Ten Tips on Traveling Light

In less than 2 days, I'll be flying out to the Young Living Essential Oils convention in Salt Lake City, UT!  I'll be gone a full week and I'm only taking a carry-on so packing is proving to be a little interesting!  Here are some tips from my own experience and good ol' Google on how to go from this:

 

 ....to this:

1. Don't pack everything that you can possibly fit, instead pack only what you absolutely have to have.

2. Roll, don't fold.  Stuff fits better.

3. Try to stick with lighter weight clothing that takes up less space.  If you need any bulky clothing while there, wear it and leave more room in your luggage.

4. Mix and match.  Instead of taking a full outfit for each day, take a few skirts and tops that you can wear more than once and mix up if you want a different look each day. 

5. If you're flying, all liquids (toiletries) must be in 3.4 oz bottles and fit in a quart size bag.  But even if you're not, you still don't need to take your giant bottles of shampoo, conditioner, etc.  Take only what you need or even just what you'll need before you can make it to the store.  If you're flying, have your quart bag out and ready so you don't have to dig for it during security.

6. Don't take tons of shoes!  I will be wearing my moccasins (easy to remove at the airport and comfy for walking through terminals) and taking along my flip flops, (dressier flip-flops so they go with anything from very casual to church clothes.)  IF they fit, I'll throw in my Vibram Fivefingers as well, but I don't HAVE to have those.

7. Buy whenever possible.  Small things like toiletries mentioned above, umbrella, even some clothing....if you're going to spend more on checked baggage than you would buying the stuff once you reach your destination, you might as well do so and give it away before heading home.

8. Leave space for stuff to bring home and if possible, take things that you can leave behind when you're through with them.  I'll be doing some shopping at the convention so I want to leave as much space as possible for extras.  If it's just not possible, I'll visit the post office and mail it to myself.

9. Just an idea...don't even take clothes with you.  Wear one outfit and pack your undies.  Once you arrive, go to the thrift store and buy just what you need for while you're there.  If I had an extra day to go clothes shopping in SLC, I would totally try this!

10.  If you're traveling as a family....pack a suitcase for each day with everyone's things in it for that day.  Then all you have to do is grab that one bag, toiletries, etc. and you're good to go instead of unloading a suitcase for each person at each destination.

Cowgirl Dirt

Not to flood the blog with reviews....but I've got to tell you girls what I found! :)

 

 I've always used a natural make-up but my favorite company stopped carrying it several years ago and since then I've tried a couple of different brands, never really happy with any of them. My sister and I ran across a company called Cowgirl Dirt a few weeks ago. Their make up is made in the U.S. all natural, organic, paraben free and GOOD for your skin!

What I use:

 Concealer I rarely have much trouble with a lot of acne, (LOVE my new skincare products even more than my cosmetics! Will post about them sometime too!) but occasionally concealer is wonderful to have when foundation and powder don't quite do the trick. I haven't actually used any other concealer and I expected this to go on much like my old foundation, but it is very light, covers very well and blends easily.

 Cream Foundation I use the Neutral 4 for my fairly light skin tone. I've never liked foundation because it always felt like I had stuff caked on my face, but this goes on light and leaves me feeling like I'm not wearing makeup at all!

  Finishing Powder This finishing powder goes on very nicely and prevents oily looking skin and unlike what I was using before, it actually stays on!

 

 Blush The blush was a bit tricky at first because it's a powder and I'm used to a pressed blush, but the color is very nice and goes on giving you a natural look.

 Eye shadow I wear hardly any eye shadow at all and the sample container that I got will probably last me forever! I like a very subtle, natural look so I just use a tiny bit to add a little a depth. The first color I tried was too light, but Spur is perfect for me. I was using a cheap eye shadow before for special occasions only and always felt a tad uncomfortable putting it on my eyes knowing it had chemicals in it. No more of that! This stuff is perfectly safe!

 Mascara I haven't worn mascara in a long time. The natural mascara that my sisters used went on so thickly that I looked like I was wearing it and I don't like to look like I am. I would use it for special occasions along with my eye shadow, but Cowgirl Dirt brown mascara goes on every day! It adds some, but not too much and is smooth with none of that nasty clumping. Tip: Use an eyelash curler first and then only apply mascara to your top lashes.

 Lip tint I despise lipstick. It always feels like I can't eat or drink anything once I put it on. Lip gloss stays on for a grand total of like, 10 minutes, so that never worked well either. BUT, like their other products so far, I LOVE the Yeehaw lip tints! They're thick enough to stay on, but thin enough to not feel like I've painted my lips! The War Admiral gives me a nice, deep color while still looking natural and not too red.

 Glitter I've never been into glitter much at all and certainly not caked onto my skin like we see models wearing on the runway. I needed to finish out my order to get free shipping so I got a few samples of this just to play with...and I love it! I always like to look as natural as possible, the way YHWH made me, so lots of glitter is out of the question. But I discovered that just a little sparkle around my eye area makes for a nice subtle look. This glitter is a powder and goes on very lightly with a brush. It also brushes off easily so even if I scare myself a little with how much I end up with, I can just brush and blend it 'til I get the look I want....and then it stays.  Since I use so little, the color doesn't seem to make a difference. I have Snow, Grain and Lavender.

One thing that I REALLY appreciate about this company is that you don't have to buy a full container of each color of something to try it...only to find out that it's the wrong one and you have to start all over again and spend tons of money!

 

Samples are $1 each and you can get at least 3-4 uses out of each one...more often more than that if you use it like I do.  The best way to do it is to guess at what you need and get a couple samples of each product and then just play around and figure out what is right for your skin-tone before you place a large order.  Free shipping on orders over $75 so it's a good idea to place an order together or stock up. :)