What's In My Carry On

When travelling, we would all like to be flying in first class luxury, in our our butler serviced, private shower included, suites a la Jennifer Aniston spruiking Emirates and Nicole Kidman with Etihad.  Unfortunately, I don't think that will ever happen in my lifetime, so I try and recreate my own (almost) first class experience in my cattle class seat. As cabin luggage restrictions become more strongly enforced, it is even more important to be selective with what you back in your carry on bag.

Bags

I always travel with a large handbag (with cross body strap) as my allowable personal item, and a backpack as my carry on item. This keeps my hands free, which is important when dealing with kids, tickets, passports etc.  This time, I am took my LV Soft Lockit, and the Splendiosa Backpack from Mimco. Both choices worked out really well. The Mimco backpack had plenty of pockets, including a padded laptop sleeve which I used for my iPad, making it easy to find items when I needed them. I used the backpack mostly for inflight items, and my TSA necessary liquids bag, while my handbag held our passports, travel documents, pens, baby wipes and my non-liquids makeup bag.

Entertainment

1. Frends Taylor Headphones - forget using the flimsy airline supplied headphones, and invest in a good pair of foldable ones. Some people spring for the noise-cancelling ones (Bose ones are meant to be amazing) but I have never found that I needed to go that far. For me, I like to marry form and function, and the Frends Taylor in Gunmetal Rose Black Leather hits that sweet spot for me. They come with their own vegan leather pouch so cords are not getting damaged. These were a lifesaver for me, however, if you plan to sleep while listening to music (which I don't) then earbuds may be the better option.
2. iPad Air 2 - My iPad comes with me on an almost daily basis in my regular life and is invaluable on a long air trip. We will be travelling for over 15 hours to get from Perth to Tokyo, and sleep and the movie will only get me so far. I load up my kindle app with books, and my Zinio app with magazines and I am all set. As you can see, I am on a real rose gold kick at the moment, so when I saw this gorgeous glitter Kate Spade iPad case I had to have it!!
3. Anker Power Core 20100 - This is capable of charging my iPhone 6 seven times, or my iPad nearly 2 times, and can charge 2 devices at once. This is invaluable when travelling - I pretty much only use my phone as my camera, and this way I know that on the trip itself my phone will always be fully juiced. On the plane or on transit at the airport it keeps my entertainment options running! Over the whole trip, I only needed to use this once, since all of our flights except one had usb charging points in the seats, but it was such  peace of mind throughout knowing that I had battery backup if needed/

Rest

1. Ann Taylor Poncho - part of my airplane outfit, this poncho is warm and comfy and replaces the airline's scratchy and thin blanket. You could sub in a blanket style scarf or a pashmina depending on your style, but I find the poncho sits nicely and doesn't slip off while you are sleeping. All four of our flights were freezing as soon as we took off, so having this poncho was a lifesaver. It as also super convenient as it easily turned into a neck scarf as soon as we got off the plane and were transiting from one end of the airport to the other!
   
2. American Tourister Travel Neck Pillow - yes, this is not the most stylish item, but bringing my own neck pillow has single handedly made flying a much more pleasant experience. George Clooney's character from Up In The Air just fainted at that statement, but I stand by it! I am a side sleeper, and have just never been able to get comfortable in those tiny plane seats, with those tiny pillows, unlike my husband who seems to have this knack of falling asleep before the plane is even in the air! My pillow from American Tourister is convertible, so it switches between a U shaped neck pillow and a regular oblong shaped pillow. Most importantly, it comes with  a hook that allows me to clip it on to my backpack. I can't stress how important this hook is!! If your pillow doesn't come with one, either buy another one, or sew one on your self.
3. Slip Pure Silk Eye Mask - I don't care if I look like a bit of a tosser wearing a sleep mask, but cutting out the light has made a huge difference to my sleep quality while flying. It was invaluable this time, as our first flight left at midnight, and despite the crew turning off the cabin lights, there is still plenty of light from TV screens and other people's reading lights. Plus, tiny rant here, but why, why, why did the airline serve a full dinner at 2am, when really, who is hungry? And then only a teeny tiny breakfast snack box at 6am when everyone was starving??

Beauty

Now if you are a regular reader, you just know this is going to be my longest section!! I really like to treat my flying time as a little DIY spa session. Firstly, the flight itself is incredibly dehydrating, so I want to counter that, and secondly, when else do I get an eight hour stretch of enforced doing nothing time??!  I get a lot of sample size products, so I like to fill up my flight kit with a mix of favourites and products that I haven't used before. Do not try this if you have sensitive skin!!

The first thing I do after take off is

• remove all of my makeup with Honest Beauty's Refreshing Clean Wipes Travel Size (2), 
• apply a hydrating toner spritz - this time I used Dermalogica's Anti Oxidant Hydramist for the first time and I really, really liked it (4), 
• antioxidant serum which is so important when flying - Medik-8 CE-Tetra (3) 
• hydrating gel - Hydraluron (5) 
• and then an overnight hydrating mask - Clinique's Moisture Surge Overnight Mask (6) 
• and eye cream or gel - Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair Eye (10) - you want something hydrating but not too rich as you will be reapplying frequently. 

I can't bring myself to sit on the plane scaring small children with a sheet mask, so an overnight mask is the next best thing, because you can't see that you are wearing it!! Throughout the flight, I will respray with the toner a number of times and on a long trip like this one, I reapplied more mask at least once, switching between the overnight mask and Aveda's Intensive Hydrating Mask (8), a new product to me, which I really liked as well - very refreshing. I pat on more eyecream every two hours if I am awake. Make sure your toner actually contains moisture holding ingredients like glycerin or hyularonic acid; sprays like Evian that only contain water will actually dehydrate your skin more if using on their own.

I also really look after my lips and hands during the flight, since the dehydrating air can do a real number on them as well. As often as I remember, I will massage in Aerin's Rose Balm (1) into my cuticles, followed by a good helping of her Rose Hand Cream, which I decant into a smaller container. The Rose Balm jar is a bit big and heavy to take with me, but I honestly haven't found a good substitute, so along it comes! I could use the same balm on my lips, and did on the overnight flight, but during the day time flights I used Aerin's Tinted Rose Lip Balm (7) which gives a gorgeous hint of colour.

Towards landing, I follow the exact same procedure, but replace the overnight mask with a tinted SPF Day cream, in this case Alpha H's Protection Plus Daily 50+ (9). Most of these products are little sample sizes, usually just enough to last me two flights. Extras are packed in my luggage for the return flight, and as I finish the tubes, I ditch them.

Quick and simple makeup is the go when you need to apply in-flight. I don't believe in hogging the toilet to apply my makeup (there was literally only 2 toilets on one of our flights for all of economy and premium economy), so everything needs to be done in my seat. All of these items, bar the two Aerin Balms, went outside of my liquids baggie and I wasn't stopped once, but the rules are not entirely black and white, so your milege may vary. This is particularly true of lipsticks and similar products, where some countries consider them a solid, and others a liquid.

• I already had a tinted base from my moisturiser, so a quick touchup under the eyes, and around the nose area with By Terry's Touche Veloutee Enlightening Concealer Brush (7) gives me a fresh and awake look, despite over 15 hours in transit. I am not exagerating when I say this concealer is a miracle product!
• I dust over the whole face with the top left shade (Dim Light) from Hourglass' Ambient Light Edit palette (4) which just gives a gorgeous glowy (but not glittery) finish, followed with the bottom left shade (Mood Exposure) a beautiful plum toned blush. I brought my contour brush (1) from Sigma beauty along, and used the same brush for all of the different powders.
• A swipe of Laura Mercier's Caviar Stick eyeshadow cream in Rose Gold (2), together with Aerin's Cool Gel Eyeliner in Black (8), and Hourglass' Film Noir Mascara (3)  gives me an enhanced but natural eye look. 
• A dab of the Rose Balm on my cheekbones for a dewy look, and the Rose Lip Balm on my lips for a hint of colour, and my fast and simple face is complete.

So there you have how I tried to make my flights a little bit more pleasant. Packing a few key luxuries, while not overloading yourself, makes all the difference! I would love to see what your inflight essentials are!