Here’s what we all know: when heading for a night out, there’s no fitting your entire touch-up arsenal in your clutch. While our day look can reap the beauty benefits of the handbag, as we easily fit in pretty much our entire cosmetics cabinet because, just in case… our night efforts have to survive off a lippie and maybe, maybe, an eyeliner. Well, until now. It’s no easy feat to dwindle down our ever-expanding makeup bag to the “essentials”, so we decided to curate a collection of our favourite micro-makeups so your face doesn’t have to slide off when nights go from dinner to the dance floor. From miniature palettes to clever, multipurpose products, here is our guide to the best clutch bag beauty essentials...
IMAGE: INSTAGRAM @HEYCLAIRE
COVERING BASES
This nifty little face saver is from new beauty brand, tréStique, and we’re really pretty excited about it. The brand’s schtick is hard working products for the girl on the go, and are all about enhancing the natural beauty of its women, rather than covering it up (we love). But, it’s their tinted face stick that really has us swooning: not only is it pint size and easy to carry around, it doesn’t sacrifice on coverage. The cream-gel crayon-like foundation glides on smooth and blends with ease. It’s also moisturising, so it won’t cake on your skin, instead melting in to hide any touch-up signs. Just draw on and blend in with handy attached sponge.
EYE POPPER
We’re already big fans of the normal sized They’re Real mascara, so it was an easy sell to get us onto the mini-me version. While it’s tiny and compact, the size of the brush is essentially the same as a regular mascara (lucky, as the more annoying part of mini-sized iterations, is that our features do not also shrink to match them). Staying true to their lash/brow rep, this little mite gives the illusion of added length, adds curl and gives volume while lifting and separating lashes. You really can’t ask for much more from your mascara.
LIP SYNC
This lipstick duo is a double whamming squared… Not only does the moisturising sulphate free formula include antioxidant resveratrol (and its anti-ageing benefits) nourish your lips all night, it also provides a solution to shade indecisiveness. The double-end lipstick combines two shades that can of course be worn alone, but are made to complement each other so you can create a bespoke shade depending on your mood. Each with a lighter and darker tone, it means you can also build as the night wears on. A lighter shade for dinner, and a more dramatic shade if the night takes you to sipping on an Old Fashioned and a twirl on the dance floor.
BITE BEAUTY BITE MIX AND MINGLE
POWDER ROOM
The saying ‘just going to powder my nose’ didn’t come from no-where… Setting your makeup with a some pressed finishing powder is vital for longevity and helps even out any areas of your foundation that may have shifted or caked. But, it’s real job is to eliminate shine. Tarte’s pressed powder is lightweight but doesn’t slack on the coverage and gives a beautiful matte finish. It also contains mineral pigments and antioxidants, so it will not only help with touch-ups but will also work to keep skin soft, supple and protected from free radical damage.
TARTE CLAY TINTED PRESSED FINISHING POWDER
RAISING EYEBROWS
If there’s one thing we know, it’s that you can do all the masterful makeup work you want, but you’re never fully done without a good brow. This two-in-one convenient pencil and highlighter creates perfectly defined, natural looking brows in a jiffy. It’s all about highlighting and giving the illusion of lift: use the pigmented end to fill-in and shape brows, and the pearlescent highlighter to ‘lift’ the arches. It’s tiny, it’s practical and it gives your whole look an instant boost in less than 20 seconds. Winning.
CLINIQUE INSTANT LIFT FOR BROWS
Allison
Love that there is a sponge attached to that face stick!
Kristin
How long would you say that mini-mascara lasts?