Lisa Armstrong’s hand-luggage essentials

How to make your beauty routine hand-luggage-friendly

THE OTHER DAY, coming through airport security, I ended up, not for the first time, doing the walk of shame. Not the one where you’re led off in handcuffs, but the one where they make you check in your painstakingly condensed hand luggage because you’ve busted the liquids limit. There you were smugly waltzing past the two-mile queue with your neat little carry-on, all those years of capsule wardrobing finally paying off, only to be let down by the liquids.

As I said, not the first time, but definitely the last. Yep, no more packing conditioner for me.

If you’re a stickler for your own, lovingly curated array of products – and after years of sleuthing and honing, we’re entitled to be – merrily abandoning them when packing can be weirdly challenging. But the pay-off, especially at the height of holiday-season chaos when missing cases and endless waits become the grubby norm, is worth it.

And it’s not as if you can’t take anything, although once you’ve packed toothpaste, mascara, lipstick and contact lenses (all count as liquids), there’s not much room. The products I think are non-negotiable are your cleanser and moisturiser (singular – for a short trip, you can happily make do with one product for morning and night; I’d settle for the richer of my two creams and take an oil-based balm cleanser as these are most gentle on dry skin). Decant both into those little sample pots. And siphon whatever hair-styling gunk you use and body lotion into those Muji bottles that come with nozzles.

I also take eye cream and Dadi’oil cuticle oil (£10.49 for 15ml, amazon. co.uk), which might seem a profligate use of space, but makes a big difference to the longevity of a mani-pedi, and can double as a hand cream. Then? A high-quality misting spray – either MV Organic Skincare’s rose-water spray (£29 for 70ml, cultbeauty.co.uk), which rehydrates skin on the flight and acts as a toner; or Soul Medicine’s jasmine mist (£40 for 50ml, victoriahealth.com), which has calming properties and smells so gorgeous people will stop you to ask what you’re wearing.

So you might not even need perfume. Obviously there’s plenty on sale at the airport, but if you travel frequently, a small perfume spray you can decant into is handy.

Assuming you’re staying somewhere decent, don’t bother packing shampoo or conditioner . Most of us just use conditioner on the ends and really only need it as a detangler, so a basic one will suffice for a few days. Shampoo is more complex – I’ve become very picky. But again, it’s just a few days. If you’re concerned, check ahead to see which brands the hotel stocks, and if they don’t come up to scratch, buy some travel versions on the other side of security.

Gadget-wise, I love my Steamery steamer, but not on short, hand-luggage trips. On those excursions I hang my clothes in a hot shower and watch to make sure they don’t get wet.

The hair gizmos were getting out of control, but since discovering the T3 Whirl Trio (£199, t3haircare.co.uk), a highly effective wand that has three detachable barrels so you can create waves, tousles and polished curls, I’m down to one device. Halo, please.