These are the 8 beauty products that you should never travel with

Packing for a flight is tough; once you’ve spent all your energy whittling down your outfits, there’s little zest left over to minimise your beauty stash. As a result so many of us end up throwing our regular beauty products into our hand luggage or suitcase, only to find that they cause issues when we hit security or have to carry our luggage for more than five minutes. If you’re a travel and beauty addict (guilty) these are the products I’d recommend you ditch to make your beauty packing experience a total breeze.

Ditch any eyeshadow palettes

If you’re a consummate professional when it comes to packing and have some kind of specialist techniques on how to make highly breakable things less breakable, then you should 1) absolutely monetise that and 2) feel free to skip this section and take your precious palettes on holiday with you. For us mere mortals, travelling with powder-based products is a no-go; it’s just too easy for them to break and smash, and on top of that list are giant eyeshadow palettes. Sticking to cream and liquid formulas is much easier and means you can ditch the eyeshadow brushes, too, and just use your fingers. These are some first-rate choices for bright statement shades, glitzy metallics and pared-back neutrals.

Bobbi Brown Long-Wear Cream Shadow Stick

Eyes to Mesmerise, Pillow Talk

Your regular makeup brushes

I get it – we all have our favourite brushes for applying makeup. But keeping things light, minimal and carefree is ideal for travelling, and that doesn’t align with a huge wad of brushes, sponges and make-up tools. Ditch them for a smaller selection of travel-friendly make-up brushes that even the make-up pros would rate, and you’ll never look back. They’re also ideal for home use for nights out and fit in even the tiniest Chanel bag.

Real Techniques Travel Fantasy Mini Brush Set

Space NK Ultimate Edit Brush Set

Any kind of oil

You might use a face oil religiously as your ultimate skincare must-have, but imagine for a second, how would you feel if it exploded and leaked all over your Prada dress or seeped into your favourite Dior bag? Oils seem to have a way of leaking, no matter how tightly you screw the lid on, so ditch the worry and invest in travel-friendly solid beauty sticks instead. You still get the hydration hit and slick effects of oil but without that spillage risk. Ditch your facial oil for an innovative solid serum or oil stick. Leave your cleansing oil at home and replace it with a solid, easy-to-use version, and use a hair stick to create sleek styles and nourish your hair.

Milk Makeup Hydrating Oil

Jones Road cleansing stick

Full-size skincare and body products

Pick your method; either decant into reusable travel pots or purchase smaller versions of your full-size pots. Either way, giant full-size products make travel so much harder than it needs to be. They add weight to your luggage, quickly take up your 100ml allowance and a giant amount of space in your suitcase. My rule is only to take them if you have the luggage allowance or space and you’re planning to use them or throw way the bottle before you return home. Instead, choose an all-in-one kit with miniature versions, use leak-proof decantable pots that can be washed in the dishwasher on your return or pick mini versions of your beauty staples that you just fill up every time you travel so you know exactly what it is.

Crème de la Mer moisturising cream

Anywhere Everywhere liquids bundle

L’Occitane almond discovery collection

Perfume bottles

You know the drill by now: bring anything heavy at the risk of your back and luggage weight and anything breakable at the expense of your clothes. Trust me, there’s nothing more devastating – and pungent – than a bottle of prized perfume that has ended up breaking on a flight as your case is tossed from unfathomable heights. Instead opt for mini vials of your favourite scents along with a chic travel spray holder, find an easy to use mini atomiser that allows you to decant your scent into a smaller version and seek out clever ways to wear fragrance minus the dreaded bottle break-risk.

Ex Nihilo eau de parfum travel set

Ex Nihilo eau de parfum travel case

Full-size hair products

Shampoo and conditioner bottles add roughly a kilogram to your bag. Hairspray and other styling products? Let’s double that. Bringing hair gadgets? Quadruple whatever you had before. Haircare is not only huge but often heavy, too, so always replace it with travel-friendly versions and multi-tasking products that also work for your day bag when you’re exploring a new locale. Small can certainly be mighty.

Sam McKnight texture hair mist

Kérastase reperative filler

GHD Chronos Hair Straightener

Anything that you can replaced with a sachet or patch

Look at the beauty items you’re hoping to travel with; where can you replace a tub or pot with a sachet? I heartily recommend saving these up over time so you have a stash or investing in travel sachets of products like hair masks to slather on when you’re on the beach or sheet masks to boost hydration without the need for a tube of face masks. You can also get patches to suit all needs, from vitamin patches to skincare patches and even wellness patches; these are expertly designed to help you sleep and chill when you’re on the go.

Dr.Jart+ Ceramidin Facial Barrier Mask

Davines the circle chronicles

A giant make-up bag

Holidays are a nice chance to opt for a carefree, minimal make-up routine, so as well as leaving that eyeshadow palette at home, employ a multi-tasking approach to your make-up and use the extra time you’ve saved rooting around in a huge make-up bag to have a pre-dinner cocktail instead. Pick a coloured balm that works for lips, cheeks and eyelids, a light concealer that can double up as a foundation, a glow-inducing stick that highlights and adds a sheen to the lips, plus a multi-use palette that does it all.

Kosas revealer and concealer

Curve Case makeup palette