Travel Skincare: How I Save Money, Travel Light and Improve My Skin
I’ve never received that many compliments from men and women
I don’t have never ageing skin, and I’ve become way too tan after spending the last year in South East and Central Asia. I’m turning 35 in two months, and I’ve never received that many compliments from men and women about how young I appear.
I used to have dozens of products and kept buying new ones. Now I live with one suitcase, change countries and continents and cosmetic brands. My skincare has become more minimalistic, but yet more effective. Now I choose products and ingredients wiser.
This is how I do it.
Background
I have combination skin. I was fighting pimples and post-acne before turning 30. Then my skin has become dry, forcing me to adjust my skincare. After COVID lockdown, I’ve stopped wearing makeup. Now I don’t even have mascara. I have never done injections or plastic surgeries.
As I move around, temperature, humidity, UV index and other factors are always changing. So I have to quickly adapt to my skin’s ever-changing needs.
Cosmetic ingredients I use and like
It was hard for me to start. I tried to watch bloggers and could never understand what effect the products they had promoted had on me.
At some stage, I shifted from watching bloggers to researching ingredients. Another useful tip was changing the focus from buying products to solving problems. So, before shopping, I always specify the problem I want to tackle.
And this is how I match ingredients to problems:
Winter (actual, non-sunny winter):
- AHAs
- Especially Glycolic peelings
- Ceramides
- Alpha lipoic acid
Summer:
- Vitamin C
- PHAs
- Niacinamide
- Bakuchiol
Dryness:
- Ceramides
- Hyaluronic acid or ice mushroom
- Centella
- Vitamin E
Pimples:
- AHAs
- Tea tree
- BHA (salicylic acid)
- Azelaic acid
- Kaolin
Uneven skin tone:
- Ginseng
- Propolis
- Mud and sea salt
Pigmentation:
- Tranexamic acid
- Azelaic acid
- Kojic acid
- Parsley extract
Wrinkles:
- Peptides. I find these to be especially powerful. Once I had a product that visibly lessened the number of my under-eye wrinkles.
- Retinol. I used to use it but don’t use it now. I’ll come back to it to test different types of retinol.
Where I save money on my skincare
In an ideal world, I always have:
- Cleanser
- Toner
- A serum or two
- Moisturiser
- Eye cream
- Sunscreen
- Masks
- Body, feet, hand creams and butter
When the ideal world doesn’t happen, when I have to stick to a budget, I get rid of some products and spend the budget on other ones.
- I look for less promoted brands, meaning I’m paying less for their advertising. If I have a choice, I buy local brands. Imported products somewhere in Thailand are 10x more expensive than in Europe. But the local hair products are amazingly good and cheap.
- Cleansers and moisturisers are the most important products. I can survive without toner, but can’t survive without moisturiser.
- I use cleansing oil to remove sunscreen before using regular cleansers.
- Sometimes an umbrella is my best sunscreen. I used to have mineral powder as sunscreen. It’s safer for the skin and easier to remove. But when I travel, I need sunscreen for my body, too. And the powder is not ideal for the body.
- I save money on cleansers, toners, masks, etc. and spend more on serums and creams from more expensive brands. A peptide serum is more effective than a peptide toner. The latter one will have lesser concentrations of the ingredients.
- For creams and serums, I want to see the ingredients I’m looking for in the first part of the list of ingredients. Otherwise, the ingredients' concentration will be too low.
- I stopped buying face-specific sunscreen. These are small and pricey. I buy one sunscreen for everything and use it under my eyes as well.
- I prefer powder or stick masks since these are more portable.
- I stopped using facial scrubs as they irritate my face. Now I use enzyme powder before masks — it helps the ingredients better absorb.
- I can use used coffee grounds as a body scrub. It leaves my skin moisturised.
- When money is tight, I buy one expensive moisturiser and use it for the under-eye area as well.
- I avoid facial oils because I found that they dried up my skin. I choose creams and, in muggy conditions, gels. Now I’m in a hot, dry place, so had to switch to creamy textures.
- Oils work better for my dry body skin. I noticed that cocoa and shea butter are more effective on me than coconut oil.
- I use the same cream on my hands, feet, and body. I occasionally buy cheap facial cream to use on my hands.
- I rarely use patches and sleep masks during travels. These are excess products in my suitcase.
- As I’m approaching 35, the neckline and hands’ backs are everything. So I use the same facial products all over these areas.
- Sometimes I use kaolin masks for both the face and hair. It surprisingly moisturises my hair.
When I have the time, money and want to treat myself
When I go out to a cosmetologist, it’s typically for facial massages. I used to do self-massage but didn’t see results.
I choose a person based on their Instagram profile. I look for lymphatic drainage massage with an accent to the lower third of the face. Normally, I have 5–10 sessions annually.
If fitting into the budget, I can opt for microcurrent therapy to lift the lower third of my face. I tried microcurrent facials. While they can be beneficial for glabellar relaxation, they weren’t effective enough for my nasolabial creases.
It’s never been about skin care after all…
Aaand… Smile!
People used to tell me that my expressive face would cause me heaps of wrinkles. I can tell you now, fifteen years later — they were all wrong. And nothing makes me look better than a smile.
I also believe that it is a misconception that women must fight ageing. In my view, moisturised skin without pimples and pigmentation makes me look refreshed. Even if I’ve just had two flights with a 14-hour layover.
And what are your tips for travel skincare? Look forward to continuing this beauty journey.
