How are you all on this (where I am) sunny Thursday? It's Caitlin writing to you all, today, and I must start by apologising for my absence from the blogging world. As Christie mentioned in her last post, 'Good Luck to my Best Friend' (the most lovely, lovely post; I am so flattered by her lovely words... I love you) I have had an emergency appendectomy and so have spent the past two and a half weeks in bed recovering. On top of that, I finally had my interview for the PGCE (teaching) course at the University of Sussex for which I had spent three months preparing! Thank you all for your lovely messages of good luck; you have no idea how much they meant to me. I'll keep you posted on my PGCE progress! But, now that both things are well and truly out of the way, I'm back on the radar and ready to blog!
Today I thought I'd post about my travel and inflight essentials. This might seem somewhat random, but, I was actually planning for this post to be up in time for my arrival in South Africa; two and a half weeks ago! As Christie mentioned in her previous post, my mom and I travelled to South Africa for my grandparents 60th wedding anniversary (amazing, isn't it?). We left on Saturday the 23rd of February and arrived in Johannesburg on the 24th, where we departed for Port Elizabeth the same day. The flight from London Heathrow to Johannesburg is a long-un at 11 and a bit hours, so I thought it appropriate to share with you my inflight essentials. Needless to say, by Monday (the 25th) I was in hospital in Port Elizabeth with acute appendicitis, so this post never made it to press (phew, take a breath!)
So, although I am not currently about to fly anywhere, I thought this post might be useful to a few of you (or, at the very least a little bit interesting!) Before my trip I thought long and hard about what I needed to take with me onboard. After watching Sammi's (AKA BeautyCrush) video on her inflight and travel essentials I decided I needed to be a bit more organised when I travelled! I have always noticed that my skin suffers tremendously after a long-haul flight and so thought I'd do my best to try and combat this... After all, there's nothing worse than travelling for a big event only to find that your skin looks like a collage of spots, dry skin and general yuckiness! I must say, although I felt like death (quite literally, due to my rotten appendix) upon arrival in South Africa, I noticed a HUGE difference in my skin because of the effort I made to care for it on the plane.
The products I took onboard included:
Johnson's Facecare Daily Essentials face cleansing wipes for dry skin
Bioderma Sensibio H20 (in the cutest travel-friendly size of 100ml!)
La Roche-Possay Effaclar Duo
La Roche-Possay Toleriane
Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Hand Cream
Jo Malone Vitamin E Lip Conditioner
Soap and Glory 'Hand Maid' sanitizer gel
Dentyl Active Mouth Wash (alongside my toothbrush and Colgate toothpaste!)
Estée Lauder Invisible Fluid Makeup
Benefit Speedbrow
As soon as I got on the plane (we were on an evening flight) I used my Johnson's face wipes to remove the majority of my makeup. I must admit, my skin does not generally like face wipes (I find they make my skin quite sensitive and even sore at times) but once in a while they really do the trick. I then used my Bioderma Sensibio H20 (if you haven't tried this product yet, DO!) to remove the last traces of makeup. Although I know Bioderma Sensibio H20 is specially formulated to remove the majority of makeup, I like to use it more as a toner; mainly because it is slightly pricier than face wipes. I find that Bioderma H20 makes my face feel really nourished and loved. I then applied my La Roche-Possay Effeclar Duo face cream on the majority of my face and a little bit of my La-Roche Possay Toleriane face cream on the drier areas of my face. I then used my Jo Malone Vitamin E Lip Conditioner on my (seemingly always at the moment) chapped lips and my Elizabeth Aden Eight-Hour Hand Cream on my hands. My skin felt SO much better for having taken the time to care for it; something I usually shrug off because long-haul flights are usually once or twice a year events for me. Although I usually suffer breakouts on long-haul flights, this time my skin arrived in South Africa as it left the UK... A huge relief!
I arrived in South Africa barefaced and refreshed, but wanted some coverage for my skin and some taming for my brows. So, I used my Estée Lauder Invisible Fluid Makeup as a base for my face (I'm a poet and I didn't know it...) and Benefit Speed Brow to give my brows some much needed taming and definition. Although I never usually leave the house with so little makeup, one has to make exceptions when one travels and embrace the natural look! Estée Lauder's Invisible Fluid Makeup is a product that I highly, highly recommend for those days when you are in a rush but don't have time to apply a full-face of makeup. It's light-weight texture makes it comparable to a tinted moisturiser, but, in my experience, much less greasy feeling!
*Post-appendectomy me, and my beautiful cousin Pippa, on the night of our grandparents 60th wedding anniversary*
So, beautiful readers, that's about it from me for today... I hope you found this post somewhat interesting. I just wanted to check back in with you all, and let you know I am as committed to the blogging world as ever, despite my appendix-induced absence!
Please feel free to comment and let us know what your travel and inflight essentials are. We love trying new products and hearing from you!
Oh, and... Tonight's the night that the winner of our 6-month Blogaversay Giveaway will be announced, so WATCH THIS SPACE!
Lots and lots of love to you all, From the Heart,
Caitlin and Christie <3
