My Summer Holiday Evening Makeup Bag

Ok, so this post has been sat in my drafts for a loooong time! I wrote this in 2018, but by the time I came to post it, the weather had turned and we were at the very end of summer. So, I decided it would be more appropriate to save my summer holiday evening makeup bag post for the beginning of summer 2019. But, I wanted to add a little introduction, so you understand the time lapse!

All products marked with * have been gifted to me for consideration. More information can be found in my full disclaimer.

Dan, Elise and I headed off for our first holiday as a family this past week and had a fantastic time! For our first holiday, we went to Center Parcs, Woburn. It’s somewhere Dan and I have been before (we’re even staying in the same room). As we know where everything is, we thought it would be the ideal place to take Elise for our first family holiday. Center Parcs is a great holiday destination for me, because it’s easy to pop back to our room for an afternoon nap to recharge my batteries. While at Center Parcs, we swam and ate (and napped, obviously!). I didn’t wearing makeup in the day, but wanted to put some on for dinner. So I thought I’d share with you what was in my summer holiday evening makeup bag, for dressing up to go to dinner.

Summer Holiday Evening Makeup Bag: Face

I’m really lucky that my skin is good, so I don’t have too much to cover up on my face. As a result, I’ll just took my MAC MSF Natural as a base product. I apply this with my Real Techniques Buffing Brush to give more coverage. I’ll also took my Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer too, though I didn’t use it. With my precision tinted lenses being so dark, my under eyes aren’t very visible and I can always add some of my MSF Natural to reduce how dark they appear. I’ll be took my NARS Translucent Setting Powder to use to set under my eyes if I used concealer.

In the summer, I can’t wear makeup without a setting spray! Thankfully, I still have a little bit of my Urban Decay Setting Spray, decanted into a travel bottle. So I took this in my summer holiday evening makeup bag, as I didn’t want to dry my skin out with daily exposure to chlorine and regular use of my NYX Dewy Setting Spray.

Summer Holiday Evening Makeup Bag: Eyes

I’ve always found that eye makeup takes me the longest time (assuming I’m not putting on foundation, which doesn’t happen often). While I very much enjoy wearing eyeshadow, I also wanted to be practical. I’m a Mum now and may not have time to apply five different eyeshadow shades, liquid liner and mascara. Because of this, I limited myself to taking just one eyeshadow palette that has some options for single shade looks. This way I felt like my makeup was more dressy even when I didn’t have time to do a full eye look.

One of the most important steps for me in applying eyeshadow is to use a good primer. This is particularly important in the summer. So, I took my GOSH Eye Primer in my summer holiday evening makeup bag. This primer is a great skin toned shade, which meant I could skip a brow bone eyeshadow and my prominent veins were still covered. It was a win-win! Check out my review of the GOSH Eye Primer* if you want to know more.

I decided to treat myself to the Tarte Pro Amazonian Clay Eyeshadow Palette, to take on holiday with me. This was a palette I’d had my eye on for quite some time, but hadn’t bought because of shipping and customs charges and the hassle these can cause. This time last year, after speaking to Leah from Devoted To Pink and reading her Tarte Pro Amazonian Clay Eyeshadow post, I was very close to caving. But, having something shipped from another country, makes me very nervous.

I thought that the Tarte Pro Amazonian Clay Eyeshadow Palette was destined to never be mine, until I spotted it on Amazon! Now, I’m not sure how the Amazon price compares to buying from America and having it shipped. If it was more money, it was worth it not to have the stress of worrying about customs charges.

The thing that sold me on this palette, was Leah’s comment about only taking this palette on holiday with her. Leah is like me and usually takes at least 3 palettes with her, so she has options. As a new Mum, I was determined to spend as much time as possible with Dan and Elise (while also allowing myself some self-care time). Having one palette with a variety of options was perfect for this!

The majority of the eyeshadows in the Tarte Pro Amazonian Clay Eyeshadow Palette are matte, which is what I’m gravitating towards for my crease and brow bone shades at the moment. I was going to take a Stila Glitter And Glow Eyeshadow with me, but this palette has four ‘iridescent lustre shades’. Leah describes these as creating a foiled affect, so there’s no need for me to take anything extra! These lustre shades worked well on my lids when I did a full eye look, as well as when I just want a single swipe of colour on my lid.

Thank you to Leah for her really helpful review, and great swatches! The shades look quite different to when they’re in the pan and it was seeing Leah’s swatches was really helpful.

I also took my Maybelline Lash Sensational Mascara and Soap & Glory Supercat Eyeliner. These are go-to products for me. They’re both fantastic!

Summer Holiday Evening Makeup Bag: Brows

I’m working on my Soap & Glory Brow Archery and Barbra Daly Brow Pencil in my 2018 Project Pan, so I planned to take these two with me on holiday. Unfortunately, I lost the Barbara Daly pencil when I went down to stay for with my parents. As my brow hairs have a mind of their own, I also took my Rimmel Brow This Way Clear Gel, to set them in place.

Summer Holiday Evening Makeup Bag: Cheeks

For my blusher, I took my MAC custom blush palette. I put this together with travelling in mind. I selected three pink and three peach shades, so I have one light, one mid and one nude tone of each. If you want to know the specific shades in my palette, check out My Custom MAC Blush Palette post.

Another palette that I got specifically for travel is the NARS Bord De Plague palette. This is a limited edition palette that was released last summer. It has four gorgeous and beautifully pigmented highlighters, as well as two bronzer shades. Within this palette, I have everything I need for a glowing look. If you want to know more about this palette, check out my NARS Bord De Plague palette review.

Summer Holiday Evening Makeup Bag: Lips

For lips, my summer holiday evening makeup bag was all about products that would last through a meal. We only went for four evenings, so I tried to be really good and limit myself to just four lipsticks. That’s still a lot for four nights, but I figured that at least I stood a chance of using them all!

I took a couple of liquid lipsticks, as they allow me to kiss Elise without leaving a lipstick smudge on her head. However, I don’t have all the liquid lipstick shades I’d like. I was also a little concerned that all the swimming we would do might dry my lips out and I’s struggle to wear liquid lipstick every evening. So I decided to take a mix of liquid and matte formula lipsticks, to give myself options.

I got MAC’s Velvet Teddy through the Back-To-MAC programme earlier in the year and have used it lots already. It’s a perfect goes-with-anything, don’t-have-to-think-about-it shade and so of cause came with me.

While Velvet Teddy doesn’t NEED a lip liner, I’ll took my Rimmel Exaggerate Lip Liner in East End Snob. This pairs beautifully with Velvet Teddy, bringing out the pink tones in the lipstick. To bring out the nude tones in this lipstick, I took my MaxFactor Colour Elixir Lip Liner in Pink Petal.

Now, I know that technically gave me five lip shades, for four days, but let’s not get hung up on a technicality. I was still being reserved (you should’ve seen how much makeup I took on honeymoon, only to use the same few products!).

Other than the pinky nude of Velvet Teddy, I struggled to decide which lip colours would be the best for me to take away. So, I asked on Twitter for suggestions and Beth from What She Did came to my rescue. Beth suggested L’Oreal 227 (a bright orange), Charlotte Tilbury Sexy Sienna (a peach/pink tone) and MAC Ruby Woo (a matte red). Now, I don’t have any of these shades and didn’t want to be buying more lipsticks until I’ve used up some of the ones I already own. But, I was able to use Beth’s suggestions to pick out similar options from my collection (Note: I’m not suggesting these are dupes, they’re just similar).

As an alternative to Charlotte Tilbury’s Sexy Sienna, I decided to pack my Rimmel Kate lipstick in 16. This lipstick works really well on it’s own and is perfect with East End Snob and Pink Petal. I love how these two lip liners pull different colours to the forefront with this lipstick!

While I’ve been trying to use up my No7 lipstick in Cherry, it’s not really ideal when you want something long lasting. After talking to Beth, I realised that I’ve been avoiding wearing other red lipsticks because I feel I *should* be using Cherry. This is really silly! So, I decided to pack my Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet in Personne Ne Rouge. This was one of the initial shades Borjois released and is a great option as it can be worn more sheerly, or built up for a bold colour. And both options stay put on the lips! I have 4 different Rouge Edition Velvet shades and would love to get more.

The hardest decision for me was which bright shade to take. Beth’s suggestion was a bright orange. It took me a while to decide whether to go for pink or orange! I was determined to choose and only take four lipsticks and then I remembered that I would be taking my red maxi dress, so orange it was.At this point, I realised I don’t own a matte orange shade (and I only own one orange). So pink it was!

Then I had a difficult few weeks and a difficult doctor’s appointment (long story – basically, my GP is fab but the hospital have REALLY let me down). As I’ve recently passed on three lipsticks to friends and family because of allergic reactions, I threw caution to the wind. I gave up trying to only take four lip colours and bought myself a bright orange – Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet in Oranginal.

I have woven wraps that work better with pink, so thought it would be worth taking two bright options. That was my justification anyway!

For my bright pink, I opted for Rimmel Kate in shade 05. It’s a great formula and a lovely shade. The lip liner I use with this lipstick is MaxFactor’s Colour Elixir Lip Liner in Pink Princess. They work so well together.

Summer Holiday Evening Makeup Bag: Others

I was going to talk you through the brushes and other bits that I took with me, but I fear this post is already too long. So I won’t. If you’re interested in the type of brushes (and other bits) I took, you can check out my Autumn Travel Makeup Bag post.

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