If you’ve seen my Instagram, you might’ve noticed a change of scenery recently. My boyfriend and I ended up taking a trip to Fuerteventura to escape the Swedish cold weather. We’ve been together almost 7 years, and believe it or not, this was our very first trip together abroad! I personally haven’t traveled abroad since 2009, which was only to visit family in Poland… so perhaps it doesn’t count anyway? But you could say that I’ve been the most environmentalist of all bloggers you’d find on the Internet. However, I thought it was time to cash in on the four years of not eating meat. As the meat industry alone is far worse than say flying a plane now and then. And so I thought this would be a great chance to share with you my travel beauty essentials that I packed with me for our trip!
Blend of my favorite oils
While I did have my BodyBazar Just Argan Oil with me, I’m not the type to stick to just one oil. I feel as if all oils carry different qualities. And though I could’ve definitely survived the whole trip on just argan oil, I wanted the comfort of my other favorites. I’m just OCD about keeping routines.
The blend contains equal part of Rosehip Oil, Evening Primrose Oil, Red Raspberry Seed Oil, Marula Oil, Jojoba Oil, Argan Oil, and a few drops of Squalane! Those oils are what I’m currently using on a daily basis that I either mix, use alone or blend with my moisturizer depending on mood and needs. I also used the oils to condition my hair before and after washes.
Facial Cleansers
I took my CeraVe Foaming Cleanser and poured it into the travel-friendly pump bottle. 30ml was more than enough for two people to split the use during a week. And we mostly only used it for our evening routine. The same can be said about the micellar water, which was a must as I know from previous experience that regular face washes do not get makeup and sunscreen properly off. And the last thing you’d want on your vacation is clogged pores!
Shimmering Body Lotion from Emma S.
For me, a shimmering body lotion for sunny weather is a must-have. For years I used to use one from Dove (not the self-tanner one), which I believe they’ve stopped selling or something. Either way, I wanted to find a more natural one, affordable and readily available; As body lotion – whether it got shimmer or not – isn’t something I want to order online to be honest. And so I’m happy Emma S. fits the bill!
It’s got a mild fragrance of sandalwood, fig, and coconut, which in my opinion smells much like summer. It’s not really a 100% green natural product, as like say the Nourish Golden Glow Body Shimmer. But it’s readily available and got some nice natural ingredients in it. It sinks in well and feels moisturizing.
Dream body shimmer would have to be African Botanics Shimmering gold oil. But I might try the Swedish brand Björk & Berries shimmering body oil first, as the price is more decent.
DIY Body/Tanning Oil
I’m still working to perfect the recipe on this one… So all I can say is that it’s similar to the Bali Body tanning oil, only slightly more nourishing and smells of vanilla cookies. For example, it’s got (my DIY) Calendula infused Kukui oil instead of olive oil, and I replaced regular coconut oil with the Monoi Tiki Tahiti Vanilla, which smells aaamazing! And a bunch of other great oils that both protect and nourish your skin in the sun, but still leaving you with a great tan! I might share the recipe with you when we come closer to the summer!
My go-to shampoo
Most hotels will offer some kind of shampoo and body wash, but I’m too picky about shampoos that I rather pack my own that’s been tried, tested and loved. For the past six months, I switched from using Urtekram’s regular Aloe Vera shampoo to their Rasul Volume shampoo, which contains real rhassoul clay. It works great with my hair, doesn’t dry it out even though I don’t use a conditioner afterward. But don’t take my word for it, as all hair types may differ. If you’re someone who works out/sweats almost daily, I can highly recommend the Rasul shampoo by Urtekram!
TEK Wooden Hair Brush + Comb
In my latest iHerb haul I mentioned how I’d like to get the TEK hairbrush to compare with the Bass bamboo brush. I got the TEK travel/kids hairbrush to begin with when I was in Stockholm, and also added a wide tooth comb. I will do a proper comparison review of them in the future, but all I can say is that I’m hooked on wooden combs and brushes and will definitely purchase a larger TEK brush!
Travel Bottles
All travel bottles come from MUJI. I got one 15ml pump for the oils, one 30ml pump for face wash, and two 100ml pumps for body products. I was really impressed by the quality! The only thing that broke, was the shampoo bottle cap, but it didn’t happen until one week after we got home from our trip and I accidentally dropped it.
However, one thing that bugged me was the labels that come on them (at least when you buy them in the store), which was hard to remove and left ugly marks. But overall I would repurchase!
From left to right: ThinkBaby SPF 50, COOLA Mineral Cucumber SPF 30 and Green People Face Sun Cream SPF 30
Sunscreens
Packed: COOLA Mineral Sunscreen SPF 30 | ThinkBaby SPF 50 | Green People Face Sun Cream SPF 30
I took a variety of sunscreens with me but ended up only using two the most. I had high hopes for the Green People facial sun cream, and though it left the least amount of white cast, something about its consistency didn’t speak well to me. My boyfriend took the job to use it instead.
In a sense, the COOLA mineral cucumber sunscreen also disappointed me, but its consistency of having a more light and primer-like feeling and finish made it my absolute favorite of the bunch. It became the sunscreen I reached for most days. However, it does give you a somewhat bright ghost face that needs to be corrected with foundation. But thanks to its primer-consistency, the makeup applies like a dream!
I survived the trip, mostly thanks to my shoulder length hair and Moroccan genes (in fact, Fuerteventura is in the same zone as Morocco!). But my boyfriend managed to burn his neck, ears, arms, and legs! Yeah, the first day was cloudy, so I kind of forgot to remind him about putting sunscreen on. We went with a tour guide of the city, and in the end, the sun would shine one and off. It seemed very harmless, but at the end of the day, he was red as a lobster! It’s kind of ironic, as I told him several times before our trip, “We need to be cautious. It’s going to be windy, so the sun won’t feel as warm.”
After that, we were more vigilant about protecting all his high points. But we then forgot the legs and arms that were most exposed! xD So total fail… In contrast, I never put sunscreen on my arms and legs and did completely fine. So it’s all about knowing your skin type I guess? But this lesson has taught Peter to listen to me when I tell him to butter up! And the sunburn gave us a reason to buy some local Aloe Vera gel.
I’ve actually only gotten sunburned once in my life, and it has never happened to me in Sweden (the sun here is just too low to do that to me – and believe me, I’ve been on the fryer!). It was a trip to Turkey, I was nine and would basically spend all day in the pool. However, the sunburn didn’t catch up to me until 1 week later when it was time to leave. It was the most agonizing sunburn in my life – headache, nausea and peeling skin. So in a sense, my skin tolerates the sun much better than say Peter’s Scandinavian skin. I can be more frivolous about sunscreen, but it doesn’t make me immune. The con is that I do not store vitamin D as easily as my genes are more adapted to be getting sun daily.
Note that this was our very first trip together to a warm country in a very long time. So these incidents are bound to happen, and we learn as we go :) Peter will definitely be more cautious next time, and now he knows which points of the body need some extra protection.
Skincare routine
Mornings
I would use the Just Rose Water from BodyBazar with argan oil to wash and moisturize my face in the mornings. After it was clear that we’re going out for the day, that’s when I would apply sunscreen.
I’d do one layer of Coola Cucumber sunscreen, and then to even things out and bring back some color to my face, I’d apply a thin layer of Dr. Jart+ Beauty Balm. For the body, I used my ThinkBaby SPF50 on the high points that could be prone to burns. But my goal was leave legs and arms exposed as much as possible to charge me some much needed Vitamin D.
Makeup
Except for Dr. Jart’s BB cream, I would sometimes add W3LL People Bio-correct concealer. To pretty myself up for dinners, I’d add a touch of RMS Eye polish in Lucky as well as Master Mixer to create a soft glow.
For cheeks, I’d alternate between Smashbox L.A. Lights Venice Beach Bronze and Silver Lake Sunset, or Ere Perez Lip & Cheek Balm in Healthy, which I always also used on the lips. One hack that a friend of mine recently taught me that I might take into consideration is semi-permanent makeup, in the form of eyebrow micro-blading, for travels. She said that it might make my time traveling less stressful, as you don’t need to pack an eyebrow pencil or have any possible stress of filing them in. This has intrigued me and I might be researching terms such as eyebrow micro-blading Lowry as well as options available in other cities to try and potentially find out more about this treatment!
Evenings
To remove the sunscreen and makeup I’d first go with a swipe of Micellar Water. I reused the travel bottle from Bioderma and added one of my favorite cruelty-free micellar water from Lumene. Then I’d wash my face with CeraVe Foaming Cleanser.
I brought with me two serums: ACO B3+HA+Q10 serum and Hylamide SubQ Anti-Age serum. Though, I ended up using only the one from Hylamide as my skin felt hydrated enough thanks to the more humid weather.
I forgot to pack my favorite moisturizer from Paula’s Choice, so I would sometimes just moisturize with my oil blend or steal from Peter who uses the Face Vital Cream from Decubal.
