Travel is without a doubt one of the greatest parts of summer. First of all, there’s the crack-like (I assume) rush of turning on an “out of office” email reply. Chase that with a daily routine of margaritas for breakfast, followed by triple-digit likes on a “look at my ass this beautiful view” ‘gram, and I’m decidedly living my best life. Unfortunately, even the highest of vacation highs tend to come crashing down within 24 hours of returning home. Not only did your “out of office” reply deter exactly zero people from emailing you multiple times, but you now have to deal with the ravaging effects of whatever public transit hell you were subjected to on your return home. (I’m primarily discussing air travel here, but let’s not pretend that buses/trains don’t leave you feeling pretty icky as well.) Here are some travel beauty tips for avoiding and even reversing the damaging effects of air travel.

Start With A Clean Face

If you’re one of those people who can’t leave the house without a full face of makeup, I have bad news. No one believes you woke up like that, and you should absolutely never fly in makeup. If you absolutely have to roll up to the airport made-up, at least take it off ASAP once you’re in the air. Makeup wipes like these Philosophy facial cleansing cloths are a must, given the state of airport bathrooms and the fact that your bougie-ass cleanser definitely won’t make it through TSA. Alternately, you can go with a (travel size) no-rinse micellar water—just please God use cotton pads, not airplane toilet paper. Ew.

Purity Made Simple One-Step Facial Cleansing Cloths

Embrace In-Flight Skincare

Ok, so now your face is clean. Sadly, your work is just beginning. One of the biggest damaging factors on airplanes is that they dry you out like crazy. This means you’re looking at red patches, flaky skin, and the overall pallor of a three-day-old corpse (just me?). Luckily, there are ways to avoid this—though they do involve giving exactly zero fucks what the people in your row think. For starters, it seems like every celeb on earth applies a hydrating mask while flying. Luckily, there are “invisible masks” like the Origins Drink Up Intensive,  or Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Overnight Hydrating Masque, both of which you can leave on for hours to absorb maximum moisture, without getting dirty looks from flight attendants. For those a little less shameless, the Summer Fridays Jet Lag Mask goes on like a regular mask (that you’ll have to rinse off with a warm towel, somehow), but it provides hydration and anti-inflammation without any harmful ingredients or artificial fragrances (it’s also vegan). If you’re brave enough for a sheet mask, Chrissy Teigen and J Lo swear by the SK-II Facial Treatment Mask.

Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Overnight Hydrating Masque

Once you’ve removed the mask, it’s recommended you follow up with your preferred serum/moisturizer/eye cream. (Or if you’re prone to puffy under-eyes (hi), consider some cooling pads like these skyn ICELAND firming eye gels.  Emma Stone swears by argan oil for long flights, but your heaviest daily moisturizer should work fine.

skyn ICELAND firming eye gels

As a final, extra-luxe step, invest in a face mist. Celeb stylists love rose-water infused options (try Khloé Kardashian’s preferred Jurlique version), but regular old Evian is fine too. If you’re reallyyyy trying to get extra about this, the Caudalie Beauty Elixir is another celeb fave. (It’s a toning spray, but don’t ask me what toner does). Or,  you can follow up your SK-II celeb-approved face mask with their Facial Treatment Essence. (Seriously, do not ask me what essence does.)

Stock A Full Mom-Purse

You know that one friend whose purse is always fully stocked with Kleenex, lip balm, gum, etc? Yeah, you’ll want to emulate that to an extent. In addition to all the face wipes and hydrating essentials mentioned above, you should never board a flight without hydrating lip balm, hand lotion, and more water than you usually drink in a week. This final point is especially key, because in addition to making your outsides dry AF, your insides are also dying from dryness when you’re on a flight. So drink, drink, DRINK. Even though it’s annoying to get up every half hour and use the bathroom, you’ll thank me when you don’t arrive bloated and constipated (ew), not to mention the fact that the simple act of getting up and moving frequently is proven to help beat in-air bloat, and can help prevent blood clots. Woo!

Be Careful What You Eat & Drink

Oh, and speaking of drinking—I have another bubble to burst here. As you know from waking up at 3am with desert mouth after a night of drinking, alcohol dries you out—which means drinking on flights is a big no-no (same is true for caffeine). Yes, air travel is definitely one of those memories I’d prefer be a little hazy, but the pounding headache and exaggerated dehydrating effects all around are not worth the 25-30 minute buzz. Save the drinking for your final destination.

When it comes to eating, you’re better off the less you ingest while actually on the flight. Sugar-free foods and gum escalate an already gassy situation (sorry—I don’t make the rules), and chewing gum makes you literally swallow air, which, you guessed it, escalates both the gas and the bloat. The same goes for high-sodium foods and any carbonated drinks. So yeah, even your beloved La Croix is a no go. Some experts suggest to avoid eating anything on a flight, since flying may cause your digestive system to slow down, and the restarting process will be all the more unpleasant if there’s new food to digest rolling around in there. Whether or not that’s 100% scientifically proven, many people who avoid eating on planes say they feel more rested and hydrated after, so it’s worth a shot. Were you really that hyped about airplane food anyway?

That’s all from me (though TBH, it’s plenty). I purchased maybe six more products over the course of writing this article, as I’m currently in the throes of post-flight bloat and ogre skin myself. Learn from my mistakes and help slightly soften the blow of going back to work by not having to deal with a pimple the size of a third eyeball taking over your forehead. Really takes away from the glamour of an overseas vacay.

Images: Giphy (2); Sephora (2)

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The bags under our eyes are neither designer nor cute in the slightest. The causes are things we’re all too familiar with: quarter-life crises, lack of sleep, slowly becoming ancient, binge drinking, etc. At this point in our lives, we’ve practically abused our bodies so much that getting a full 8 hours of sleep once a year isn’t going to fix eye bags overnight. Shocker. It’s a buzzkill that we already have to start finding eye creams that can perform miracles, just so we can stop hearing “you look tired.” I know they can be expensive af, but beauty is pain and the illusion of looking youthful forever is fucking priceless. These are definitely worth a splurge while you’re aimlessly scrolling at your desk, so here are 6 of the best eye creams that will keep you looking ageless.

1. Yves Saint Laurent Forever Light Creator Eye Fluid

If you’re so tired you can neither keep your eyelids from drooping nor your head from bobbing at your desk, this innovative eye cream will literally open your eyes wider so no one knows you were out until 3am on a Wednesday. I mean, I know I can’t be the only one who does this kind of shit. Anyway, this stuff brightens your eye area and reduces puffiness. 

2. Kate Somerville + Retinol Firming Eye Cream

Retinol is like, the key to living like a Twilight vampire. Honestly, when I think of living forever at twentysomething years old, this is what I think of. Fucking judge me. This retinol-based formula reduces the crow’s feet around your eyes and provides a cooling sensation to help smooth and massage a swollen eye area.

3. Dermalogica Stress Positive Eye Lift

Obviously, nothing makes eyes looks like a black abyss more than stressing TF out over every single aspect in life. This helps brighten and de-puff the eye area, but it also comes with a cooling massage applicator to smooth that baggy shit out. After a long day of doing absolutely nothing in the office, you’ll want to reward yourself with this, as it also becomes a leave-on eye mask.

4. Sunday Riley Auto Correct Brightening and Depuffing Eye Contour Cream

Because clearly all of the venti iced coffees aren’t enough to keep us from looking like zombies, this cream literally has caffeine infused in its formula to keep us awake and energized as can be. It lifts the eye area and gets rid of dark circles so you never look a day over 25 for as long as you keep using this shit.

5. Kiehl’s Creamy Eye Treatment with Avocado

Ya, we know guac is fucking extra, but it’s worth it when you can put it on your face everyday as a ticket to the fountain of youth. The avo oil in this Kiehl’s treatment is amazing for moisturizing the shit out of your skin and the awk dry patches in the eye area. Plus, it’s super lightweight so you can mix with foundation and primer when prepping to cake your face.

6. Origins GinZing Refreshing Eye Cream

Since all of us know the pain of long, sleepless nights (every single weekend without fail), this coffee bean-infused eye cream is the solution to most of our problems. It has a shit ton of natural energizers that perk you up ASAP and instantly make puffiness, dark circles, and saggy eye bags disappear before your…well, eyes. It’s the miracle worker you’ve seriously always wanted.