Today I thought I’d talk about travelling.

When I was a kid, I wanted to be an explorer. Actually, my current job is quite close, so I think my 6-year-old me would be happy with me.

I am lucky to travel a lot for work, and as much as I can for pleasure. And I always pack as light as possible. I always follow the rule of packing: “Lay the strict necessary on your bed, then take away half of it”. As a very impatient person, I avoid checking in any luggage. I thought it might be fun to share a few top 5 on the subject. (Life is always better with top fives).

My adored Stighlorgan bag and my travel essentials.

My top 5 travel essentials:

  • The Gallinée Cleansing Bar. Literally, the best thing ever developed for travel. I use it for face, body and even hair. Ultra-gentle, it removes even eye-makeup, doesn’t dry the skin and the best thing is IT’S NOT A LIQUID, so more room in that little bag. Eat that airport security!
  • A tote bag. I always pack two or three. They change function during the trip and go from laundry bag to handbag, computer bag, beach bag… I have to keep spare ones because the Gallinée one is always attracting envious eyes.
  • A “pad of life”. I love fancy stationery and I am carrying my Stalogy pad everywhere, plus a ton of Muji Inkpen everywhere. Inside I put ideas, stuff to remember. I am a bit of a tech dinosaur and I much prefer to write stuff down.
  • A little spray of Melatonin by NMC Lab. The best ever advice against jetlag was given to me by the founder of Mecca Cosmetics: never eat anything on the plane. It’s full of salt and fat and disrupts your body clock. But against rebel jetlag, I love this little spray.
  • An extremely minimalistic makeup selection: RMS “Un” foundation, a little concealer that can be stretched to a foundation. Mascara (at the moment the curvy one from Beauty Pie), a tinted Burt’s bee lip balm, eyeliner and the kick-ass powder from Soap&Glory: I use it as an eye primer, mattifying and perfecting powder. I love it.

Modelling the Gallinee tote bag during monsoon in Penang. The smile is because I was queuing for Assam Lakhsa. It makes me very happy.

Top 5 best baths travelling experiences

As we’ve been talking about the Cleansing Bar, I thought it’d be nice to share the 5 most exotic places to use a soap:

  • Georgia (the country). In the middle of Tbilisi, you can bath in little private thermal pools which are centuries old, boiling hot and open until the middle of the night. Alexandre Dumas said it was the best thing he did in his life, I would tend to agree.
  • Japan. The Japanese rituals around bathing are fantastic and it’s hard to choose a favourite onsen. I’d say the one in the Olive Oil Centre in the middle of Sodoshima Island won for the sheer randomness of it.
  • Sicily: On the north-east coast you find an active volcanic island, Vulcano, where you can have a hot mud bath, or swim in a little creak with fizzy warm water, surrounded by floating pumice. Under a scorching sun. Simply amazing.
  • Budapest: That’s where I was on holidays last week. The city is famous for its thermal baths, and each local seem to have their favourite one. I warmly recommend Kiraly Baths. A little run-down, probably because it was built by the Turks centuries ago. Super atmospheric, all green and red marble, steam rising from the pools and quiet locals meditating on something probably very deep. Or maybe pull an all-nighter in Rudas Baths: I stayed ages in a warm pool on a rooftop looking at the city and the lunar eclipse. Life doesn’t really get better than this.
  • London! I feel almost bad for giving this one, it is my secret refuge when life in London is cold and wet and dark: The Turkish Bath Hammam. You can stay in the steam and warmth for ages, and get a scrub and a massage for a very reasonable price. Please don’t share this one!

Voila, please share with us your beauty travel tips and send us pictures!

Marie