Beauty Travel Must-Haves

I love traveling. It is quite possibly one of my favorite things to do...ever. I love planes, I love airports and I love the feeling I get when I have a destination. Even when that destination is just coming home.

It's borderline crazy. Who in her right mind loves airports? They're dirty, germ-infested, crowded and absolutely fascinating. Airports are one of the few places where you can see almost every type of person during one layover. You can spot fashion at its best (and worst...), and personalities from every spectrum imaginable. In my opinion there are few places better to people watch than airports. And of course conquering the opportunity to coordinate a cute, comfortable AND practical outfit to travel in is always something I look forward to!

I've been pretty blessed since starting my current job 6.5 years ago because I've been able to travel all around the country without spending a dollar of my own money (not even for my Starbucks nonfat, no water chai latte; thank you corporate credit card!). What's better is that when his schedule allows, Husby has been able to accompany me on a number of these trips. Ironically his schedule typically tends to "allow it" the most when I travel to Vegas, which just happens to be his favorite city. This week's trip, however, was a family vacation.

Let me tell you, traveling with an infant is an entirely different type of experience, especially for seven nights. I know, duh. I'll be blogging about what items saved us traveling with her on this trip next week. What isn't obvious is that I wouldn't have traded this experience for anything. We are so lucky to have this perfect little girl of ours jet setting around with us.

Even though our trip went smoothly and Adelyn couldn't have behaved better (no joke, she slept for 10-12 hours EVERY night...I KNOW!), I found a couple of what I now consider necessary beauty products to help me feel a little more put together amidst our beach days and wedding nights on the sunny coast of Clearwater, Fla. all while juggling a now very curious 4 ½-month-old.

1. MAC Prep + Prime Finishing Powder. A friend of mine who works for MAC recommended I use this powder for my wedding to preserve my makeup all day. This product is no kidding matter, it works. I cried like a typical girl marrying the man of her dreams at our wedding and nothing had to be touched up. So in Florida for my sister's beach wedding this really held it's own. I did my makeup around noon and everything was still perfect despite the humidity and craziness for pictures at 3:30 p.m. and the wedding at 4 p.m.

2. Blow Pro Faux Dry Shampoo. I feel like I've tried dry shampoos "ad nauseum", and I've always liked the baby powder approach better than any I sampled. Then I met Blow Pro Faux. This dry shampoo is light and literally "poofs" out of the bottle instead of so many that spray onto your roots. I have a lot of hair, but it's really fine, so most dry shampoos just make my hair look weighed down and leave a texture I can't stand running my fingers through. With this stuff I've been able to train my hair to go up to three days without being washed (no, that doesn't mean you have a wild card not to shower those three days). It definitely helped with that 3 a.m. wake up call to get the baby ready and out the door for our early flight though!

3. Neutrogena Makeup Remover Cleansing Towelettes. I know these are not a new product, and I've been using them for years. If you don't use them you have no idea what you're missing. Not only is it important to take off your makeup every night for the sake of your pillow cases, but it's proven to slow the aging process of your skin. I know that when I look at these towelettes after removing my makeup, even on the days I only wear eye makeup, it's clear to me how sleeping in the product is damaging to your skin. These Neutrogena wipes are refreshing and really get everything off.

4. Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Clear Nail Polish. A few months ago I posted about finding balance in my life. One of the things I mentioned was that my nails were suddenly always in need of a manicure, but what mother of an infant has time to let her nails dry? Sally Hansen's Insta-Dri nail polish is amazing. It seriously dries in under a minute, allowing me to tend to the baby, grab that one toy I forgot to stuff in the diaper bag or change a diaper. The brush on this line of polish is thick and flat too, so it takes about two strokes to finish each nail and is available at just about every drugstore. Wowza. Thank you, Sally Hansen, I owe you one.

5. Beach Babe Sea Salt Texturizing Spray. I went out on a limb when I purchased this and honestly expected the worse. My hair has a natural small wave to it that used to dry pretty perfectly all on its own, especially when I went to the beach or a pool. Pre-baby, that is. It's no lie when they say your hair can change after having a baby because mine went from even, small waves when air dried to small waves in some areas and stick straight hair in other areas. Seriously, ew. This texturizing spray worked amazingly well. We went to the beach all day before the rehearsal dinner, so when we got back to our hotel I was limited on time. I was able to spray this onto my damp hair, twirl it around with my fingers a bit and got GREAT waves for the night's events.

I'll blog next week on our vacation as a whole because we have some seriously too-cute pictures of Adelyn on the beach and at Disney World that just have to be shared with the world. If anyone has any tips for me on beauty products that make life that much more simple, please pass them on!!