Make-up Travel Bag | Jennifer | Guest Blog http://ift.tt/1CLlN5f @lnohara95 #blogging

Monday is going to be a little different today. Don't expect this to be a regular thing, but I am currently going through a block in motivation and writing and I don't want to leave you lovely readers with no posts. As I have guest bloggers, the lovely Jennifer is taking over today as one. I hope you don't mind.

I'd rather have a guest blogger than leave my blog dry with nothing for you to read. This post is all about make-up and what to take with you when you travel. 

Here's Jeniifer's Make-up Travel Bag.

Hey everyone, I’m Jennifer from The American Faultier. I’m an American who moved to Germany in June of 2014. This August I will be traveling back to America for a few weeks to get married to my German fiancé.

I have kind of become a makeup junkie. Combine this with my need to pack everything I own, and you have a recipe for disaster when traveling. I have a roll-up travel makeup bag that I use to restrain myself, but I end up stuffing it with way too much stuff. As with my TSA restricted liquids bag, I'm attempting to cut down and be more efficient. Unfortunately, at least in terms of packing, I will need to look done up several times during my trip. I am getting married after all! For a trip with only casual events, I could probably get away with less, but that is not going to happen this time.

Face

My tinted moisturizer will be in my liquids bag, so I save a little space here.

My current foundation, All Matt Plus in Light Beige from Catrice, can sometimes be tricky. It can be slightly too dark if I don't blend properly, but I have gotten very slight sun from walking around this summer, so it fits much better now. I really like the finish of it. It says "matt", but that's a lie. It's only semi-matte if that, but it doesn't leave me shiny. It's got decent staying power and medium, but build-able coverage. It evens out my skin tone, but you can still see my freckles through it, which is what I currently prefer. Also, I worry that anything thicker will slide off on the day of the wedding when we go outside to take pictures, and I don't want to end up with foundation all over my dress.

My current favorite concealers are The Wakeup Concealer by Manhattan for under the eyes and redness and this Müller (a German drugstore) brand concealer stick for blemishes. The Manhattan concealer offers nice coverage, but is thin enough to blend nicely. The stick concealer takes a bit of working with, but it’s full coverage and contains anti-acne (“pickel” if you’re German) ingredients, which make me feel like I’m at least not making everything worse.

For blush, I’m just going to bring a warm toned one and a cooler toned one from Catrice. They’re light enough to keep me from looking like a clown, but look quite nice on the skin. I am also going to bring my Glow Pearls highlighter from Physicians Formula, it’s glowy without being too glittery, which is basically all I want in a highlight.

My setting powder is the 2 in 1 Perfect Teint Powder & Makeup from Manhattan. It says that you can use it wet for heavier coverage, I would suggest not to, as it made me really cakey looking. However, it does work well dry and adds a small amount of coverage.

I chose not to pack any bronzer or contour products, because I don't really bronze or contour much. I will probably stop by Ulta and/or Sephora while I'm in America, and I will look to see if they have anything cool enough to keep me from looking like an oompa loompa. Though apparently highlighting without contouring is a thing now (strobbing?) so I can pretend that I'm just being trendy.

Lips

This is the area where I'm most likely to overdo it. Lipsticks are small, and so I get quite tempted to grab several crazy ones that I might use, but never end up actually putting on my face. This time I'm sticking with a nude, a natural, something pink, and something bold. That is probably still overdoing it, but it's better than what I normally bring. I need to get better with using lipliner, but for simplicity's sake, I'm just going to bring my clear one from Essence - the ultimate multitasker.

My Covergirl lipsticks have some killer lasting power, and I'm tempted to pick up more while in America. In Germany we have MaxFactor instead (0wned by the same company), but I think their similar lipsticks run around 10€ as opposed to the $6-$7 for the Covergirl ones.

Eyes

My mascara will be in my liquids bag, and I don't really feel the need to bring several. I'm low-maintenance like that – as I’m sure you can tell by my super minimalist packing list.

My fiancé got me the Naked 3 palette as a birthday present, and it is perfect for trips like this. I can get a wide range of looks from it and the colors suit my skin tone very well. I would probably bring this even if I didn't have a fancy event to prepare for, since it's such a great palette for daily looks as well.

I also threw in a few of my Maybelline Color Tattoos because they are boss at staying on through the heat. They also look quite nice if you are lazy and just want to use one product and be done - and you can apply with fingers, so no need to bother with brushes! The colors I chose also play nicely with the Naked 3 palette.

I'm not bringing any bright colors, even though I'm tempted to, because in all reality, I'm not likely to use them. Or if I do, it would be once and I'd probably only do it to justify bringing them along in the first place. Neutral is totally fine for this trip.

As you can see by the generous amount of pan showing, I use this eyebrow gel from e.l.f. a lot. I use it daily and it's easy to use, so pretty much a no brainer to throw it in. I naturally have very thick eyebrows, so they require minimal filling and the tinted gel is an easy way to do just that and keep everything in place.

I’ve got a few Essence eyeliner pencils that I use fairly often. The silver and gold one I will use on a daily basis in the summer. Rather than cover my entire lid in eyeshadow, I’ll stick with just a line of bright liner. It’s less likely to crease and smudge than a full eyeshadow look (unless you use the Maybelline Color Tattoos, those things stay put!). A warning for contact lens wearers – these do have a tendency to get on my lenses if I put them in the waterline, particularly the darker colors, so I would suggest testing them out at home first to see if it happens to you.

I haven’t been too into liquid liner later, but I will probably want to use some for the special events during my trip, so I’m packing my e.l.f. ones in brown and black. They’re nothing fancy, but they’re cheap and they work. I’ve also got the e.l.f. Eyeshadow Primer for the exact same reason.

Tools

I got a fake Beauty Blender from dm (a German drugstore) and I love it. I had had so-so luck with drugstore spongey things before, so I was unsure, but I really like this one. I have never had a legit Beauty Blender, so I can't compare, but I think this "makeup-egg" blends everything quite nicely when used damp and the pointy end is great for concealer. As stated above, I'm worried my foundation will slide off on my wedding day if it is too thick, and this will definitely help keep things thin and blended.

My face brushes are from e.l.f. because I really like their studio line. I may invest in some high-end eyeshadow brushes at some point, but I've got some Essence ones that work well enough. I can't imagine them holding up as long as something that is higher-quality, though. I also have a cheapo pencil sharpener from I-don’t-know-where, because I have to keep my pencils sharp somehow – but I forgot to throw it in the close up picture. It’s nothing special, it just has one side for larger pencils and one for smaller.

I am on the fence about bringing false lashes with me, I’m not sure if I want to wear them or not. If I choose to bring some, I will probably go buy a very natural looking set, as that will fit better with the looks I think I’ll be using. I don’t normally wear false lashes, so I wouldn’t even consider them for a casual trip.

I mentioned a lot of products in this post, but it is not sponsored. I'll let you know if anyone ever sends me stuff or pays me to talk about it, and I will always tell you what I really think about something. I refer to online reviews all the time when deciding to purchase products, so it's important to me that people are honest, and I hold myself to that standard as well.

And a thank-you to Lauren for having me! I love having the opportunity to meet and work with new people! If you have any comments or think I left something super important out, please let me know!

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Much love,

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