Flying Beauty

Unless you’re cruising the skies on a private jet, flying can be really challenging these days. Long lines, unhappy airline employees and the humbling sensation of being in an assembly line – sorry, security – in socks – can take the glamour out of the entire experience. Never mind the cramped seats (even in business class), dirt and leftovers from previous flights and the iffy state of the pillows and blankets?

Because my work takes me to different locations, I often find myself on some sort of aircraft and out of necessity I’ve come up with a few strategies to keep myself in one piece and in a comfort zone I can share with you.

Before leaving the house
After the morning shower, make sure to use an extra rich body moisturizer and massage in thoroughly. I like brands like l’Occitane and Aveeno and I also mix a few drops of beauty oil for extra richness: liquid vitamin E from the health food store or if you can splurge, try Olio Lusso body oil by Rodin, which smells heavenly. The face deserves a nice rich cream to keep it from drying out in high altitude. Crème de la mer is an old favorite, and it works well. But if your budget calls for something less pricey I also recommend good old Nivea crème. Now, a little treat for the flight is to rub your feet with a special cream, like Sally Hansen “Radiant Hands and Nails” before putting on your shoes and socks. Once you arrive to your destination your feet will be super soft. You should always wear socks when flying anyway. First, you don’t want to do the security line barefoot, and next, bare feet and confined share spaces don’t make a good mix.

Now to a little makeup. I recommend a minimal routine that will not streak or run down your cheeks and make you look like like a panda on the lam. You need just enough to up your glam-quota.

Apply a little concealer where needed. If you need a bit of overall color choose a tinted moisturizer, but if you have nice skin just move on to the next step.

Rub the apple of your cheeks with a creme blush to give your complexion a little burst of rosiness. Groom your eyebrows by filling them in with a brow powder or if you are happy with their shape, just brush them with gel. Curl your lashes like you mean it but skip the mascara unless it’s waterproof. Ordinarily this is the part where you apply some eyeliner pencil, but the run factor is too big. Matte eye shadow in a deep color applied just as a liner with a small brush will work nicely as well. Leave the eyelid bare or if you feel you need a little something choose a light shade like champagne or pearl. The dark eye shadow could get all greasy-creasy after a few hours. Finish off with a tinted lip balm or a gloss. Bring a mirror, luminizer wand, gloss and powdered paper in a zip lock bag for touch ups.

General tips
Before leaving for the airport eat a well-balanced meal so you don’t starve by the time you are in a place where decent food is hard to come by. Places like Vino Volo at JFK in terminal 8 are few and far between. Bring a protein bar for emergencies. I also recommend using a nasal moisturizer that will keep your nasal passages from getting dry and you from catching whatever germs are flying around in the recycled air.
Pack a colorful pashmina so you can wrap yourself in something cozy and clean at 10,000.feet.

When you get there
If you can, do a little stretching to loosen up after the ordeal of sitting around with intermittent bursts of high stress. Follow with a hot shower and a full body scrub to get the blood flowing. Ideally you would follow with a moisturizing face mask, but if you don’t have that extra half hour, soak a face towel in moderately hot water and wring it out. Now apply that to your face for a few minutes, then, rinse with cold water.

You’re as good as new!

Tip list:
Oil: Nuxe, Dr Haushka, Olio Lusso
Rich cream: Crème de la mer, Nivea
Nasal oil: Ponaris (a good drugstore carries it)
Cream for feet: Sally Hansen
Luminizer: Calvin Klein, Clarins
Protein bar: Kashi
Lip balm: Burt’s Bees, Kiehl’s
Pashmina (skip the nasty blanket)
Ballerina, slippers or socks (don’t be barefoot)
Hand cream (L’occitane, Neutrogena)
Scrub: Bliss

Tags: flight, Makeup, Tips & Tricks, travel