On traveling light, traveling well, and a makeup artist who finally talked some sense into me.
I was checking into the Corinthia in London when I saw them: five black Rimowa trunks, moving in procession across the lobby like a minor military operation. A couple – unhurried, immaculate, apparently unbothered by the logistics their luggage required — materialized at the front desk while the trunks were unloaded from an SUV and whisked, presumably, toward a suite. The confidence of it. The sheer impunity.
I watched, genuinely bemused, because there I was with my own single trunk, bursting at the seams, books threatening to split the zipper, quietly scheming about what I could send home this time to make it all more manageable. (I buy too many books when I travel. They are weighty in fact and in thought, and I cannot stop.)
The five-trunk couple and I are solving different problems. But we are, in our own ways, both losing.
I’d been in London that week for several reasons, one of which was a visit to the V&A to see the Schiaparelli exhibition. It’s a dazzling, slightly unhinged, entirely magnificent survey of her work and the contemporary revival of her brand by designer Daniel Roseberry.
Somewhere between the surrealist lobster and the silk evening coats, I found myself reading a wall panel about her 1940 American lecture tour to thirty cities. And Vogue, apparently unable to contain itself, noted that Schiaparelli had arrived with limited luggage, unlimited chic — pairing the same jackets across both day and evening wear, city after city, without ever appearing to have repeated herself.
I stood there in the gallery thinking: I want to be her when I grow up. And also: I have so far to go.
Which brings me to Rose.
Rose and her family are beloved clients of mine. Knowing her expertise, I confessed my beauty-bag problem. My struggle to streamline. My inability to pare down. The weight of Victoria Beckham’s eye shadow palettes when every ounce counts. And my vague suspicion that I was carrying, at any given moment, approximately forty percent more makeup than I would ever use.
Rose listened patiently. And then I asked her if she’d help me write a blog post because I know I’m not the only woman with this problem.
Rose is a makeup artist with over 25 years of experience, trained at Lancôme, Chanel, Tom Ford, Bobbi Brown, and MAC, with credits including New York Fashion Week and work in television and photography. She began her artistic life as a dancer and lead vocalist — which is where she first learned stage makeup — and brings to her work a rare combination of technical precision and genuine ease. She is currently based in Westchester, New York, specializing in bespoke makeup services, private consultations, and image guidance for clients who want a polished, understated look that doesn’t ask too much of them.
She is also someone who used to travel with a large, multi-compartment makeup case stuffed with palettes, powder compacts, foundations, and brushes. (Yeah! She used to be me.)
“It weighed a ton,” she told me. “I had everything I needed — if I needed it.”
Then she changed her mind. And everything.
What follows is her framework, shared here with her blessing, for those of us who love beauty and harbor Schiaparellian ambitions about our luggage.
The Philosophy: Sticks, Creams, and the Radical Abandonment of Brushes
Rose’s travel beauty philosophy comes down to three words: minimalism, versatility, and longevity. Long-wear formulas. Multi-tasking products. Nothing heavy, nothing bulky, nothing that requires a separate bag to carry the tools to apply it.
The part that will stop most women mid-sentence: she packs no brushes.
“Most of us use powder palettes with brushes because it’s how we were taught,” she explains. Brushes are bulky, require cleaning, and take up space disproportionate to what they deliver. On the road, they are the first thing she leaves behind.
Without brushes, everything gets applied with fingers, which sounds alarming until you understand that she has rebuilt her entire travel kit around products designed specifically for this: long-wear eyeshadow sticks, concealer sticks, blush and bronzing sticks, tinted moisturizers, tube foundations. Products that go directly onto skin and blend cleanly with fingertips. Elegant, efficient, and genuinely easier than you think.
If you truly cannot let go of every brush, she offers one concession: a small kabuki brush in a retractable case for setting powder. Or her favorite dual-purpose find, the Supergoop (RE)setting Powder with SPF in Translucent, which comes with its own attached brush and pulls triple duty: sets makeup, provides sun protection, and fits in a handbag for touch-ups throughout the day.
Photo used from Supergoop product listing on website
No Powder. Really?
Yes. Really.
The heaviest, most underestimated categories in any makeup bag are powder and bronzer compacts, eye and cheek palettes, and all the brushes that travel alongside them. These are also, Rose notes, the categories most women reach for out of habit rather than necessity.
Powder blush? Replaced by a stick. Powder bronzer? Replaced by a stick. Setting powder? If needed at all, handled by the Supergoop or a mini setting spray such as Charlotte Tilbury’s Airbrush Flawless mini or Patrick Starrr’s One/Size Setting Spray.
The shift from powder to cream and stick isn’t just about weight. It’s about finish. Cream and stick formulas tend to be more skin-like, more flattering, more youthful — particularly for women over 50, where powder can settle into fine lines and produce the opposite of the intended effect. Less is more, she says. And she means it technically, not just philosophically.
What Actually Makes the Cut
Rose travels with ten makeup products plus tweezers. She uses five for a daytime look and cycles in the rest for an evening one. Her core kit, assembled for maximum versatility:
The face: A tint or foundation stick — she loves the Hourglass Veil Hydrating Skin Tint for everyday wear, and Suntegrity Impeccable Skin Foundation (tube, never glass) when sun exposure is part of the plan. A concealer or corrector stick — Bobbi Brown’s roll-on sticks offer opaque coverage tailored to specific concerns, including dark circles.
The eyes: A long-wear eyeshadow stick in a neutral — she trusts Bobbi Brown, Laura Mercier, Anastasia Beverly Hills, MAC, and Victoria Beckham. A waterproof eyeliner pencil (her current favorite is Victoria Beckham’s, paired with their dedicated sharpener) or Stila’s felt-tip liquid liner in black. Mascara, always waterproof — Dior Show, or the unexpectedly excellent L’Oréal Voluminous from the drugstore.
The cheeks: A stick bronzer or stick blush — Makeup by Mario for bronzer; NARS and Bobbi Brown for blush. Here is where real versatility lives: a bronzer or blush stick can double as an eyeshadow and lip color for a pulled-together, monochromatic look that requires no additional products and very little thought.
The brows: An Anastasia Brow Wiz pencil — thin, precise, natural-looking — and/or a tinted brow gel. Rose is firm on this point, particularly for women over fifty: brows frame the face, and in photographs, faded brows simply disappear. Address them before anything else.
The lips: Lipstick, a retractable lip liner (which eliminates the need for a separate sharpener), and optionally a gloss. Lip liner both defines and extends wear — two reasons to include it even when paring everything else down.
The bag itself: Everything lives in a medium-sized, clear plastic makeup case. Easy to locate things quickly. Easy through security. No archaeology required.
She leaves at home: glass bottles, skincare jars, serums, palettes, compacts, anything breakable or heavy. She no longer decants into smaller containers because travel-size and mini versions of most products are readily available at Sephora and Ulta, and many department store counters offer samples with purchase.
Skin First, Always
Before any of the above matters: the skin.
Rose travels with three to four skincare products — Honest Facial Makeup Wipes, Almay waterproof eye makeup remover pads, and a moisturizer that works morning, evening, and under the eyes in a pinch. (If your moisturizer contains SPF, avoid the eye area — some people are sensitive to it there.)
On long overnight flights, she often skips face makeup entirely. Cabin air is drying. Touching your face on a plane introduces more bacteria than most of us prefer to think about. She does her brows, a little concealer, and lipstick — enough to feel like herself — and does a fuller application after arriving at the hotel.
On the subject of in-flight skincare more broadly, I also love what Lisa Eldridge does — her approach to long-haul flight beauty is thoughtful, practical, and genuinely expert. [You can find her routine here.] (Link to Lisa Eldridge’s video or post of your choosing.)
The Pro Tips Worth Saving
A few things Rose shared that belong in every traveling woman’s repertoire:
Always curl your lashes before mascara. The difference is significant enough to justify the curler’s presence in the bag.
For dark circles, use a corrector under your concealer, not concealer alone. The corrector neutralizes the underlying pigment. The concealer covers. Together they work. Separately, you’re arguing with your undereye without addressing what’s actually there.
The mascara shimmy: Rock the wand at the base of your lashes before pulling through to the tips. It deposits more product, creates an eyeliner effect, and makes lashes look genuinely fuller.
The day-to-evening trick: Apply a waterproof navy eyeliner along the outer third of your upper and lower lashes. Navy — not black — brightens the whites of the eyes, makes you look more awake, and shifts the entire register of your face without requiring a full redo. Subtle, fast, and quietly brilliant.
On beauty over fifty: Simplify, but don’t disappear. Enhance the key areas — brows, under eyes, cheeks — rather than covering the whole face. Cream and stick formulas are more luminous and more forgiving than powder. And always wear blush. Blush is life, Rose says, without a trace of irony. It illuminates the face in a way nothing else does.
The Part That Actually Matters
What Rose said at the end of our conversation is what I keep returning to.
“Beauty is simplified and liberating,” she told me. “Just being away on vacation, I feel more relaxed, and I think it shows on my face. I’m not as obsessed with my beauty routine because vacation is a time to enjoy my surroundings and the people I’m with.”
There’s a version of this that can feel like settling — as if simplicity is just what happens when you give up on the elaborate version. That is not what she is describing, and it is not what I’ve discovered either, slowly and imperfectly, trunk by overloaded trunk.
The real luxury isn’t the five Rimowa trunks moving across the Corinthia lobby. It’s knowing exactly what you need, carrying only that, and arriving with enough presence left over to actually be somewhere.
Schiaparelli understood this. Thirty cities. Multi-use jackets. The V&A does not record how many trunks she brought. I suspect the answer is one.
Limited luggage, unlimited chic.
Some things age exceptionally well.
Rose specializes in private makeup consultations and bespoke artistry for weddings, special occasions, and clients who live by the philosophy that elegance should look effortless. She also offers a signature service few think to ask for — and fewer still can find: a personal edit of your makeup kit, whether for home or travel.
Rose works exclusively by referral.
To be connected, reach out through the Premier Wellness Travel contact form, and we’ll make the introduction.
To design a journey that feels as considered as your makeup kit, I’d love to hear from you. Start your planning here.
