Hotel Beauty Hacks!

I have a love affair with traveling (shocker, and you thought traveling fig was about coding didn’t you), which happens to lead to the inaccurate assumption that I must be a packing wizard.   And while I have improved over the years, there isn’t a shred of magic in my half-hazard stuffing of belongings into a bag.  How the hell am I going to know what I’ll want to wear on a trip to Paris if I don’t even want to book the hotel (or let’s be honest, return flight) until I get there?  And the rolling of the pajamas, and the pairing of the socks, and the checking of the weather… who has time for all that when you’re oogling over the castles you’re planning on visiting and the crepes you intend to inhale? Not to mention the stress of having a 1:1 ratio of missing flights!! 

But like a bordeaux (see the theme), I have gotten better with age.  Once upon a packing nightmare, I used to open my oversized zebra suitcase, empty the contents of my closet into it, and pay the heavy luggage fee for every single trip.  These days, I’ve become more efficient with lists and crosschecking and even sometimes checking the weather of the place I’m traveling to (I know, novel idea).   Plus I’ve got this new tactic of buying hoards of clothes I don’t need for upcoming vacas so I don’t even have to deal with my closet.    And sure I usually forget my contact case,  normally don’t bring a cell charger and have never remembered my razor… but if you need 8 bathing suits and 6 pairs of shoes for a 4 day vacation, well.. you better believe I am your girl.

I digress.

Whether you’re lacking the perfect packer gene or you’ve got it down to a science, everyone has had that feeling of “oh shit” when you unzip your suitcase at the hotel.  Luckily for you, it’s happen to me enough times (every time) that I’ve developed some DIY travel beauty hacks to mediate the crisis of forgetting chapstick.  Use them wisely.  Oh and please feel free to leave your tips and tricks, hey-zeus knows I need all the help I can get.

1. Lip Scrub. Lips chapped from flying?  Of course they are.  Head over to your room’s coffee station and grab the sugar and a honey packet (or 1/2 of the little jarred honey), mix them together and apply to your lips. Scrub with your finger, wash it off (no judgement if you lick it off), and wah-lah! Soft and supple lips!

2. Straightener.  Not for the faint of heart.  But anyone who grew up in my era knows it can and has been done.  Play it safe by keeping the iron on the lowest possible setting.

3. Stinky Clothes. Put your dirty skivvies and gym socks in the hotel’s laundry bag with an unwrapped DRY bar of soap. (I didn’t think you needed a picture of this one… but I did it anyways)

4. Lint Roller.  Rip the baggage sticker off of your suitcase use the sticky part to remove lint.

5. Reduce cellulite.  Take the coffee grounds, mix with a bit of your hotel’s lotion and gently rub them into the cellulite area for 1 min. Let sit for 5 then rinse.

6. Hair elastic. Carefully rip the plastic off of the shower cap and use the elastic.

7. Polish shoes.  With a bit of your room’s body lotion and a towel you can bring leather shoes back to life.

8. Zit treatment.  Dab a bit of toothpaste on the zit overnight to dry it out.

9. Depuff Eyes.  Lay cooled teabags that have been steeped over closed eyelids.

10. Reduce Razor Burn.  Same deal.  Apply cool wet tea bag to the aggravated area.

11. Soften and smooth hair.  If your hotel has a restaurant or room service, ask for a bit of olive oil.  Apply a pea size amount to the ends of your hair.  Another great trick is to brew tea, let it cool, then pour it over shampooed hair.  Let it sit for 1 minute before rinsing it out and condition as normal.