My In-Flight Travel Essentials

Hello everyone! So I've been a busy bee recently and have just returned from a lovely holiday in Ibiza. It occurred to me that it might be interesting to see what my top hand luggage bits and pieces were, to help you if you're going away soon, or just to have a relaxing read.

For this holiday I took a small backpack. It's lightweight so wasn't too bad to carry around. I like the style of the bag, with its minimalist black and brown fabric. It has a simple magnetic popper opening, disguised as fake buckles. I do like that this means you can get into your bag easily, but sometimes for extra security, it'd be nice if the bag had a zip or did actually buckle down. Inside, there are two small sewn-in pockets, a small zip pocket and a large compartment at the front.

Ipod and Headphones

I placed my Ipod and headphones in the zip pocket so that the headphones and Ipod were easily accesible. I think it also helped my headphones stay un-tangled, a first world problem I'm sure many people have encountered.

Wordsearch Book

I have had this wordsearch book for a while now. It contains loads of word searches and so it keeps me well distracted whilst on the flight. It's also useful to have when on holiday, to use on the beach, by the pool, or just whilst you're waiting to do something.

Magazine

I love magazines. I am not the type of person to be able to sit down and read a full book. I find that magazines suit my lifestyle. I love to be doing things, going in the pool, playing a sport etc. Therefore, a short one page read, or a look at the latest trends for five minutes is great for me.

Sunglasses

I love my sunglasses. These were just around the £2.50 mark and came with their own travel sleeve which is really handy. I like to pack these for when I come off the flight when the sun can be quite dazzling, or even just when coming off the plane due to the change in brightness. I also like to carry these for tired eyes because often my flights are in the morning or late at night and so they can be a little more susceptible to being sensitive to the light. Also, an extra tip and reason to carry sunglasses is that they're great for hiding tired eyes/ eye bags, which I get a lot. And because I don't wear make-up on flights, you can at least still look human for a bit.

Tissues

Anyone who knows me, will know that I often carry tissue with me wherever I am. The air-con on planes can sometimes make my nose run, or eyes water and so tissues are just convenient to have. I tend to be sensitive to dust or strong smells also, so I'm normally the one sneezing. If don't have the above issues, still take a pack of tissues (yes, I know that rhymed), because you never know when an unexpected sneeze may arise. And they're multi-functional for spills too.

Camera

My camera goes in my carry on so that when I get off the plane, I can start my holiday snaps. On my recent trip to Ibiza, we had a short transfer and so I took a few pictures on the journey. I also just like to have my camera in my bag anyway....I don't really know why.

Passport/Travel Documents

This is a given. Without them, you're not going on any flight. However, I thought I'd mention them anyway, just to remind you that if you're going away, check they're in-date and that all your documents are ready.

Stress Ball

I'm afraid of flying. I have been going on aeroplanes since I can't even remember and have experienced flights with bad turbulance. I have also been on a long haul flight to America, which coincidentally was one of the flights with bad turbulance. None of these experiences even phased me and I actually found the jumpy flights to be entertaining. It wasn't until around four years ago that a little nerve kicked in. Firstly, I wanted to be sat next to my family, then I just didn't like flying and then last year, I just freaked out. Now I have found a way which really really works for me. A simple stress ball. This green, squidgy, foam, stress ball helped so much to the point where take off and landing was a doddle for me. If you're not a good flyer, I would highly recommend trying this out.

So these are a few of the things that I took with me in my carry-on bag. Obviously you may need to take more if on a longer flight and you can take liquids that are up to 100ml. I decided not to take any liquids with me, just for ease and you can always buy drinks once you're through security.

 I hope you enjoyed this blog and if you're going to be flying soon, where are you going? Leave a comment, follow my blog and see you soon!

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EcoTools Day to Night Set Brush Review

Hello and welcome back to my blog! This week I am going to be speaking to you about my EcoTools brush set that I bought from Boots.

The brush set, named the 'Six Piece Day to Night Set' contains what I would class as everyday make-up brushes. It includes: an angled face brush, a pointed concealer brush, a highlighting fan brush, an eye shadow brush and a detailed lip/liner brush. All brushes come in their own neat cosmetic case, which they advertise as being multi-functional and able to hold evening basics.

The bag itself has an elastic brush holder inside so that the brushes are nice and secure and will hopefully get less wear and tear from not rubbing against each other, ruining the bamboo wood handles. The base is covered in a really nice, soft cork which gives an extra quirk to it, making it feel very tropical, in conjunction with the tropical green gradient sides. The bag feels sturdy which would make it possible to be used for different purposes as described however it might be a little too small for today's 'essentials' e.g: my phone. 

All brushes are really soft and I love the added detail on the end of each brush which gives each brush their usage name. The three larger brushes are the softest brushes, which allows things like contour, highlight and eye shadow application to be nicer and easier. The other two brushes (liner and pointed concealer) are more rigid, which works for the liner brush, but I personally would prefer if the pointed concealer brush was a bit more flexible. I feel like if this change was made, the concealer brush would be better suited for its use as the structure of the brush makes it less practical for blending. 

The Brushes

The pointed concealer brush is a little odd. I often use a stick concealer, so this brush doesn't work well for its designed use. However, I sometimes use this for inner corner highlight or for general under-eye smoking/blending. 

Pointed Concealer Brush

The contour brush has a great angled top, making it perfect for creating a natural shadow at your cheek bone hollows. This is one of my favourite brushes in this set, as I like to use bronzer. I'm not a heavy contour-applier, so I generally use it all over my face which works well too.

Contour Brush

The thinnest brush is the liner brush. This is best for the lips in my opinion, although it can also be used to apply eye liner under the lower lash line. I often like to use the brush to line my lips or to use it just to make sure I have a neat line of lipstick. 

Lip Liner

Finally is the highlighter brush. I'd say this is great for the cheeks, but probably steer away from using it on the cupids bow and nose. It could be the highlighter I use but I find the brush often makes my product very dusty and so fall out occurs, making me look a little like a disco ball. However, this doesn't mean the brush isn't great! And quite honestly, I'm a beginner at make up.

Fanned Highlighter

Following on from my last point, I am a beginner in make-up. You could say this is my first proper set of brushes so I am finding what they're best used for and experimenting. However I would say my favourite brush is the eye shadow brush because I love a good smokey eye and so this brush is great for blending. It's also good for initially packing on the product. 

Eye shadow

Overall I think this is a set for beginners and the brushes themselves would also fit perfectly in someones bigger collection who uses make-up more often. I bought these from Boots and they cost £16.99, which was a very good price in comparison to other brushes available. They wipe clean really easily and don't shed. 

I hope this post has helped anyone decide on which make-up brushes to buy. If you don't wear make-up I hope you had a laugh at me sharing my opinions anyway. 

Thank you for reading my blog. If you haven't already, go back and check some of my other posts including a Stranger Things review. Please share, follow and comment below and let me know your best brush or make-up buys.

See you again soon

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