nyfw: what i packed in my makeup bag!

True story: Although I did most of my packing in the 24 hours before my flight, I actually packed my makeup bag almost a week ahead. Since I knew I'd be wearing full makeup almost every day I was in New York, I wanted to give my skin a bit of a break beforehand, and hopefully get it moisturized, energized and ready to brave the freezing New York City temperatures!

So as I was packing, I decided to snap a quick pic of what I brought along, and I thought you guys might want to see my essentials! ("Essentials" is probably a generous term, since I brought a full bag of just beauty products, plus my brushes and hair tools!)

So here's what I packed:

Skincare:

Obviously, Simple Skincare was my go-to, and their cleansing facial wipes were exactly what I needed after a long, exhausting day when I didn't want to spend half an hour in front of the bathroom mirror getting off every drop of makeup! I also brought Simple Refreshing Facial Wash for use in the mornings, to make sure my skin was hydrated, refreshed, and ready for the tents!

(As a side note, I saw Simple Skincare products in our grocery store the week before I left, so they're finally hitting the shelves! Make sure to keep an eye out for them, especially those of you with sensitive skin -- they will seriously change your life!)

Eyes:

I basically only do two eye makeup routines, a grey-black and a more natural brown smokey eye (for the brown, it's sort of a mix of this and this post with slightly different products -- I need to do a new tutorial soon!). I'm absolutely addicted to Urban Decay eyeliner pencils, they're by far the best I've ever used -- really soft, so those of you without a steady hand will be able to apply them evenly (they do need to be resharpened really often though).  I use the color Bourbon for my brown smokey eye, and Oil Slick for the grey-black one.

Of course, my DIORSHOW mascara was a must, as were individual false lashes, although I only wore them day. Hydropeptide sent my their Lash Serum a few weeks before, and I've been using it just about every night! It hasn't irritated my eyes at all, and I thought it might be a safer pre-NYFW experiment than Lastisse (which I'm also planning to try soon). Anything healthy I can do for fuller lashes is a must in my book! (If you're curious for more on this, check out my post on eyelash extensions here.)

Taking off eye makeup at night is absolutely crucial for me to avoid ugly smudges the next day, so obviously I packed my amazingly gentle (and kind to skin) Simple Skincare Eye Make-Up Remover. And since there were a few nights I didn't get *quite* as much sleep as I would have liked, I brought along the Simple Revitalizing Eye Roll-On to combat puffiness -- an absolute necessity! And for the mornings when even that wasn't quite enough, I dabbed on a little Cle de Peau concealer too.

Cheeks:

This Estee Lauder Pure Color blush in Peach Passion was the only blush I brought -- I'm in love with it. I want to stop raving about it because I know it won't be in stores for a few months, but I can't help myself.

I also love Makeup Forever HD Finishing Powder for when you want your makeup to last all day! I don't use this every day, so I'm still on the tiny Sephora sample I got months ago, but it really does make a difference and I absolutely plan to buy the full size when this runs out.

Lips:

I tend to be kind of a bore with lip color, so I basically just brought a bunch of shades of pale pink. The two pictured in this photo are Dior Addict gloss in Flash and Estee Lauder gloss in Pink Shimmer, and I also brought Tom Ford gloss in Pink Guilt (not pictured, but Instagrammed here!).

For lipstick, I wore Chanel Fetiche literally every day -- my mom gave it to me for Christmas, wow, she knocked it out of the park with that one. It's not in the picture because I kept it in my carry-on for the flight!

Nails:

I actually ended up getting a Shellac manicure before I left, so I didn't have to worry about polish chips or changes! But I brought this Chanel Black Satin as a backup, just in case!

So that's about it! Just the bare essentials, right? :-)

(And in case anyone is curious, my amazing leopard print makeup bag is actually from Talbots -- I know, can you believe it?!)