Welcome to part two of How To Pack For A Summer Trip. If you haven’t read part one yet, please check that out first. I went through my system for packing clothes and accessories for a summer trip.
Now I want to tell you my system for packing beauty products and toiletries. This is a simple, easy system to keep everything organized and simple so you can enjoy your vacation and still look great! Are you ready to start packing? Let’s go!
If you look in your bathroom cabinet right now, you might find a huge black hole of products. You love them all and can’t part with any of it. Well, that’s fine for home, but for a vacation you need to keep it simple. Of course you want to look great on vacation, and you definitely can. It’s just a matter of keeping it simple, organized, and efficient. So, when packing for vacation, remember these key factors:
- Keep it simple.
- Keep it organized.
- Keep it small.
- Keep it from spilling.
- Keep it to quality products.
Follow these 5 rules and you will be organized and still look great on your vacation. So, now on to my system for packing beauty products and toiletries.
First, I like to have a separate bag from my clothes, just for beauty products and toiletries. I usually just call this my “bathroom stuff”. In my bag of “bathroom stuff”, I separate items by category. This makes my morning “getting-ready” time much easier. On vacation, you want to get ready quickly and get on with your fun day. For each category, I use a gallon-size plastic storage bag. Here is how I organize everything in my “bathroom stuff” bag:
- Storage bag #1 with shower supplies: small body wash, small shampoo, small conditioner, razor, small lotion, deoderant
- Storage bag #2 with toothbrush, toothpaste, skincare supplies, including face cleanser, eye makeup remover, moisturizer, and eye cream
- Storage bag #3 with hair styling supplies: hair styling product (volumizer for me), hairspray, brush, and comb
- Outside pocket for miscellaneous bathroom supplies: prescription meds, other over-the-counter meds such as pain reliever, tummy relief meds, nail clippers, nail file, wrinkle spray, travel-size sewing kit, safety pins, and any other small items that don’t go in the storage bags
In addition to the plastic storage bags, I keep a separate bag, just for makeup. I’m a little high maintenance and put on a full face of makeup every day, even on vacation. So, for makeup, I don’t use a plastic bag. I use a nicer cloth makeup bag just for makeup and tools such as makeup brushes and eyelash curler. These things don’t take that much extra space so, yeah, I take all this. I need it and its worth it. The bags I use, shown in the picture, are from Estee Lauder. I keep the ones that come with their free gifts. Then, in my makeup bag, I also add a couple other things. In a quart-size plastic bag, I put extras such as extra contacts and my jewelry. If you want to make sure your jewelry doesn’t get tangled, wrap them separately in tissue paper.
That’s it! It sounds a little tedious and complicated, but after doing it this way several times, it becomes automatic. Really! Then, when you get to your destination, and you’re getting ready in the morning, all you need to do is pull out each plastic bag from your larger bag of “bathroom stuff”, as you need it, then put it away and get out the next part of your routine. Simple! Done! Time to go have summer fun!
If anyone has some more great tips for packing, I would love to know and add them. Even though I’ve been using my packing system for years, I’m always looking for better ways. Also, please let me know some of your favorite beauty products for summer. I’ll share them in an upcoming post along with some of my own. I also recommend that you read one of my previous posts, Spring Cleaning Your Beauty Products. If you keep everything organized at home, you’ll be ready for quick packing.
Have a great summer day and a wonderful vacation!
I put my fine chain necklaces through plastic straws you can pick up at fast food places. I have never had them tangle up doing this.