Travel Bag - or 'How to turn a dehydrating flight into a spa session'

Last week I spent over 20 hours on an airplane. That's not much for some but it is for me. There are a few conditions that really compromise your skin - one of them is an airplane. All that recirculated air, no fresh air and everyone else's germs. Ugh.

The picture above is what I took last week, but the essence of it can be used and altered by anyone, with any skin type, on any budget.

Left to right:

The Body Shop Vitamin E Gentle Cleansing Wipes - for basic forehead, cheeks and chin makeup removal. I also had Ole Henriksen Truth To Go Wipes which I love, but ran out of them on the plane. Any 'won't burn your face off' wipes will suffice. Yes, wipes on the blog. Fannies, flights and festivals.

Muji travel bottle filled with The Body Shop Camomile Gentle Eye Makeup Remover. Soak one cotton pad at a time, hold gently over the eye and swipe across, down and away. Turn the cotton over and repeat - then do the same on the other eye. Please don't rub your eyes like you're using a pencil eraser.

aesop Travel bottle filled with P50. Your usual exfoliating toner/lotion goes here. Use a saturated cotton pad and swipe it all over. I take it across the entire face, under the eyes, the eyelids and over the lips (P50 tastes grim). You aren't getting a proper cleanse here so this can help you out.

Georgia Louise Hydrating Rose Water (travel pack size) - a good spray toner/mist will be your most used product on an airplane. A normal can of Evian will just dehydrate you - it just works better as a toner/floral water etc. Any good alcohol free toner can be used and decanted in to the spray version of the Muji bottles above. Spray liberally. And frequently. Even when the people around you look annoyed. :)

Chantecaille Nano Gold Energising Eye Serum - (gold tube lying flat) God I love this product. No sugar coating - it's prohibitively expensive - so much so that I literally save it for using when I fly. You can substitute any similar roller-ball-effect cooling eye product from pretty much anyone. The joy in using something like this when you fly - for me - is the cooling effect and the hygiene. Look Ma! No hands! I reapply this whenever I can feel I need it. No stiff directions - depends on the length of the flight, your skin etc..

Ole Henriksen Truth Serum  (small size) - love love love this. Massive antioxidant boost to help protect against what is essentially a locked room of free radicals and other people's germs. Also, smells delicious (not relevant, but joyous nonetheless) and gives you a lovely glow. Nice if like me, long-haul flying leaves you looking like you've given birth. No-one, NO-ONE steps off a plane looking like a supermodel. Not even supermodels. They go straight to the toilets in the VIP section with their 'team'. Stop with the nonsense.

Darphin 8 Flower Nectar  (GWP sample size) - I love this oil but only really use it if I have an overnight flight. Whack it on, try and sleep (or get no sleep, end up watching 3 films and exit plane as above) and let it give you a layer of lovely smelling protection. Substitute any of your normal facial oils that you can decant into smaller bottles.

Chantecaille Magnolia, Jasmine and Lily Healing Emulsion (GWP sample size) - lovely, light, super-hydrating, really good for layering. Substitute any good hydrating, light lotion. You can layer this over other products, add extra layers on during the flight without it rolling...just keeps you soft and hydrated.

Aurelia Cell Revitalise Night Moisturiser (trial pack size) - pretty self explanatory. If it's a night flight/red eye: cleanse, P50, spritz, eye, serum or oil, then this. Marvellous.

Ila Day Cream for Glowing Radiance (travel pack size) - OK so my travel products clearly have a theme. Call something 'glowing radiance' and I'm in. Arriving during the day? When the seat belt signs go on for landing I do a quick spritz and apply this. You can substitute any of your daytime moisturisers and decant into travel pots. If you're landing in a hot climate remember your SPF.

Ole Henriksen Truth Creme Advanced Hydration (decanted into brown pot front right) - This is probably my current favourite for travel - really seems to keep the moisture in and doesn't 'roll' when you layer. The citrus scent is again brilliant for being up in the Gods with no air.

Carmex/Duwop LipVenom - standard lip and a slightly more 'zingy' one to wake me up when necessary!

Chantecaille Gold Energizing Eye Recovery Mask - these are new. They're nice - but to be honest, I much prefer the roller. It's amazing.




*purchases and samples - no affiliates

Empties. Georgia Louise Cleanse & Heal Balm

Upon grabbing this to use as a mask in the bath last night, I found empty no.2 of 2014. Nicely, I had just enough to use it one last time.

The Cleanse & Heal Balm is really a cleanser but my skin was feeling the effects of the heating and the weather so I used it for around 10 minutes as a mask.
Although this says it is for all skin types, it's a really oily balm and for that reason I would go with caution if you are an acne sufferer. If you are dry however, this is bliss.

Inci:
Ingredients: Organic Coconut Butter, Mango Butter, Organic Beeswax, Organic Castor Oil, Organic Apricot Kernel Oil, Passion Fruit Oil, Meadowfoam Seed Oil, Organic Papaya Oil,Vitamin E Oil, Organic Bulgarin Lavender, Organic Ylang Ylang, Organic Chamomile Moroccan

The Cleanse & Heal Duo Balm is £46.00. The one in the picture is old packaging. The links below are to newer versions.

More info on Georgia Louise and the Cleanse & Heal Balm can be found on www.georgialouise.co.uk and it is sold in selected Space NK's and online:  www.spacenk.com

Georgia Louise launching in SpaceNK

Launching this June in SpaceNK is the Georgia Louise skincare range. Initially opening with 4 products - Georgia Louise is a British -born facialist now based in New York and counts Emma Stone and Linda Evangelista as clients.

The four products are Sleeping Beauty Oil, Day & Night Brightening Cream, Hydrating Rose Water and the Cleanse & Heal Duo Balm - which is predictably what I zoned in on.

This is a make-no-apologies oil based balm cleanser. Although it says that you can add a few pumps of the rosewater, for me, there is no emulsifying here - you won't get this off without a hot, wet, flannel - which suits me fine. (If I wanted something to emulsify I'd use a cleansing milk?)

It contains coconut butter, Mango butter, beeswax, castor oil, apricot kernel oil, passion fruit oil, meadow-foam seed oil, papaya oil, vitamin e oil, lavender, ylang-ylang and chamomile. And that's it. it is also 89% organic but that is neither here nor there for me as regular readers will know. 

It says suitable for all skin types - and I'm sure it pretty much is - however, I do think an acne skin could get into trouble if they didn't remove every last trace of it - properly. 

For the rest of us it's a glorious uplifting balm cleanser that gives you a good grip to really get a good massage going. You can usually rely on facialist brands more than any other to 'give good balm'. They base their products around their needs in the treatment room. You can't massage owt with a weak-assed milk. 

GL is clearly good with her hands - until recently she was making all of her products herself. 

Georgia Louise launches in SpaceNK at the beginning of June. Stores and prices to be confirmed. In the meantime, further reading on GL and her work can be found on GeorgiaLouise.co.uk