On Saturday morning I’ll be flying to Ottawa for a week off work to celebrate Christmas with my family. Since I love looking in other people’s makeup bags, I thought I’d share with you what beauty goodies I’m bringing with me on the trip.

Now this is a bit controversial for me! Ever since I first got my hands on the Urban DecayNaked palette several years ago, it has been an absolute must have in every makeup bag I have ever brought with me on vacation. That being said, there are a lot of similar shades in the Too Faced palette, as well as several fun colours that give me a lot more options.

Plus, with two blushes and two bronzers, it makes this a very easy palette to take on vacation. While the palette is quite slim and layed out nicely, it’s also rather large, which makes it a bit cumbersome for some vacations so I wouldn’t necessarily bring it on an international vacation. However, for going back to Ottawa, this looks like it’ll be a fun palette to play with for the week.

My choice of lip products basically covers any type of makeup situation I could possibly need to cover while on vacation. The Jack Black lip balm isn’t particularly a favourite, but it’s an easy “go to” when I need something to take care of my lips if they get dry in the cold winter months. And since I’ll be doing a lot of snowboarding while on vacation, I’ll definitely need this while out on the mountain.

NYX‘s Butter Gloss in Creme Brulee is my absolute favourite gloss at the moment. It’s an easy shade to wear which makes it a very easy choice when I was packing up my makeup bag.

Of course I’m bringing along MAC‘s Prep + Prime for lips as I absolutely must have it if I’m going to be applying any kind of lipstick. MAC Russian Red lipstick and MAC Brick lip pencil are a combination that I use quite often around the holiday season. I just love this shade of red, and to me it just screams “Christmas”. And in case I don’t feel like wearing matte red lips, I’m also bringing along Revlon‘s Cherries in the Snow which is a very deep, vibrant pink shade.

I do a lot of winged liner and lately my preference has been to use a gel liner – so for that I’m bringing along MAC‘s Blacktrack fluidline.  The other eye products I’m bringing are items that I use daily: L’Oreal Voluminous Carbon Black mascara in the waterproof formula, Urban Decay Primer Potion in Original to keep my eyeshadow from creasing and MAC Omega eyeshadow to fill in my eyebrows.

Hard Candy‘s “bronzer” in Tiki wouldn’t be a bronzer on anyone’s skintone – instead it’s a beautiful highlight shade with a slight golden/yellow sheen. This highlighter isn’t particularly shiny or shimmery, so it’s an beautiful shade to wear on a daily basis.

The two blush compacts I’m taking are my usual vacation staples. Tarte‘s Exposed is my most used, most loved blush that goes with absolutely any eye look I create. Maybelline‘sHot Tamale cream blush is for when I want that extra brightness on the cheeks. I most like this shade for making my cheeks look like I’ve been outside in the cold weather.

I’m not planning on wearing a whole heck of a lot of foundation while on vacation, so this is mostly just for the days where I want to play with full face makeup. Covergirl‘s “CC Cream” helps even out my skin tone and since it has a pump, this was an easy choice.

MAC Turquatic is my most compact bottle of perfume and fits nicely into the makeup bag I’m bringing with me. I’ve been wearing this perfume for a few years now (it was replacement  signature scent after Michael Kors stopped making the original Islandperfume). While I love the scent, I will say that the lasting power isn’t the best although that doesn’t stop me from re-purchasing this scent time after time.

Miraculously, all of that makeup fits in this Too Faced makeup bag that came with the “A Few of my Favorite Things” palette.  It’s a pretty tight fit though and unfortunately my makeup brushes won’t fit in there so I’ll probably throw them all in a small ziploc bag that I’m sure will end up buried at the bottom of my suitcase!