Paring back your beauty regime to suit those pesky airline liquid restrictions is a real bore. Fact. Every product has its own unique spot in your life and deciding which to ditch, and which to take is tougher than that weekly Love Island vote. Save yourself the drama (and the packing space) by booking in for a pre-holiday beauty treatment that goes the extra mile and lightens your beauty load in the process. No room for mascara? No problem…
By Liz Hambleton
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1 Swap mascara and eyelash curlers for lash extensions
Lash extensions, whether you go for Russian Volume or classic, are the ne plus ultra of holiday glamour. The semi-permanent technique involves placing countless, super-natural looking false lashes on the bed of your natural lashes for a fuller, longer and more luscious flutter. You can choose from having just a half set, or a full set, depending on how dramatic you like your lashes to look. The false lashes applied are incredibly delicate and meticulously applied, so there’s no need to worry about them actually looking false – you’ll just look like you were born with the flutteriest, flirtiest lashes known to mankind. They’ll last for up to six weeks, and you’ll need to switch to a very gentle eye makeup remover, but they’re far lower maintenance than you’d think.
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2 Swap bronzer for a spray tan
A spray tan is a pre-holiday prerequisite for many ladies (and pre-party, pre-date, pre-interview…), but a good spray tan is about so much more than just colour. Sure, it’ll get you beautifully bronzed, but it’ll also shape and contour your limbs and your face for a more svelte effect. Any good tanner will be able to do this for you – after spraying on your first coat, they’ll go over certain areas and concentrate the tan a little more for a sculpted finish. They can chisel cheekbones, carve abs, slim legs…seriously, have a spray tan and leave the contour palette at home. With proper aftercare, a faux glow will last you about ten days, so time it just before you fly for maximum impact.
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3 Swap brow pencil for a tint (or microblading)
If nothing else, I have to do my brows before I leave the house. I’m naturally of a kind of Scandi complexion, meaning my brows and lashes are really fair. Without a lick of pencil or pomade, my brows disappear into my face a little. But when they’ve got some colour and shape, all of a sudden, my eyes look wider, my cheekbones higher, and my whole face seems better rested. If you want to be able to leave all your brow kit at home, you’ve got two options. For a short-term fix, go for a brow tint. Lasting about four to six weeks, your technician will use a semi-permanent dye to tint your brows a few shades darker. Your technician will consult you beforehand about the best hue for your hair colour and skin tone, and then apply the dye for a few minutes – it’s a seriously speedy process. The dye will pick up all the tiny baby hairs you usually miss, and make your brows look fuller, thicker, and more sculpted. If you want something more permanent, it has to be microblading. This technique took the beauty world by storm last year, and it’s still going strong. It’s a kind of brow tattooing that uses the finest possible strokes to sketch on individual hairs for a naturally, and permanently, fuller-looking brow. I’ve not looked back since I had mine done – and I don’t miss the daily filling-in process.
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4 Swap face scrub for microdermabrasion
All of us want to look radiant on holiday, and the secret to a good glow is in exfoliation. Removing dead skin cells is a sure-fire way to boost your skin’s natural radiance, as all that scrubbing kickstarts the cell renewal process for fresher, younger-looking skin. Skip the scrub on holiday and book in for a microdermabrasion beforehand. Microdermabrasion uses super-fine particles to exfoliate the skin in a way only a professional treatment – attempting this level of exfoliation without the proper kit would be dangerous at home. Your therapist can conduct the treatment safely and gently, but it’s still best to have this treatment at least a week before you fly as you’ll be slightly more sun-sensitive afterwards. Trust me, it’s worth the faff for how supple and well-rested your skin will look afterwards.
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5 Swap nail polish for SNS nails
Gels are great for long-lasting colour, but if you’re a compulsive picker like me, you never quite make it to the two-week mark without starting to fiddle with your nails. The last thing you want on holiday is for parts of your gels to lift up and not be able to touch them up (unless you travel with a manicurist and your name is Mariah Carey). I discovered a treatment a few months ago that’s blowing my mind – SNS nails. It means ‘Signature Nail Systems’ and it’s a powder-dip technique. While you do apply a specialist base coat like with gel nails, instead of putting on colour and setting the nails under a lamp, once your nails are prepped, your manicurist will dip them in a special powder. The powder is pinky and pearlescent, and looks closer to a super healthy nail rather than an obviously manicured one. Once sealed with a special top coat, your mani is locked in place for weeks – and without any colour to pick at, you’re guaranteed a perfect set of nails for longer.
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6 Swap root concealer for balayage
Now this tip isn’t just great for pre-holiday, but for any seriously time-pressed ladies out there. A full head of highlights is great for high impact colour, but the regrowth is super hard to hide, and who has time for monthly salon visits? Even just a hairline and parting can end up eating up the best part of a morning, and without 101 things on your to-do list, it’s hard to make it happen. Enter balayage – all the impact of foils, but none of the upkeep. Balayage comes from France, and is a free-painting technique. What this means is that instead of using foils and a pattern, your colourist will paint directly on your hair for a more natural, sun-kissed finish. It’s a more breezy, natural look, and doesn’t usually involve much colour at your roots, meaning your won’t need to touch them up with root concealer while you’re away. Plus, it’s a much more naturally beachy effect – clever, huh?