It’s been a while since I’ve done a Travel Must-Have post and what better time to do it when I’m actually on the road. Today’s little tip is not incredibly revolutionary but I think it would change your shower experience immensely.

I, for one, am very fussy about my body products. If it is an overnight trip, I may not care so much, but a month away from home, compounded by sensitive skin issues, I thought I should make an effort in this department.

I only have one carry-on luggage and a Longchamp tote bag for this entire trip, so liquids are a no-no. However, I’m not traditionally a solid soap person and I much prefer liquid shower gels. I have been loving Dr Bronner’s Magic Soap which is really made up of lots of natural oils and there are some ingredients in the formula that makes it foam up delightfully. I would highly encourage you to read up on the concept behind their soaps on their website which I have linked above.

It’s available very cheaply in the US (but it’s a bit pricey in Japan but i think it’s worth it) and some people complain that it is too stripping for them, but it has been working out for me really well for the past six months. I actually only use Dr Bronner’s Magic Soap on my chest and back with my Clarisonic and those areas have been so clear ever since. I think the additive-free formula has something to do with it and it cleans so well.

So for my epic trip, I bought a bar of Dr Bronner’s Magic Soap in Cherry Blosson which can only be found in Japan (I think green tea is also exclusive to Japan and it smells so lovely and fresh). It smells amazing – it’s literally a bouquet of fresh flowers that waft around you – and I am such a Dr Bronner’s soap fan now. Surprisingly, it is less stripping than the liquid version.

I think hotel soaps, unless you get a high end brand, suck big time. I think they dry your skin out, they don’t smell great, and tend to be teeny tiny so it’s just hard to handle. We have been staying in so many hotels that I don’t really know what to expect toiletries-wise, so I’m glad I brought my own.

I also bought a travel friendly soap dish from Duane Reade in the beginning of my New York stay. It has a cover to protect my soap so it wouldn’t get squished in my luggage. I let my soap dry and then place it in this dish before I pack.

The other thing about Dr Bronner’s Magic Soap is that you can use it to clean anything, particularly the liquid version. The label on the product says you can wash your hair (wouldn’t recommend it though – too drying unless you have oily hair), scrub the floor, remove stains, do the dishes etc.

This might freak some of you out, but I’ve also been using this bar of soap to wash some laundry, like underwear and thin work out gear. I don’t like sweaty clothes in my luggage so I wash them with this soap and hang them to dry. My clothes end up smelling like cherry blossoms and I think that’s a good thing. I’m not sure if it can compare to a heavy duty liquid detergent but it gets the job done.

The only thing I think is not that great is the religious writing that is all over the packaging. It used to bother me a little since I’m not religious but it’s my new HG soap so I really don’t care anymore.

Do you prefer liquid or soap to shower with? Have you tried Dr Bronner’s Magic Soap? Do you like it?

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If you have long hair like me, you would appreciate a good quality shower cap when you travel. I know hotels usually stock a token shower cap but those are quite hopeless in my opinion!

I want my shower cap to have a comfortable but firm grip and it shouldn’t tear. My hair is long and thick so when it’s all bunched up in a flimsy hotel shower cap, it would sag and the cap wouldn’t cover my head completely due to the weak elastic band — it just becomes a mess.

So, I always bring my own shower cap when I travel. I love this cute pink polka dotted one I got from my local Tomod’s drugstore and I always take it with me. I actually don’t use a shower cap to keep my hair dry but I use it when I condition my hair. My skin is quite sensitive so I prefer to bundle up my hair in a shower cap as I condition it.

It’s a small thing, but I like to have products that work, even if I’m just on holiday and can put up with slight inconveniences temporarily.

Do you bother with bringing your own shower cap when you’re travelling?

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As part of my “Travel Must-Haves” series, I’ve decided to include duty-free exclusive items which are also usually travel-friendly. Furthermore, I don’t really see reviews on travel palettes much on the blogosphere but there is a pretty awesome blog called, Beauty-Free, which showcases only travel exclusives, and A Model Recommends tends to include them as well because she travels a lot as a model.

I’ve actually blogged about my Chanel Les 4 Ombres as a versatile eyeshadow quad but I think that is more for short trips like a week or even two, but sometimes I travel for three to four weeks so a bit of variety is very much welcomed.

This Dior Cannage Color Collection Eye Palette does just that because you get eight shadows to play with and the deep black shade can double up as an eye liner. I’ve tried so many looks with this palette and brings endless joy to me when I put on my makeup (don’t you look forward to putting on your makeup if you are a beauty junkie?). You can do a wearable day look with the lighter shades and the neutral side of the palette or go for a dramatic smokey eye with the dark blue and purple. The pink and purple shades blend together beautifully and make for a fun playful look. What I absolutely love to do is to pair the top right white shimmery shade and the bottom right brown shade for a chic day-to-night look.

The only downer about this palette is that on the right side where the neutrals are, the first and second shades are surprisingly similar when swatched although one looks like a light yellow toned shade and the other a stark white shimmery shade. The dark brown shade turns a bit purple when oxidized so it makes me think this is truly a “purple” palette as the left side is also predominantly purple where the light pink shade has hints of lilac.

The colours are all cool-toned so I often pair warm blushes and lipsticks with any look I do from this palette.

Do you like travel exclusive palettes? Tell us what they are and why!

PS: I’ll be on holiday and I’m not sure if I’ll get internet access so please bear with me if comments don’t get published or responded to quickly.

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Today’s “travel must-have” is a packet of nail polish remover wipes. I cannot recommend these enough as they are great to travel with. They are easy to pack and it’s one of those things that you throw away after you use them. Most importantly, they remove nail polish really well.

The problem with carting your own bottle around is that it takes up space and I don’t like to idea of throwing unfinished products away just like that. I remember on a trip to Sydney a couple of years back when I actually bought a small bottle of nail polish remover from a Coles supermarket because I couldn’t stand my chipped nails and I used it maybe twice on that three-week trip so I gave it to my mother-in-law when I flew back home.

This brand of nail polish wipes is made by Japanese drugstore chain Matsumotokiyoshi and there are five packs inside the packet that costs a little over 300JPY. In each pack, there are two sheets of wipes which are enough for removing the polish from my fingernails. To do toe nails, I would need another pack. A five-pack set like this would last me two trips but this would really depend on how often you do your nails while on holiday. I only really bother with my nails during a trip if I have a wedding or the husband has an office-related event that I’ve got to go to.

I think Cutex and Avon (link here) offer nail polish remover pads in their ranges, too, which I have not seen in Singaporean or Australian drugstores (correct me if I’m wrong, maybe I wasn’t looking hard enough?), but these are readily available in any drugstore in Japan.

Have you used nail remover wipes before? Do you like them?

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Hello my lovelies, I can’t wait for the weekend and I bet you can’t, too. Hope you enjoyed my last post on the “ice jelly sponge” — it’s so cool to discover new beauty tools that are inexpensive and effective.

Today, I’m kicking off a new series on the blog called “Travel Must-Haves”. Travelling is such a big part of my life and it definitely shapes some of my purchasing decisions beauty-wise. I used to have the mindset of travelling with items that I didn’t care about much in case I would lose or damage them, especially eye shadow and blush palettes. But I found that I was always feeling dissatisfied with said items because they performed poorly or I didn’t have enough variety. I remember I would bring one “green” and one “purple” palette — I laugh at the thought of only having two looks to play with.

In recent years, “quality” definitely wins in my book. I whittle down my selection to one warm palette and one cool palette for eyeshadows for even month-long trips. The warm eye shadow palette I love toting around with me out of Japan is the Chanel Les 4 Ombres 74 Nymphea.

For one, I love the fact that it is so hardy because I think it is the “baked” version as it is an international Chanel version which is made with a baking method as opposed to US-made ones that are silkier in texture — not sure if it is due to being “non-baked” but it seems the two are distinctly different (read more here by Suelynn).

Secondly, I could do multiple looks with this palette — I could do a warm nude with the brown, pink and beige; or highlight the green and forgo the pink; or just use the pink and brown for a smokier nude look; or blend the pink, green, and brown altogether, smoking out with the brown. I don’t get bored of this palette!

My only complaint is that the brushes are pure crap as they don’t transfer much colour at all to my eyelids — does anyone feel the same about Chanel brushes? I’ve had a travel palette before and the black brushes they provided were lovely, but for this palette, I think they are pretty awful. But I generally do not use palette brushes anymore unless my makeup brushes are terribly dirty and I don’t have time to clean them.

Thought of just popping in this really short video at the end of this post — I wanted to test my Youtube channel as I was having many problems uploading a full-length video but it seems a short video done in .mov on my iPhone in HD seemed to upload fine.

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