What's in my travel makeup bag? #1 City Break in England

Last week I have been away for a short trip in England with my husband and I have been thinking about writing one of these posts, 'What's in my travel makeup bag?' for absolutely ages since I knew I was going on this trip.  Why?  Apart from being away (we were only in Birmingham for a few days), I was looking forward to sharing with you what I have packed makeup wise!

So without further ado, here it is!  Ta-da!!

First of all, I have loved my Paul & Joe makeup bag so much.  It's such a popular beauty accessory that it was sold out everywhere when I was looking for it.  However, I gladly found it in Harrods on a random trip back in June.  It is a filofax type of design makeup bag which has got 2 pockets inside, fairly spacious; securely fastened in a ring-binder format.

 On the two sides there are slip pockets for bit and pieces and for holding brushes.  I had so much fun filling this makeup bag up and it looks very neat and tidy afterwards.

I've decided to bring my staple products which I know won't fail me in giving me presentable looks whilst I was away, but also tried out a brand new Dior Eye Designer Eye Makeup Palette (£39) which I believe is only available at Duty Free shops.  My husband has kind bought this for me on this recent flight with Virgin Atlantic.

I really like the compact design and the dark blue velvet pouch with an elastic band that comes with it, so that I can keep my palette nice and clean.  Inside the palette you can find a trio of eye shadow colours, a gel liner and an eye brow gel.  It also comes with two brushes and the most attractive item of all, a Dior tweezer.  The mirror inside is also absolutely huge which is always handy on the go.  The pouch has also been specially designed to hold a separate item which is Diorshow Extase Mascara (a mini version).

I brought with me Real Techniques Base Shadow Brush to sweep the base shadow all over my eyelids.  This brush is just the right size for a quick one-colour eyelids look.  Two other brushes I brought to help creating my eye makeup looks were bdellium #781 pink brush to add colours to the crease of my eyes and using a Makeup Geek Stiff Dome Brush (a much more friendlier priced MAC 217) to blend, blend, blend.

Other staple makeup products that I brought with me include my Diorskin Nude BB Cream (in shade 002) which I have teamed up with Diorskin Sculpt Concealer (shade 002).  I wanted something light and can give me a glowy dewy finish without a heavy coverage; these two have done just that for me.

I cannot go without my Sleek Face Contour Kit (Light) which I reach for on a daily basis and it's definitely one of my most trusted beauty products.  I love using my Real Technique Setting Brush to highlight my cheekbones, temples, at the bridge of my nose, my chin and cubic bone areas.  I like the fact that the brush is small, and can create directional highlighting function on areas I want to highlight. I also brought with me one of my latest brushes to my brush collection, Makeup Geek Deluxe Angled Contour Brush I used this to contour my face by applying it just underneath my cheekbones, and at the two sides of my chins.  I found using an angled brush much easier to contour my face especially I am still trying to perfect my skill.

Instead of going all Dior crazy, I picked Revlon PhotoReady Cream Blush (Flushed Rougissant) which I also love and is a dupe for my Diorblush cheek cream, which I have done a review on.  Both products never failed to disappoint.  They both give such a healthy flushed colour on my cheeks which is so flattering and perfect for the summer.  I found that using my fingers to dab it on the apple of my cheeks and blend it in, instead of using a brush much easier and give a more natural finish.

I am not a gel liner or gel brow kind of gal at all,  I still gave it a try but I also brought with me my two other staple products: Kiko Precision Eye Pencil (dark brown) - not only does it glide like a dream on my eyelids, it doesn't require much sharpening so it's a great product for travelling.  On that note I also brought with me my Real Techniques' Fine Liner Brush for a better application of gel liner. Then I also had my Soap and Glory Archery Brow Tint & Precision Shaping Pencil (I felt safer bringing this with me, thinking what if me and my gel brow in my Dior Eye Design Eye Shadow Palette didn't get on.....).  I wouldn't go anywhere without my Karl Lagerfeld x Shu Umeura eyelash curler.

Finally I restrained myself to bring too many lip products, so I chose two.  Soap and Glory Sexy Mother Pucker Glossy Stick (Nudist) for a day time glossy finish to my lips (a fuller review can be found here) and my Dior Addict Lip Glow was a fantastic option to wear in the evenings as the colour often turns quite a lippy red on my lips.

Are any of these products your choice when you go travelling?