What's in my travel bag?

I have been travelling a lot recently so I thought I'd put together a "What's in my travel bag" post. Can I just start with the fact that I am aware I overpack but I do like to be prepared for everything and also that this bag is not my abroad travel bag I have only been travelling around England.  

I picked up this floral, almost Cath Kidston inspired makeup bag from Primark for only £4 and it proved to be big enough for my makeup, shower stuff, a small mirror and my mini-straighteners (not featured in this post). I honestly love the print of this and I think it looks more expensive than £4 even though the diamond zip fell off after 5 minutes! 

This is everything laid out I have several smaller bags to keep everything clean and easy to access. My brushes I keep in a Eco Tools travel case which also has a zipped compartment that you could put smaller brushes in - however I use this compartment for my leaky eye-liner sharpener. I bought the clear plastic case from Wilkos for £1-2 and it came with 4 100ml bottles and 2 smaller pots - perfect for aeroplane journeys. I filled them with cleanser, moisturiser, shampoo and conditioner as their usual packaging was too bulky. I used another EcoTools travel case for my clips and bobbles because these go missing easily and it prevents hair getting all over my other stuff. As you can see I just pack the rest of my toiletries around the other 3 cases. I also bring my razor with me when I'm travelling which not a lot of people bother with but again always be prepared! 

I am a huge fan of lipstick and cannot really survive a whole week with just one so I always travel with at least 3. I really limited myself to 1 red (Lady Danger by MAC), 1 nude (MUA Shade 15) and 1 orange (Meltdown by MAC) that fitted in with all my outfits.

As I already mentioned I kept my makeup brushes in one of my EcoTools travel cases. Again only bringing the essentials like face, eyebrow and 1 double ended eye shadow brush. (Reminding you that I over pack, sorry if I seem high maintenance!)

This palette goes everywhere with me as it's so versatile and I use it on a daily basis even if it is just to even out and matify my eyelids. You can create so many looks with the 6 neutral colours that can see you through from day to night. The Naked Basics palette in my opinion is THE Urban Decay palette to have whether you're travelling or not.

Dry shampoo is a must for me anyway, having coloured hair I can't wash my hair every day or even every other day as the colour would fade so quickly so I use dry shampoo all the time. However I think it is even more of a must if you're travelling as you don't always have the time to wash your hair - I was only at my boyfriends for one trip so I could have washed my hair but then I went to London and stayed in a hostel with 1 plug between 5 people so washing my hair was pretty impractical. Batiste come in all sizes now and this travel size one I got from Lincs Blog Meet is perfect for handbags and travel bags. I also brought a travel sized Paul Mitchel hairspray I got from Lincs Blog Meet and a small suncream as it was so hot! 

I stuck everything that would be going into the bathroom/shower with me in this bag to protect all my other stuff from getting wet - which was a good call when staying in a hostel with a wet room. I also stuck some last minute perfume samples in here - not a necessity but just a nice addition if you're like me and prefer perfume over body spray. I did bring deodorant but for some reason I had not packed it when taking these photos - oops! 

As I mentioned earlier I packed all my hair stuff in one small case to avoid hair makeup brushes and also losing all my bobby pins - not really much else to talk about here except plenty of bobbles and clips for the days where you haven't washed your hair.

Lastly these trusty makeup wipes! I love Simple and always try to buy them when they're on offer but even baby wipes will suffice. They're a great way of quickly removing makeup if you haven't got room or time for cleansing and also a great way of freshening up in a rush or whilst you're travelling. 

Hope you found this post useful when packing for your summer holidays - I know it's not a How To but hopefully it inspires you somehow! I always think packing is quite fun but I'm a bit of a square in the fact I like to make lists and feel organised (it's a Virgo trait).