What's Inside M's Carry On Bag?

It's a party on the bandwagon!
To see what's in my make up bag and toiletry bag, read my post here.

I bought a Rebecca Minkoff MAC Bombe from their end of Summer online sale.  I will be using this bag as my carry on - it hold my life without looking like it.  It holds EVERYTHING that's listed below.

• iPhone 4
• travel itinerary
• sushi tray print zipper bag - holds my money, passport & nexus card
• 1 L bag of liquids and gels
• Nine West wallet
• iPhone charger
• SONY battery charger
• Clean & Clear oil blotting paper
• Marc by Marc Jacobs sunglasses
• H&M gold bow hair tie
• Hello Kitty compact mirror (from Sephora)
• winnie the pooh zipper pouch - holds my coins
• SONY camera
• Rebecca Minkoff MAC Bombe in Luggage

Close-up of all of my liquids and gels:

• Bath and Body Works hand sanitizer in Island Margarita
• Lip Ice lip balm SPF15 in Lemon
• Lancome Rouge in Love lipstick in 322M Corail in Love (my review)
• CHANEL Rouge Coco Shine in 57 Adventure
• EOS lip balm in Strawberry Sorbet (my review)
• Neutrogena pure & free baby sunblock SPF60+ (my review)
• container of insect bite balm
• Travalo with Marc Jacobs Oh, Lola! (my review)
• Travalo with Marc Jacobs Daisy
• L'OCCITANE Cherry Princess hand cream - limited edition
• LUSH Tea Tree Water (my review)

- M

M is beaching herself in Mexico! (What's in my travel make up bag and toiletry bag?)

I'm leaving on a 7 am flight to Mexico this weekend, where I will be drinking unspecified liquids and beaching myself.
With that being said, all aboard the What's in my bag bandwagon!
Fair warning that this will be a really long post.

the motherload

I usually carry my make up in the Angry Little Girls bag, but since I'm going to a relaxing beach resort, I'm only bringing the essentials in my NUXE bag.

make up bag (side 1)

make up bag (side 2)

 These are the contents of my make up bag:

• Real Techniques Buffing Brush - it's part of the Core Collection (my review)
• Real Techniques Blush Brush (my review)
• Sigma E30 brush
• NARS smudgeproof eyeshadow base
• Covergirl Lash Blast Fusion mascara in Black (water-resistant version)
• TARTE 12-hour Amazonian Clay matte blush in Exposed (my review)
• MAC Mineralized Skin Finish Natural in Medium (my review)
• Burberry eyeshadow in Rosewood (my review)
• QUO wedge sponge
• CHANEL Correcteur Perfection Concealer in B20 Beige Ivoire
• Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On eye pencil in Yeyo
• YSL Dessin Des Sourcils eyebrow pencil in 2 Dark Brown (my review)

I carry my bath and shower items in a thick plastic ziplock bag that was the packaging for one of my mom's undershirts.  I wish we didn't throw all of these bags out before I discovered how amazing they are for travel!

bath & shower bag (side 1)

bath & shower bag (side 2)

 These are the contents of my bath & shower bag:

• Philosophy Birthday shower gel (last year's Sephora Beauty Insider complimentary gift - I have about a quarter leftover)
• GoToob 3 fl oz container filled with Dove Shampoo (I got my container from London Drugs for $10 CAD) - I want to bring my LUSH Godiva solid shampoo but I'm afraid the hot weather might melt it
• Philosophy Purity 3 fl oz (my review)
• The Body Shop Coconut Body Scrub inside an empty LUSH Love Lettuce container
• LUSH Bubble Bar - Pop in the Bath
• LUSH Bubble Bar - Christmas Eve (from the holiday 2011 collection)
• LUSH Bubble Bar - Dorothy 
• LUSH Bubble Bar - Comforter (the pink powder, lol)
  I'm planning to fully utilize the huge jacuzzi bath tub, hahaha

This Angry Little Girls make up bag holds tons of stuff!  For this trip, I'm using it to hold all of my face products and general toiletries.

sneak peek

These are the contents of my face products and general toiletries:

• Degree MotionSense deodorant in Fresh Energy (I only use deodorant when I go to the gym, but decided to bring this just in case.  Plus, it's a small sample size)
• Bioderma Sébium Pore Refiner (my review)
• Avène Thermal Spring Water
• My Tagalongs container filled with Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel (my review)
• My Tagalongs container filled with OFF! Family Care Eucalyptus Lotion 
• Gillette Venus Embrace shaver
• La Roche-Posay Anthelios Ultra-Fluid Lotion sunscreen (my review)
• La Roche-Posay Effaclar A.I. spot treatment lotion (my review)
• Q-tips travel pack
• Soap travel container of cosmetic cotton pads
• Clean & Clear oil blotting paper
• Tempo tissues in Jasmine scent
• Container filled with Bioderma Sensibio/Créaline H2O Solution Micellaire (my review)
• Gillette Satin Care shave gel in the dry skin formula
• Crest toothpaste (sample size)
• Toothbrush travel container with complimentary Crest toothbrush from dentist visit - I use an electric at home
• Colgate floss (sample size)
• Zwilling J. A. Henckels travel manicure kit - website photo & details (it's the black rectangle on the bottom of the photo, lol)
  I snagged the kit from my grandparents who got it when they lived in Austria.

And as a bonus, here are my body sunscreens and insect repellents! LOL

all wrapped up!

The contents of my body sunscreens and insect repellent bag:

• Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Body Mist Sunblock SPF 100+ (my review)
• OFF! Skintastic for Kids
• Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Body Mist Sunblock SPF 30
• Neutrogena Wet Skin Kids
• Burt's Bees After Sun Soother (my review)
• OFF! Family Care Eucalyptus Lotion 
• Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Liquid sunscreen SPF 55 (my review)
• Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Water Light Liquid sunscreen SPF 60 (my review)

As you can see, I really go to town with individually wrapping EVERYTHING.  I go with the assumption that anything can explode or leak.  It's always better to take the extra time to mitigate the risk of an explosion or leak - In the case when there is one, you'll be glad you took the initiative.

I packed everything at the beginning of this week, even though I'm not leaving until tomorrow morning.  During the past week, I only used these products.  This way, I knew right away whether or not I'm missing anything that I may want to bring with me.

Hope this will help you in your packing!

- M

REVIEW: LUSH Solid Shampoo Bar in Godiva

Lush Godiva Shampoo Bar

Three weeks ago, I picked up a Godiva solid shampoo from Lush.  I've been using it as my only shampoo since then, and I absolutely love it.

If you're interested in its quantitative ingredients:

Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Cocoa Butter, Cetearyl Alcohol & Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Glyceryl Stearate & PEG-100 Stearate, Propylene Glycol, Perfume,Hibiscus Extract, Stearic Acid, Shea Butter,Cetearyl Alcohol, Camellia Oil, Organic Jojoba Oil,Organic Macadamia Nut Oil, Extra Virgin Coconut Oil, Cupuacu Butter, Jasmine Absolute, Ylang Ylang Oil, Cypress Oil, Palmarosa Oil, Jasmine Flowers,Cetrimonium Bromide, Cocamide DEA, Gardenia Extract, *Benzyl Alcohol, *Geraniol, *Limonene,*Linalool
*occurs naturally in essential oils

Anyone who frequently travels knows the pains of staying within airport security requirements in regards to liquids.  For a girl, trying to shove everything into one of those plastic zip bags sucks major ass.  So, being able to eliminate liquid -form shampoo is beyond awesome.  Plus, these solid shampoo bars barely weigh anything and take up as much room as a wallet.

When I went into the Lush store, I was strategic in requesting assistance from the sales associate with the thinnest and finest hair.  I have a lot of hair, but my individual hair strands are extremely fine and thin.  I wanted the opinion and recommendation from someone who knows what it is like to have fine hair - Unless you have this type of hair, you will not fully understand what it requires.

I told the girl that I had fine hair that tends to get weighed down easily by even the least amount of product.  I never use anything more than two drops of argan oil in my hair - no hair sprays, no shine sprays, no nothing.  I told her that I wanted a shampoo that was going to be able to clean my hair well without stripping or extreme clarification, yet not too moisturizing where I would have product buildup.  I needed a shampoo that was moisturizing enough for daily shampooing (I wash my hair every day).  And, the cherry on top of my long list of fussy requirements, it had to be a good bang for my buck - I must be happy with it throughout all four seasons (it cannot be one that is perfect for hot weather but not cold/dry weather).

Smell:
It smells very strongly of jasmine.  I love jasmine scents, so it's fine for me.

How I use it:
After I wet my hair and hands in the shower, I rub the solid shampoo several times in my palm (a few swipes is enough).  Then, I put the amount of shampoo that was rubbed in my palm to my hair.  Afterwards, I just shampoo as I routinely do.  It lathers really well.

How I store it:
As mentioned in the post where I hauled Godiva, I store it in a square tin that's meant for their body melts.  It was $3.95 CAD.  The solid shampoo rounds were a bit oversized for the shampoo tins, haha.  According to online reviews, the Lush shampoo tins are horrible at sticking onto the solid shampoos - I didn't have this problem with the Lush body melt tin.  The key is to make sure you don't get water into the tin - I keep mine away from the shower spray, and my solid shampoo is only damp when going back in, not soaking.

Verdict:
As stated above, I love this solid shampoo.  It's a great shampoo that is able to fulfil my entire long list of preferences, and is perfect for travel.  According the the sales associate, each solid shampoo bar is supposed to last 80 washes, so, the thing is going to last forever.  Personally, I think $10.95 CAD for 2.5 months' worth   is pretty good - it would last ever long for those two do not wash their hair daily.