and sinks in perfectly. No greasiness.

Bolstered by such success, I've just ordered the foot cream, more handcream, a buffing cream and the perfume. I found some money kicking around my Paypal account. All that came to £56. It's new thrifty Cover Girl! I shall report back.

A little trip to SpaceNK...

Before I begin, I have to tell you that the Clinique CC cream is excellent, it really does make you look better with very little effort. It's a tiny bit drying, I put serum and then moisturiser on before this however I do have quite dry skin and most people would be fine with just one of these. I'm enjoying it very much. Recommended.

Yesterday I met a friend in town and she wanted a new tinted moisturiser and lipstick. Off to SpaceNK we went to be helped by a gay Kiwi guy called Gary. He looked rather extraordinary but he knew what he was talking about. The lipstick he picked out for her brightened her whole face. And the tinted moisturiser (both Laura Mercier) was perfect. Covent Garden branch - check him out.

While we were in there, I took some time to explore the Nars counter. Oh, how I adore Nars. The make-up is so funky yet wearable. I've wanted the creamy concealer for a while but couldn't quite justify it. My friend said she'd given up on concealer however Gary applied it and honestly, it's not like she didn't look good before but this is eight hours sleep in a bottle. We were both deeply impressed.

Unfortunately they were sold out of our colour (Vanilla) however it's in stock online so naturally I ordered it. I don't think it's worth ordering just one product online so I also bought the eye base.

And I was very impressed by the Caudelie make-up removing cleansing water so I got that too.

And then I don't know how it happened but a Laura Mercier nail varnish jumped in.

Look at that colour and tell me you could have resisted? I was feeling proud that I'd resisted in the shop but it all fell apart once I opened my laptop. Oh well, c'est la vie.