Im a big believer of less is more when it comes to my handbag! Its partly because I don’t really want to be carrying around extra weight on my shoulders (literally) but the fact is that once i leave the house i really don’t do much to my face throughout the day other than the occasional powder and lipstick touchup, and even these mid day fix ups are rare for me.

However, accidents happen, things smudge and smear and often we might want a change things up a bit as we leave the office and head out for afterwork festivities.

Many women carry a full face of makeup from foundation to eyeshadow with them, some carry little more than a lipstick and most of us fall in the middle somewhere.

At the moment Im using a cute little pineapple printed makeup bag from Lulu and Lipstick. I love this one as it carries all the cosmetic bits and bobs that I want in there as well as having room for some other essentials such as hair ties, bandaids, oil blotting sheets, a mini deodorant can and feminine hygiene products. The Bag itself though isn’t too bulky to fit in most of my handbags.

I manage to keep things minimal by taking advantage of mini sized products and samples to have an emergency bit of product with me without weighing me down. I also try and include products that can multitask.

Lip balm – Two Treehouse Lipbalm

The formula is fairly standard and is not drying  and is similar to a chapstick stye product except made with natural ingredients. The real drawing card through is how small they are, a single lip balm fit in the smallest purse and can be brought anywhere which is great especially when you are reapplying a drier matte lip colour and need little hydration under it.  In a bind these bees wax based balms can be used to tame a but of frizz, to sooth and seal dry cracked cuticles and sooth a small dry patch of skin. You can purchase these little lip balms here for $15 for a set of 3 and make a cute little gift with their pretty packaging.

I don’t carry foundation with me, but do bring along some concealer to patch up any bit of redness that is popping through, I really like the Bobbi Brown concealer kit because it contains a setting powder which is great for setting any concealer you might add during the day but also serves the purposed of mattifying any shine when used very sparsely on a travel sized brush.

The Benefit Fake Up is also great because its so portable and the concealer in there is a little sheerer than normal due to the moisture ring surrounding the colour core.  Its designed to be used under the eyes but it doesn’t really cover my epic purple rings.

Lip products can be a bit of danger zone, we often tend to accumulate colours as we pop in the lipstick of the day, before we know it we can have a dozen of your fave lippies floating around in the bottom of your bag. The Maybelline Color Drama Velvet Lip Pencils are super portable, the chubby little pencils are tough, You don’t need to worry about breaking the packaging (lipstick lids always seem to crack)and the product won’t melt and snap. Another option is keeping minis such as this lipstick from Bare Minerals.

  If you’re the type of person who likes to add some drama as day turns to night then you may like to touch to  your eye make up and brows to add some depth with some additional mascara, eyeshadow and brow product. Benefit’s Gimme Brow is easy to carry and use with everything you need in the little tube

Take advantage of the little GWP palettes that you can get from brands such as Clinique and Estee Lauder, often we don’t need a range of shades just a darker and lighter shadow to add some more depth and light to the eye look you’ve already worn through the day. Pop one in like this neutral mini palette from Estee Lauder to touch up or enhance your look