What's In My Travel Skincare Bag?

... Because I bet you're dying to know - well, maybe not. I will start my discussion of the contents of my travel skincare bag by saying that I love minis; that's probably why I find Birchbox so hard to resist and always look for deluxe sample coupon codes for Sephora. So, the products featured were either part of Birchbox one month or another, or a gift with purchase of some sort.


The above skincare bag was packed for our 5-day vacation in New York this past week. You may recognize the bag from my previous post; I find it a perfect size for a shorter stay and even this excessive amount of stuff fits quite nicely in it.


Let's start with bodycare and fragrance, shall we? I decided to take St. Ives Intensive Healing Body Lotion, also to double as a hand cream - but I haven't used it even once. I was too tired to even think about putting on a body lotion, and as for a hand cream, I had to get one at Duane Reade, because I left this at the hotel and my hands had got unbelievably dry. Fail.

For showering, I took the Korres Mini Showergel in Fig, but to be honest, I'm not a fan of neither the gel itself nor the scent. I also tucked in a little sample of The Body Shop Brazilian Nut Body Scrub; now, this is deliciously fragranced and quite effective, and I'd used up the pot in 2 applications. Last but not least, perfume: my current favorite is Tocca Cleopatra, a beautifully warm and feminine 'floriental' with a touch of fruit. I've been using my sample for at least 2 weeks and it's still going strong!


Now, skincare - can you tell I'm slightly obsessed? For cleansing and removing make-up, I packed Clinique Take The Day Off Makeup Remover and Philosophy Purity, both of which I like, but believe one can find cheaper alternatives of. For fighting pesky flight-induced spots, I took Mario Badescu Special Cucumber Lotion, which I only use on acne-prone areas after cleansing, and the Drying Cream to dab on little buggers overnight.

For every other day maintenance, I chose Yonka Alpha-Complex Wrinkle Defense Retexturizing Gel with AHA, which I will not repurchase for sure, as the stuff smells and looks like liquid glue, as well as Lift Lab Lift & Fix serum, which I can't say anything about just yet. I was also delusional enough to believe I'd have enough time for a mask (100% Pure Brightening Scrub & Mask), but no, no such luck.


I also managed to squeeze a small bottle of shampoo, deodorant and some hair putty in there; for the size of the bag, I definitely championed in the number of products I filled it with. How do you pack your skincare for shorter stays?