Travel Beauty :: Trish's Picks

[trip style = beach + sun]

{Want more travel beauty? Get your fill the third Wednesday of every month. Lauren, our travel beauty expert, is already whipping up her next concoction post!}

This month I chatted with Trish, TripStyler founder and Editor-In-Chief, about her beauty faves. She reluctantly {she isn't so into answering questions about herself!} shared with me her cool beauty finds and travel beauty routines. Read on for some great tips!

What's the coolest beauty product you've purchased while traveling?
Eleven years ago I was traveling solo in Paris, and I stopped into Sephora on L'Avenue des Champs-Élysées and picked up lip stain before it became an 'it' beauty product. To this day, I DO NOT travel without lip stain, and love that it provides long-lasting color even for a 14-hour flight!

You recently visited Mexico and it was ultra-hot. What was your beauty routine in such hot weather?
The 40 Celsius/104 Fahrenheit sans-wind Mexican heat was hot and heavy. I would sweat standing motionless in my clothes. Normally, in that heat I'd be sitting poolside in my bather, but since I was filming a video for Expedia's Find Yours campaign, there was no time for the beach OR pool. Skin: Travel-sized Skoah cleanser, toner and serum, and to finish, Neutrogena Ultra-Sheer Daily SPF 70 Sunblock. Make-up: I had a camera two inches from my face at all times {scary!}, so I just intensified the make-up I normally wear so my features didn't get lost on film. Though, normally in hot weather, I'd use the less is more mantra. Hair: I did the same thing I do at home: wash, blow dry upside-down, and curl with my ionic curling wand. Between takes and at night I'd secure it in a loose top-knot to keep the curls from relaxing too much in the heat.

Do you change your "look" based on where you're going?
100%. I change what and how much make-up I wear based on where I'm traveling and time of day {ie - simple day look, more intensified night look}. For example, if I'm windsurfing in Bonaire, I'll wear a touch of cherry lip stain and a lot of sunscreen, whereas in Paris I'll wear MAC concealer, light Tarte eye shadow for inner corners of the eyes, L'Oreal Voluminous mascara, MAC blush, Guerlain powder and Joe Fresh lip stain. Oh, and I can't travel without my childhood lip love: Lip Smacker's strawberry-scented balm.

Tell us your top three beauty tips for travel.
1/ Less is more, nobody wants raccoon eyes on the plane or at the pool. 2/ Work off of your everyday look, and let your trip style and the climate dictate the intensity of your make-up routine. 3/ Pick one feature---ie, eyes or lips---and go with it. You don't have space in your suitcase to pack your entire bathroom anyway!

More Travel Beauty
How To Prolong Your Gorgeous Glow
Nicole’s Exotic Travel Beauty Picks
In-Flight Beauty Masks
Q&A With OPI’s Founder {Nail Tips For Travel}
Heather’s On-The-Road Beauty Must-Haves
On-The-Go Teeth Cleaning
St. Tropez’ Celebrity Tanning Expert’s Self-Tanning Secrets
Q&A With Dr. Murad

[photos via @tripstyler]

Bag A Beach Bag

[trip style = beach]

{Editor’s Note: Check out the contest we’re running in partnership with Expedia right now! Tweet a pic and the hashtags #freedom & #expediafindyours for a chance to win a trip to aruba or $250 Expedia travel voucher.}

The perfect beach bag is like the perfect pair of jeans, hard to find and has to fit your {preferred} trip style{s} and lifestyle.

Six months ago I was on a one-year mission looking for just this: a stylish, beachy-casual, fold-flat beach bag. I found the one in Portland, made by a company aptly named Baggu. Huge bonus: it's cool, well made and inexpensive {I paid $22 for mine}!

Baggus work for the everyday. Baggus work for the beach. Baggus work for the pool. Baggu is a NY-based company that started in 2007 as a sewing project by a mother-daughter duo. Five years later the company has expanded beyond the at-home sewing machine to produce: 1/ reusable do-anything/go-anywhere/fold-into-a-tiny-pouch nylon bags and small backpacks 2/ strong canvas bags {my fave & my beach bag} and small backpacks 3/ leather bags .....plus a bunch of other products to hold life's portables, all at reasonable prices.

Beach season is here, and winter vacation season is six months away. With this, here are four things to consider when trying to bag the right beach bag: 1/ Does it go from plane-to-pool in style? 2/ Does it fold flat? 3/ Is it washable? 4/ Is it casual enough that you don't mind mind getting sand on it?

Related Content Seven Ways To Beach Chic Summer Style With Heidi Merrick Crush :: Clare Vivier Carryalls

[photos of Baggus put together by @tripstyler]

KinderHop :: Road Trip Tips

[trip style = road trip]

{KinderHop is published once monthly and written by Trip Styler’s Seattle-based kid ‘n family writer, Keryn.}

The most dreaded question any parent hears when they embark on a road trip is “are we there yet?” No one knows how to work this phrase like a toddler, but older kids like to pull it out as well. There are lots of ways to avoid it, but you need to get on your parental A-game and be prepared! This doesn't mean packing the entire playroom, get creative about what you CAN do with kids while they are strapped in a moving vehicle for a few hours. And remember, road trips are some of the fondest travel memories for kids, so here are few ways to ensure the open road is fun for you and your jr. road trippers!

{Editor's Note: Check out the contest we're running in partnership with Expedia right now! Tweet a pic and the hashtags #freedom & #expediafindyours for a chance to win a trip to aruba or $250 Expedia travel voucher.}

Game Plan Stay realistic. No kid {or adult for that matter} wants to sit in the car for 10 hours a day. Road trips are meant to be fun. Break up your trip into small, doable chunks that everyone can handle.

Take Breaks! Whether they are just to use the restroom, fill up the tank or load up on snacks, make sure you let those little legs stretch a few minutes every few hours so you don’t have mini 'road rage' meltdowns.

Grab Some Grub Stop at a local restaurant along the way or pack a picnic. Pull over at a rest stop or research a local park off the highway. You can sit back and eat while the kids enjoy some much-needed playtime.

Activities, Activities, Activities Test out a few activities on short rides to the market or at local attractions before you head out on your BIG trip. This way you aren’t packing a carload full of things that your kids hate. Need a few ideas? Here you go:

• Audio books
• Games: Spot It, License Plate Game or Car Bingo
• Sing a few silly songs
• Coloring books, stickers, etc.

After that, just pray everyone takes a little nap in the car, so you can rest for round two. As a last resort have your tablet or smart phone handy for little fingers to play a few educational games or watch a movie.

More KinderHop How To Pack Less With Kids In Tow Family-Friendly Big Island Making Hotel Rooms Work With Kids KinderHop – Meet The Columnist

[photos by @walkingontravel]

Find Your Freedom {& An Aruba Contest!}

[trip style = any]

DON'T MISS OUR CONTEST ANNOUNCEMENT---for a trip & travel voucher---BELOW!

As many of you probably know, I've been fortunate enough {read: I'm still in shock and awe} to partner with Expedia.com for the past few months. Along with nine other travel bloggers, my latest project is a co-leading a Twitter Photo Contest {details below}, a continuation of my solo Expedia video {highlighting a life-changing travel moment in Mexico} that recently kick-started one of Expedia's largest-ever campaigns: Find Yours.

About Find Yours Instead of focusing bikini-clad blonds sipping umbrella drinks on the beach and blue-eyed hunks carving figure eights on glaciers in Vail, my former advertising account exec self is o-v-e-r-j-o-y-e-d that Expedia is the first travel company to do away with the expected, and take the road less traveled {pun intended} speaking to the heart and soul of globetrotting. There's ALWAYS a reason we travel, find yours...

Expedia Find Yours Twitter Photo Contest ----> 2 Chances To Win WHAT YOU CAN WIN 1/ Four nights at the Bacati & Tara Beach Resort in Aruba. {This grand prize will be awarded to any tweet including the #expediafindyours hashtag and one of the participating bloggers' keyword hashtags, mine is #freedom} 2/ An $250 Expedia Voucher. {The Trip Styler prize awarded to a participating tweet with a photo and the #expediafindyours and #freedom hashtags}

HOW TO ENTER 1/ First things first; make sure you're following Expedia on Twitter 2/ Tweet a photo with the hashtags #freedom #expediafindyours from July 11 - 31, 2012. Note that your tweet MUST include a photo, as well as the #freedom and #expediafindyours hashtags to be automatically entered to win.  Full details here. Example Tweet: #Freedom on a ladder in Peru #expediafindyours @tripstyler - ow.ly/i/LfMh 3/ AND, please include @tripstyler in your tweet so I can retweet your travel photos!

Find Your Freedom Once you see the prizes and simplicity of entering my joint-venture Twitter photo contest with Expedia {above}, I know you may skip this paragraph in a moment of travel euphoria, but I'll pen it anyway. As one of 10 travel bloggers participating in Find Yours Twitter Photo Contest, we each had the choice of a word we'd use to associate with our tweets. I chose #freedom for two reasons. First---> for me, find your freedom is not just a word, it's a lifestyle. Second---> sometimes words can't describe the emotions associated with the freedom standing on a mountaintop in Nepal, watching a flock of flamingoes fly overhead in Bonaire, catching a wave in Oahu, or even eating a McOddity in who knows where. A picture's worth 1000 words, so from today until July 31st, tweet one or 1000 photos---whether it's your own photo or someone else's---that describe finding your freedom. Reminder, there are two prizes up for grabs.

Finding My Freedom About six years ago my husband and I took an inventory of our values knowing they are the foundation for every decision, action and reaction. We learned that one of our personal and shared values was freedom, and since then, we have been very purposeful about living this out, carefully weighing it and along with our other values every time we make a decision. Cue the violins: I would not be where I am today {which *I think* is a good place} if it weren't for freedom. This is why I chose it as the #expdiafindyours word for me and you.

Expedia's Find Yours Videos {I dare you NOT to get misty in the eyes} Expedia's Find Yours Anthem, crowdsourced from real stories online.

My Find Your Calling Story.

Dave & Deb's Find Your Harmony Story.

[photos by @tripstyler used for an expedia twitter program in which I'm participating]

Magnolia Lemonade

[trip style = weekend getaway]

The universe has just granted the West Coast a Mr. Golden Sun hall pass, and in a flash, summer's here to stay! Over the weekend I celebrated the sunny season's inaugural shining in Victoria, BC with beer flights, just-caught halibut, farm-to-table broad beans and potatoes, housemade vanilla bean soft serve, and lemonade. Victoria's fresh-made e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g was one of the highlights of my trip style = weekend journey, and I was SO TAKEN by the lemonade---especially after biking 35km in Canada's cycling capital---I had to share the recipe.

More on the recipe below, but first a little about the unlikely mixologist: a hotel! I first encountered the lemonade at The Magnolia Hotel & Spa on day one of a three-day stay. This made for a trio of freshly brewed bliss. Voted one of the Top 10 Luxury Hotels in Canada by TripAdvisor’s® 2011 Travelers’ Choice® awards, The Magnolia is steps from Victoria's buzzy harbor and an apropos boutique stay in a boutique city. In a place where artesian and local are still celebrated and savored, The Magnolia is locally owned---an opportunity they take seriously offering highly personalized service, turndown peppermint chocolates from the Dutch Bakery {two blocks from the hotel}, and included breakfast accompanied by a piano tune.

Back to the lemonade...to call it lemonade is a disservice. Officially, it's {made-fresh-multiple-times-daily} Magnolia Strawberry Mint Lemonade, and it's so sought-after that the General Manager of the Victoria boutique hotel put the recipe on Pinterest {which I have now reppined}! Now I'm sharing it with you because it's a perky, multi-layered concoction with the perfect amount of sweet and tart. In celebration of summer, I raise my glass to you and your travels!

Magnolia Hotel's Strawberry Mint Lemonade - Handful of mint - 1/2 lb of strawberries - Several slices of lemon {Let above sit in a full jug of water for 2-3 hours} - Lemon juice to taste - Water - 4-5 tablespoons of sugar - 4-5 tablespoons of honey {Stir & enjoy}

[photos by myhoneysuckleblog & @tripstyler (taken while a guest of the Magnolia Hotel)]