Travel Grooming Essentials

I can't remember the last time that I went somewhere for holidays. I'm lucky enough to actually live on the coast and the beach is mere two minutes away, so the need to go somewhere on holiday for the summer was never really that strong. But every once in a while we all need a little bit of away time, and so a group of us planned a short trip to the Croatian coast - Krk Island to be more precise. Since I don't often go away for summer, I went a bit overboard with the prepping and planning, to be quite honest. 

Let's kick things off with the bare essentials. From left to right we have an Oral B travel toothbrush that comes in the cutest little plastic pouch. I couldn't find this online, I bought it in a pharmacy while hunting down La Roche-Posay, sorry about that. I replaced the original toothpaste with this one from Marvis (£7.39), which has one of the best tastes that I ever tried. This one is the Aquatic Mint, but they have a few different ones and I wanted the Whitening one but sadly they were completely sold out. David Beckham has the best smelling drugstore perfumes in my honest opinion, and I couldn't live without one on a day to day basis. This one is the David Beckham Instinct (€35.18) and I absolutely love this scent. It's a bit more on the citrusy side but not too overpowering. I also love the luxuries feel of the bottle and the magnetic cap. Deodorant is something that every person should always have on hand, and for this trip I went with my Zara Men Gold. Again I couldn't find this one on the Zara website, but if you ever happen to come across it in a store give it a bit of a sniff, it's amazing! A friend of mine always steals this out of my bag whenever she possibly can. 

Skincare wise I decided to keep it relatively simple, which is a bit of a strange thing for me but it's a short trip and we'll probably be way too tired at the end of the day for one of my longer skincare routines. I'll start it off with the cleanser of choice, and I picked up the travel size version of the Lancome Gentle Softening Cleansing Fluid (€32.43). Why can't brands stick to shorter names? I couldn't find the travel size online but I bought it in a gift set with a toner, serum and day cream included. This has a milky texture and Lancome recommends using it on a cotton pad which honestly is a load of bullshit, if you ask me. I apply this all over dry skin, it's gentle enough for the eye area as well, and then take it off with a flannel. And yes, I'll bring flannels on my holiday, so what. I'm not bringing any of my acid toners for those three days, and I think I'll manage without, or I'll just end up buying a travel size before we leave. Instead I picked up my Lush Breath of Fresh Air (£7.95) spritz toner for a bit of hydration and refreshment in the summer heat. Serum is the most essential part of my skincare routine and I couldn't go anywhere without my Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair II (€69.09). I'll be reviewing the Estee Lauder ANR in the upcoming week in more detail. For moisturiser I chose the Clinique Moisture Surge Extended Thirst Relief (£34.00), which is also travel size and personally I prefer this over the pot packaging and it lasts quite a long time as well. Why is it so hard to find travel sized products online? Pop up to your local Clinique counter and ask if they have a travel size. This is very hydrating but also very light in texture and absorbs like a dream. One of those can't live without them things for me. 

Sunscreen. You can't leave on summer holiday without some good quality sunscreen products in your bag. For my body I went with Garnier Ambre Solaire Protecting Lotion with SPF30 (€9.81). It's also apparently currently on offer on FeelUnique, so I'd definitely recommend checking it out. Ambre Solaire is a very popular choice between beauty editors, and I can totally see why. This absorbs quite quickly for an SPF, feels very hydrating on the skin and personally I just adore the smell of this. I even got asked about what smells so good on me when I applied it before going to the beach. It has an SPF smell but almost a bit better, if that makes any sense? For the face it was an obvious choice of the famous La Roche-Posay Anthelios AC (£16.00). Again, this is currently 20% off on the Escentual website, valid until 13th July, which is a winner. Even though XL is the most popular version these days, I went with the Matt Fluid with SPF30. The difference between SPF30 and SPF50 isn't that huge actually, and at least with this I will probably be more conscious about reapplying it throughout the day. It also absorbs quickly, unlike many other SPF face products that I tried in the past, and it'll continue to be a staple in my summer bag. Also please remember to stay away from the sun between noon and 4PM, though I'm sure you are constantly reminded about that. But SPF isn't 100% protection from the damaging effect of sun rays. Another thing to keep in mind is to always check that the SPF you are using provides a broad spectrum protection. That is UVA and UVB. 

Lastly we have two very different gadgets. On top we have Remington Touch Control beard & stubble trimmer (€84.59). Honestly this was probably one of my best purchases ever. It doesn't come very cheap but I was lucky enough to grab it on offer and long gone are the days when I used razors on my face. It comes in a protective pouch with an USB charger and has different length options from 0.4mm to 18mm. And of course we have the trusty Kindle (£50.00) filled with different books that I want to read on the beach (I'll try to do a separate post on my to-read list). But really, can you imagine lying on the beach without anything to read? Yeah, me neither, really. 

I should probably mention a few things that I forgot to include above (silly silly me). Cleansing wipes, for emergency cases only as I'm one of those people that are insanely opposed to cleansing my face with wipes, I mean eww. As well as a hand cream, as my hands get quite dry in the summer time, an Antibacterial hand sanitiser, headphones, a few magazines (currently my fave is a local magazine called Ambient) and of course the typical: phone, chargers, shower gel, shampoo and conditioner, etc. 

On Tuesday you should be able to read my Travel Fashion Essentials post, I just need to remember to stop being a lazy prick and actually get shit done.