What’s in my bag?

I’ve never been to Paris. Once, I flew over the city, and another time I drove past it, but I never made it to the city itself. Even worse; no one ever even thought of suprising me with a kitschy and cliché romantic weekend away. When I finally just booked a few days to Paris myself, I came down with the kissing disease, of all diseases. C’est la vie!

Imagine my joy, when two weeks ago I finally got to go to Paris. I arrived by train, and hopped on a bus for the way back. It was an adventure for sure, and one that I definitely wouldn’t describe as comfortable…Let’s put it this way: What I experienced on that bus, no airline entertainment program could ever top, and after my trip I needed to sleep another 15 hours just to feel like myself again. Still, Paris was more than worth it.

I always try to pack my beautycase in a way that causes a minimal amount of excess luggage to drag around. It’s probably the most difficult part of travelling for me. So this time, I concentrated on packing just a few key items – the stuff that I cannot do without.

Et voila! I present you my October Travel Essentials.

One of my ‘secret weapons’ is the Egyptain Magic All Purpose Skin Cream. It contains only six ingredients: olive oil, bees wax, honey, bee pollen, royal jelly extract and bee propolis. Nothing else. A cream with no fuss, but with great effects.
It’s especially a treat right after showering, because it really is incredibly nourishing, and in my opinion the best cream around for dry skin. In addition, you can use it as a hair mask, as a treatment for small wounds or even as a highlighter.

Items that are definitely indispensable from my beauty case are a concealer and a mascara. Without these two products I wouldn’t even leave the house. Not because of being vain (ok, it’s totally is out of vanity) but because without these two, I look like a sleepy Smurf. And in Paris, I would much rather prefer to look like Grace Kelly, just to name someone.
So I’m packing the UN cover-up von RMS in any case. The small jar it comes in is very convenient for two reasons: You can not only use it as a concealer, but it also works as a light foundation to balance out any redness. In addition, it doesn’t dry out your skin. With my skin tone, I use the lightest color available, which is 00.

When it comes to mascara, I discovered ILIA Nightfall to be perfect for me. For those fearing that organic mascara’s can never be compared to the conventional brands: my dears, you are vastly mistaken. The ILIA mascara is at the very least equally as good as other well-known brands, with one big difference: the ingredients are much, much better.
This mascara makes sure my lashes stay up and perky with that special schwung, adding volume without clumping.

To make sure that I don’t look like Ronia the Robber’s Daughter, bringing a good hairbrush is essential. I use a brush from Kent, which is a brush manufacturer from the UK. The company has existed since 1777, and even delivers to the Royal Court. If anyone would know their brushes, it would be kings and queens indeed. The natural bristles remove dust and dirt from my hair, and in addition also add a natural shine. The brush I purchased even came with a free brush cleaner. (No more cleaning the bristles by hand, hurrah!)

Apart from these essentials, all I needed otherwise for Paris was enough stamina, to discover all those beautiful alleys and streets. Since there are cafés, restaurants and bakeries literally to be found everywhere, taking a short break is easy. I could go on and on about my love for this city, but I’ll spare you all, and just end with this:

Enjoy the lovely October, and till next month!