From flight attendants to travel-show stars, here are 18 tips for looking your best when you're on the go.
1. Moisturize
Apply intense moisturizer the night before you are going to fly. This will help increase hydration in your skin before you're exposed to the dehydrating effects.
2. Forgo the Foundation
Skip foundation on the day of your trip, and instead wear only moisturizer. Before you land, add a tinted moisturizer for a fresh, healthy look. If you just can't leave the house without some foundation, apply a silicone-based liquid or cream that puts a layer of protection between skin and makeup. It will help foundation and blush last longer and help keep your skin from becoming dehydrated.
3. Mist With Mineral Water
To refresh makeup while traveling, never glob on more foundation or blush. Instead, use a mister of mineral water and add a dab of moisturizer.
4. Blot Out Oily Skin
To keep oily skin from getting out of control while traveling, bring blotting papers or rice papers and dab the "T" zone as often as necessary. You'll dab up the shine and excess oil without stripping out the moisture, so you'll arrive looking fresher.
5. Add Some Shimmer
Does traveling leave you feeling a bit green in the gills? Perk up a tired or sallow complexion with a soft shimmer powder or cream. Stroke it lightly on the tops of cheeks, bridge of the nose, and lips for an instant pick-me-up no matter how tired (or queasy) you feel. Or use a combination of cream blush and lip balm to add color and moisture without dehydrating skin.
6. Skip Long-Lasting Lipsticks
To give lips color that will last through your trip, skip the long-lasting lipsticks -- they'll only dehydrate and parch your mouth. Instead, color your lips with several coats of a lip stain, let dry, then top with a clear gloss. Reapply the gloss throughout the trip and your lips will look "just-made-up" fresh.
7. Apply Lip Treatment Liberally
You can further protect your kisser by packing a lip treatment in your carry-on bag and using it liberally while traveling because it won't rub your lipstick off and it keeps lips hydrated while flying. It also works on bus and train rides when high heat or air conditioning can also cause lips to feel dehydrated.
8. Chill Out Puffy Eyes
To reduce under-eye puffiness after a long trip, put crushed ice in a washcloth and apply it under the eyes. It's an automatic wake-up call that makes you look and feel immediately fresher.
9. Perk Up Your Peepers
Watching back-to-back in-flight movies, or reading that paperback novel cover to cover, can also cause you to arrive at your destination with red, watery, not-so-attractive eyes. To avoid it, don't forget to bring eyedrops. It will lubricate and soothe eyes if you're reading or watching a movie, and refresh and wake up your eyes if you nap.
10. Love Your Naked Lashes
Avoid wearing mascara while traveling and skipping cream eye shadows, which have a tendency to move around on your face as you snooze.
11. Banish Bright Nail Polish
Skip the brightly colored nail polish when traveling. It chips too easily and leaves you looking. Instead, buff and polish nails to a natural sheen for a clean, crisp look, or applying a neutral, sheer color that won't call attention if it does chip.
12. Keep Your Hands Off Your Face
To minimize breakouts while you're on vacation, avoid touching your skin while you travel. You can pick up any number of unknown bacteria that can result in any number of skin problems after you arrive. If you're going to apply makeup while you're in transit, use an antibacterial hand wash on your hands first to further protect your skin.
13. Take Your Cleanser With You
If you can only take one skin care item from home, let it be your cleanser. An abrupt change in cleansers can disrupt skin's acid balance and cause a vacation breakout.
14. Get Your Beauty Rest
If you're going to nap on the plane, dab some super-rich night cream around your eyes and don a sleep mask. Both will help you look fresher and more relaxed when you wake.
15. Slather on the Hand Cream
Never leave home without a tube of your favorite hand cream in your tote bag, and use it liberally throughout the trip. This will not only keep your hands from drying out, but in the event you do need to wash them, it can help counter the effects of harsh commercial-grade soaps found in public restrooms.
16. Pack Your Beauty Products
If you're traveling outside the country, bring your high-end facial products along because most are much more expensive abroad. Safe buys overseas usually include body lotions, shower gels and soaps, talcum powders, and fragrances.
17. Tame Your Tresses
To keep hair looking good without igniting a firestorm of static electricity, keep a natural boar bristle brush in your carry-on. And, never underestimate the power of a great beret or cloche hat to hide the sins of plane hair. Try a big European scarf wrapped around your neck. It makes the whole disheveled hair look more chic. Sometimes you just have to go with it!
18. Get the Grease Out
To help cope with greasy hair that often took an hour or more to wash and dry, a dry shampoo that cleans and deodorizes hair and adds volume. It comes in shades to match or blend with your own hair color, and it's packaged in a small, travel-friendly plastic container with an attached hairbrush.
