Love or Loathe: Binning your beauty regime when travelling

Swapping your perfume for mosquito spray and your lipstick for sun-protecting balm can be a liberating prospect for some female travellers, while for others the thought of facing the world ‘au naturel’ can be a daunting one.

When I’m travelling, I like the idea of being too busy exploring the sights and sounds of a new destination to be bothered with sitting in front of the mirror slapping on warpaint, or trying to make my unruly barnet look as coiffeured as if I’ve just stepped out of a salon. When I was backpacking, not only was I too busy to fulfill my usual beauty regime, but I was often too hot and sweaty, and knowing that whatever I painted on would melt within seconds of me stepping outside, I usually opted for the natural look rather than that of a garish clown with mascara on her cheeks and blusher on her chin.

My usual beauty regime isn’t a particularly lengthy one, but it’s time consuming enough, and can often feel like a bit of a chore. I love being able to jump out of bed in an undiscovered location, take a quick shower, run a brush through my hair (or fingers, depending on whether my brush is buried at the bottom of my bag), and get on out into the big wide world.

That said, when I go back home to England or visit relatives in France for example, I always wear make up, but a little voice inside of me wishes that I could be as confident with my ‘nude’ face when I’m travelling, as I am with my painted one in my home territories.

So, are you a glamorous traveller who can’t bear to leave her bag of beauty tricks at home, or do you ditch the cosmetics and face the unexplored world in all your naked beauty?

Tell us what you think by voting in our Facebook poll, or if Facebook isn’t your thing, simply place your vote in the comments section below. If you have any simple, time saving beauty tips for globetrotting girls, please feel free to share those with us too, we’d really love to hear from you!

Love: Bye bye beauty regime, it’s been fun but it’s time for a break, see you when I get back home!

Loathe: I might be living out of a backpack, but that doesn’t mean I can’t look good– I’d never give up my beauty regime!

Kate Blanchard

Kate is an English woman currently living in rural Morocco with her husband, Ben, and their mischievous mongrel, Douglas. They moved out there three years ago after Ben was offered employment as the manager of a large fruit farm, and although life can often be challenging for them both with cultural differences and language barriers, they see this as more of a reason to stay, than a reason to admit defeat and leave. Kate tries to find humour wherever possible in life, and finds herself blessed (or as her husband would say, ‘cursed’) with an irrepressible desire to see the beauty and the positivity in what others may see to be ugly and negative. Most of all though, she has a zest for travel and exploration and finds it incredibly satisfying to share her stories of adventure with others, even if it does nothing more than transport the reader to a distant land for a few minutes.