✈️ How a wine expert who flies 100K miles a year packs her beauty bag

Merry Christmas eve, friends! I’m looking forward to a few days seeing fam and friends and wearing cozy socks.

A super special holiday treat today.

My friend Julia Coney chooses wines for American Airlines—every bottle you’ll drink at 30,000 feet goes through her—but before that career pivot, she was deep in the beauty blogger trenches with me back in the All About The Pretty days. Which means when she says she’s found the holy grail of travel toiletry organization, I believe her. She’s what my mom used to call a maven. But like, about everything.

ICYMI:

I’ve also seen her travel beauty bag in action. I’ve traveled many times with Julia, most often to visit our friend Erika on Kauai, Hawaii, and her beauty bag was like Mary Poppins’ purse. It never ran out of anything, despite so many things being decanted. Meanwhile, I was running out of everything and had to go to Longs Drugs at least once a week. Side note: French pharmacies get all the press, but if you have the opportunity to shop at Longs, DO IT. They have everything from Hawaiian and Asian snacks to Locals flip flops to dope beauty products to my favorite monoi oil. Anyway, of course Julia came to Long’s too, because we went as a family, but she didn’t need to avail herself of as many of the beauty offerings because somehow, her stash is the Energizer Bunny.

Her other amazing tip she shared with me on one of our “tech talks” with Erika (quarterly Google Meets where we talk about tech stuff, but also a million other things, so it’s kind of a misnomer) is she brings her own Jennifer Fisher Spicy Salt travel packets. Jennifer no longer makes, alas. But I’m considering pouring them into a smaller container for travel.

Anywho! I asked Julia to show us what’s in her bag, and I’m taking notes. She’s on the road constantly, racking up about 100,000 miles a year, and she’s managed to streamline her routine down to a single medium Parallel toiletry bag that can take her three weeks without a refill. THREE WEEKS.

Let’s get into it.

The bag itself

Julia swears by her Parallel toiletry bag —the medium size, specifically. It stands open on bathroom counters, has hidden pockets everywhere, and apparently is so well-designed you don’t discover all its genius compartments until you’ve owned it for a while. She’s never needed to size up to the large, even on her longest trips. (She’s not sponsored by them, but this level of enthusiasm makes me want to be.)

The depotting dynasty

Here’s where Julia’s beauty blogger roots really show: the woman depots EVERYTHING. And she labels it all with her label maker because apparently that brings her joy, and TBH? Same.

She’s refilling:

• Paula’s Choice cleansing balm and containers with Paula’s Choice products (just downsized)

• Old SK-II mini sample bottles with actual SK-II essence (pro tip: buy the big bottle from Costco online—great deal, according to Julia)

• Muji containers with CeraVe Cream to Foam cleanser

• Merit Skin Serum into smaller containers

• Old Nivea cream tins with pure shea butter

• A Summer Fridays sunscreen container (using up the last of it before replacing)

She’s created her own bespoke travel set using containers she loves and products she actually uses. It’s the kind of project I’d start at 11p and finish at 3a.

The products that made the cut

When you’re traveling as much as Julia does, you figure out pretty quickly what actually works.

Cleansing: She double cleanses with a balm (currently Paula’s Choice) and CeraVe Cream to Foam cleanser. There’s also Dr. Bronner’s Baby Unscented soap that she uses for everything—beauty blenders, hands, body, all of it.

Toners & treatments: The Ordinary Glycolic Toner (depotted, naturally), Paula’s Choice 2% BHA in those new travel wipe format (which she calls “genius”), and SK-II essence. She also keeps Sephora brand cotton squares—tried all the expensive ones, these are the best.

Moisture: Tatcha Dewy Skin cream (buys the big refill, depots into smaller containers, uses it everywhere except summer). Embryolisse Lait Concentré in the travel size—never travels without it. Uses it daily on planes. Augustinus Bader Rich Cream samples (they keep calling her back, she says. Same.). A custom rose hip oil made by Erika she wishes were commercially available, as do I.

The problem solvers: La Roche-Posay Cicaplast Baume B5 for when skin gets weird from different water/pressure/general travel chaos. Aquaphor for everything. Pure shea butter for winter emergencies.

The non-negotiables: Inkey List caffeine eye cream. Dr. Dennis Gross exfoliant pads (she keeps a few). Real deodorant (not the natural stuff— “that other stuff doesn’t work”). I’m with her on that these days. Travel bottles of the best mouthwash.

The tools: A cuticle nipper (she has the same pink ones everywhere—in her carry-on, checked bag, at home—and replaces them all at once when they get dull. Yes, she has a note in her phone tracking this). Flowery nail files that she cuts in half and stashes in bags everywhere. (My trick is nude polish for long trips to show fewer chips.) Double-sided tape (you never know when you or a friend needs it). An eyelash curler (because she travels with it, not her makeup bag). Scissors. Tweezers. Glide floss. Tongue scraper.

What this tells me

Julia’s system is smart for a few reasons. One, she’s not trying to have a completely different routine on the road—she keeps it consistent with home. Two, she’s learned to love samples and travel sizes instead of fighting to bring full-size everything. Three, she’s figured out the art of the refill, which means she can have her favorite products in actually practical containers.

Also, we both do sheet masks on planes and is unapologetic about it.

The whole thing makes me want to buy a label maker, several Muji containers, and spend a Saturday afternoon depotting half my bathroom. Which is probably exactly what I’ll do over Christmas break.