A wise friend challenged me to take a single eyeshadow quad with me on my vacation to South Africa. But I’m a rebel and apparently I can not be reasoned with. In my defense we were traveling over two major holidays, both with the potential for pretty varied outings so I wasn’t really certain if I would need just the basics or if I would have call for some more glamorous makeup. (Spoiler: I only needed the basics)

So here are all of the things that are so much more than a quad that traveled across the world.

Tools

This lineup of tools had me covered for any eventuality even though I wore so little makeup that I didn’t use most of these.

The Urban Decay Grindhouse pencil sharpener is really nice and has a large pencil slot and a standard pencil slot. I would say it’s well worth the $10.00 if you’re in the market for such an item.

Then from top to bottom of the first three smaller brushes:

1. Ecotools angled blending brush – this creates the perfect cat-eye eyeshadow shape.
2. Ecotools blending brush – I use this to lay down my base eyeshadow.
3. Ecotools blending brush (the larger flatter one) – I use this to buff out the edges of my eyeshadow.

Then from left to right:

1. Ecotools powder brush
2. Ecotools blush brush
3. elf Flawless Concealer Brush – I like this for applying powder under my eyes.
4. A no-name Walmart brush that I use to apply highlighter.

And again, from top to bottom:

1. MAC 217 – I have two of these and I use them daily to apply transition shades or crease shades.
2. Ecotools flat shader brush
3. Ecotools angled liner brush
4. Sephora eyebrow brush – this has a super fine edge and is really stiff, I like it a lot!

 

Pencils and random other products

1. Maybelline Brow Define and Fill Duo in Auburn – I took this because it has a pencil and powder and isn’t bulky packaging. This is a nice little product but it isn’t my new favorite brow product. I think I’m going to try to do a brow product comparison post soon because there are just so many options out there!
2. Peter Thomas Roth CC Eye Correcting Concealer – This stuff is great. One end is a doe foot applicator of concealer (very thick consistency, has physical sunscreen, blends easily and doesn’t settle too terribly into fine lines) and the other end is a doe foot applicator of a liquid highlight (very glowy dewy highlight as opposed to shimmery). Unfortunately I suspect that this is or will soon be discontinued because I found it on clearance and haven’t seen it recently on Sephora’s website.
3. NYX Retractable Lip Liner in Nude – Didn’t use this even once but it’s a great nude liner.
4. Rimmel Exaggerate Lip Liner in East End Snob – again, didn’t use this but it’s a nice nude cool toned pink shade. I think I brought it on accident honestly because it’s not that different from the NYX shade.
5. L’Oreal Lip Pencil in Scarlet Glamour – This is possibly discontinued but it’s a pretty standard true red lip liner. Also…didn’t use it once!
6. Benefit Roller Lash Mascara – I did actually use this! Several times! This was a gift from Glamour Vortex and this is a really nice mascara. It gives a bit of curl and separation for a nice natural look. It doesn’t flake or smear or irritate my eyes. I dig it yo.
7. I’m not sure why I brought two different black eyeliners. Possibly another accident? In any case, I didn’t use either of them although I like them both (I prefer the Urban Decay one).

Fragrance

1. Victor & Rolf Spice Bomb – this is one of my all time favorite fragrances. It’s spicy and warm and smells a bit like cedar. I just find it incredibly comforting like being wrapped in a warm blanket. I did wear this a few times.
2. Ralph Loren Midnight Romance – I haven’t actually worn this one yet at all.
3. Southern Comforts Charlotte Sunshine – This smells like iced peach tea and summer. It’s so fresh and crisp and happy smelling! I wore this a few times as well.

Lips

If you’ve ready my blog before, then you should be impressed with my restraint in the lip product department. I brought one product for each of my color categories that I might possibly wear and while I only used one of these products, I was at least prepared for potential Christmas glamour looks.

1. Jeffree Star Velour Liquid Lipstick in Hoe Hoe Hoe – This was limited edition but it’s lovely and perfect for Christmas. I didn’t actually end up using it at all though.
2. Estee Lauder Pure Color Envy Liquid Lip Potion in True Liar – This is absolute favorite vampy lip color. It’s gorgeous and comfortable and relatively fuss free. I didn’t use this on vacation but it’s a shade I wear often in real life.
3. MAC Viva Glam V – I did wear this! Several times! It’s a great neutral shade that is similar to my natural lip shade just slightly deeper and more glittery. Obviously. I have a sad lack of natural glitter to my lips.
4. Buxom Full On Lip Polish in Katie – I think I wore this on the flight at some point but that’s about it. It’s a nice plumping gloss that goes with everything.

Face

1. elf Tone Correcting Powder in Cool – This is a very finely milled powder that doesn’t give a ton of coverage but it does blur lines and pores a little bit and it brightens as well. I did use this a couple of times, mostly in my undereye area.
2. Laura Gellar Baked Split Highlighter Duo in Vanilla and Portofino – This is a great highlight. I’m not sure which shade is which, but one side gives a strong glow and the other side has a bit of sparkle so between the two you have all of your highlighting needs covered whether you want subtle or dramatic. I used this a couple of times.
3. MAC Melba Blush – You all know I love this blush. It goes with everything and was an obvious choice for travel. I wore this once.

Eyes

1. Sephora Colorful Eyeshadow in No. 82 Hollywood’s Calling – First off, Sephora are (is?) jerks. I broke this eyeshadow during the trip and when I went to buy a replacement it’s been discontinued. I don’t know what they were thinking because this shadow is perfection. Since I only wore eyeshadow twice on my trip, I didn’t actually use this. Now I have to go try to re-press this sucker. Thanks a lot Sephora!
2. MAC Kid – This is a great subtle transition shade aaaand possibly also discontinued. This is why I have panicky urges to buy back ups of products that I love.
3. I created a MUFE trio and took it with me for the white highlight shade, Vanilla 510, it’s a yellow based cream shade. The other two shades in the trio are 704 Canyon which is a nice terracotta kind of shade and lastly 846 Morello Cherry which is clearly a nice deep red shade. I didn’t end up using any of these shadows.
4. Bare Minerals 2.0 Ready Eyeshadow sample in The Top Shelf – I just took this because it was adorable and tiny and perfect for travel but I haven’t actually used this ever. I need to though because the shades are really gorgeous!
5. NARS Dual-Intensity Eyeshadow in Cassiopeia – I took this with me just because it’s pretty as an unusual inner corner highlight. No I did not in fact have call for an unusual inner corner highlight. How did you guess?
6. Dior 5-Colour Designer All-in-One Artistry Palette in Nude Pink Design – This was a limited edition quint that came out several years ago. Since I won’t ever get to review this on it’s own (that just seems like cruel and unusual punishment), I’m taking this opportunity to swatch this bad boy for you:

Ok so not the best swatch ever. So sheer! But also, so lovely. These shadows apply beautifully and look much better in real life than they do in that sad excuse for a swatch photo. I didn’t swatch the cream eyeliner but it’s a plumy brown shade. I did wear this palette both days that I actually wore makeup (so Christmas and New Years, I seriously just couldn’t be bothered with wearing makeup on vacation. Plus there was a lot of hiking involved and I didn’t feel that the impala’s would be sufficiently impressed with my mad makeup skills to warrant any fancy makeup).

While I may have seriously over packed on the makeup front, I made up for it by packing very light in every other way on this trip and that was actually a first for me!

Do you take makeup with you on vacation? I rarely wear makeup on vacation since I tend to get into the super low key mode when I’m away from home.

Tidbits:

• We spent last weekend painting and we finished the living room and the hall. We’ll get back to painting next weekend so just about the time the paint fumes have worn off we can completely refresh them.
• The Boy is working this weekend so I’ve stayed in bed and consumed my weight in chocolate while binge watching both Hart of Dixie (so sad that this show is over now! It was totally cute!) AND Witches of East End. Now I have a Netflix void in my heart and I don’t know what to watch next. Also, can we talk about how Netflix has lost it’s damn mind? They took away Doctor Who! What the actual f*** Netflix!
• I got a hair cut! And color! It turned out a fair bit darker than I was shooting for but I’m kind of digging it.

  

   

• I really have been eating a seriously embarrassing amount of junk food lately AND I haven’t been working out! Look forward to lots of complaining about broccoli and squats next week when I start working out again. Stupid squats.