Travel News

Top 5 Beauty Items For Your Checked Luggage

Health & Beauty Products For Travelers - photo via Cliff House Spa, MaineWhen you’re on the road frequently, it’s not easy to maintain a health and beauty regimen.

That’s why Debbi Kickham, author of The Globetrotter’s Get-Gorgeous Guide, tested out everything from essential beauty products to items that will make your hotel room feel like a home.

Check out some of the health and beauty secrets she discovered along the way…

1. Spritzers and Scents

I LOVE the blueberry-infused toner from the Cliff House Spa in Maine. It smells wonderfully sweet and is great for your skin. Spray first, then moisturize, to seal in the very-berry humectants. It’s a joy.

Another favorite: Youngblood Minerals in the Mist. Refresh, for example, is a delicious blend of tangerine and grapefruit infused with minerals, nutrients and vitamins. Spray it on your face right before putting on moisturizer, and you’ll wake up your skin to a wonderful scent.

Agraria Tasselaire ScentsWhen I was in graduate school, back in the ’70s, I walked into Henri Bendel in New York, and was entranced by the aroma.

All I could smell was the enticing scent of oranges, cinnamon and cloves – and I instantly knew I had to own whatever that was. It wasAgraria.

Today, you can purchase an Agraria travel kit containing the exquisite bitter-orange aroma in shampoo, conditioner, shower gel and moisturizer. You can also purchase Agraria in a Tasselaire—a perfumed tassel that you can pack in a suitcase and hang on a hotel doorknob, closet hook or armoire key.

The company also makes fragrance sheets in Agraria which you pack in your Samsonite—or even put into your car—so you can enjoy the fragrance on your trip.

2. Hair Care Basics
Wen Cleansing Conditioner
Wen Cleansing Conditioner by Chaz Dean. Here’s a terrific two-in-one product that’s shampoo and conditioner in one, with no harsh sodium laurel sulfate. Especially important if you’ve had a Coppola Keratin straightening treatment, because the sodium laurel sulfate in most shampoos strips the keratin out of your hair.

Wen Sweet Almond Mint Cleansing conditioner smells exactly like that, and also doesn’t contain other harsh ingredients such as mineral oil and propylene glycol. Instead, it contains glycerin, cherry bark and rosemary extract. Wen is a dynamic duo!

3. Ageless Secrets

Retin-A. I can’t live without this prescription product, which I slather all over my face, neck and décolletage. It’s the gold standard of retinoids, which can make a dramatic difference in your appearance. A facelift in a tube. Make sure to buy some for only about $5 when you visit a Mexican pharmacy—a sweet price, versus the $150 it costs in the USA.

Get more tips from Debbi Kickham: 5 Tasty, Portable, Healthy Snacks for Gorgeous Globetrotters

Calendula Toothpaste from Weleda4. A Hygenic Splurge – Imported Toothpaste

Imported Toothpaste. Why not add a little luxury to your travels via your toothpaste? Try Marvis from Italy—minty goodness in very elegant packaging which comes in exotic flavors such as Ginger Mint, Paradise Fruit Mint and Jasmine Mint. (For just $4.50 a tube).

Or, try some from Weleda—its Calendula toothpaste tastes just like black licorice (it’s full of fennel) and I swear, you’ll want to eat it! $5 a tube.

Also comes in unusual flavors such as plant gel (for sensitive teeth) and salt (yes, that’s salt) for whitening.

5. Room and Linen Sprays

I LOVE to be in a hotel room or cruise-ship cabin that smells wonderful. That means that I take air fresheners with me to spray in the room and on my pillow and linens at night. 

Cuccio Milk & Honey scentCuccio makes laboratory-strength elixirs that can be used on your towels, linens and in rooms, in luscious fragrances such as milk-and-honey, and Tuscan citrus herb with bergamot and clary sage. Originally meant for spa use, these are aromatic elixirs with a twist.

Citrus Magic is 100 percent natural premium concentrate made from the purified, active oils taken from the peels of citrus fruit—you’ll find cans of grapefruit, lemon, lime and orange, all ready to make your surroundings succulent. The time is ripe to use any and all of them.

Diptyque, the French company, also makes lovely room sprays, and I’m crazy about the Pomander (any time of the year) and also the Violette, which sweetens up any room space.

Yankee Candle also makes a wide variety of products you can take in your travels. There are Car Gels in flavors such as lilac, Macintosh apple, pear and coconut—which make driving a dream. Or try their new Yankee Candle On-The-Go Travel sprays—use them in your car, closet, boat or any small space. They come in .15-ounce containers so you can even carry them on the plane. I love the vanilla lime scent, but there are also many others including coconut and Macintosh.

Bonus tip: Sample sizes of cosmetics. Ask your dermatologist or plastic surgeon for some of the many free samples they stock. Or make sure to get your three-free samples when you shop at Kiehl’s, Ulta and Sephora.

By Debbi Kickham, excerpted from The Globetrotter’s Get-Gorgeous Guide: Diet and Beauty Secrets of Travel and Beauty Pros, Traveling Executives and Celebrity Travelers.

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