Lighten the Load – Travel Toiletries

Lighten the Load – Travel Toiletries and Make-up

Travelling light is not easy even for the most seasoned of travellers. Even the Lady’s Maid herself has been caught out at the airport with an extra charge for a heavy suitcase. One area where you can lighten the load of your belongings to avoid this happening is with your travel toiletries and make-up. These can really add to the weight of your suitcase, so if you want to free up space for that extra pair of shoes you might wear on holiday, take note of the Lady’s Maids top tips for toiletry packing.

• Pack miniatures not full-size bottles. Besides sun protection, the Lady’s Maid would recommend packing only miniatures of your essential daily toiletries. Full-size bottles of anything will seriously add to the weight of your suitcase. Boots and Superdrug have a much larger range of mini toiletries these days.  Department stores such as John Lewis also sell a good range of miniatures.
• Many brands also do ready-made travel sets complete with zipped transparent bags, which are great as they are permitted in hand luggage. Only buy these if you’re actually going to use all of the products though, or remove the ones you won’t use – there’s no point in adding unnecessary weight to your bag.

• If you are loyal to a particular brand and can’t do without it, then decant a small amount into empty miniature bottles – you can purchase these in most chemists. Muji also sell a wide range of empty mini pumpable, squeezable and sprayable bottles.
• Stream-line your skincare routine. Pack only the products you actually use on a daily basis. Most hotels will have a decent shower gel, if not more, so you could forgo your usual shower gel.
• Pack full-size sun protection for face, body and hair and mosquito repellant. These are the only products that you’re likely to want to use a lot, so you won’t want to run out.

• Pack your toiletries in a transparent bag so that you can easily see what you have and if any items  are missing. These ones from M&S are great value.

• Be selective with make-up. If you are holidaying in a hot climate, you are probably not going to want to wear your usual make-up, especially in the day-time when your skin is exposed to the sun. The Lady’s Maid has only six items in her holiday make-up bag:

• Bourjois CC cream
• Lanolips tinted lip cream with SPF
• Maybelline mascara
• Chanel cream blush stick
• MAC bright moisturising lipstick
• Guerlain bronzer

• Use a make-up bag that makes it easy to locate items. The Lady’s Maid travels with a frame make-up bag from Cath Kidston. The sturdy metal frame keeps it open so that the contents are easy to find.

Happy Holidays!