My tips for packing toiletries. Decant because you de-can

I am going to be bold here and say that “travel size” toiletries at the pharmacy or grocery store don’t cut it. Sure, it can be convenient, but the deodorant comes in bulky packaging, the price is so high for what you’re getting, and there’s lots of waste. Plus, everything has a different shape that it’s like playing Tetris to get them all to fit nicely in the quart size bag for TSA.

If you travel frequently, I suggest building your own reusable, travel friendly toiletry kit based on what and how much you use. Here are the reusable containers I use to decant my toiletries so I can pack lighter.

Liquids

• 5ml Lip gloss tube
• 10 ml lip gloss tube
• muji tubes (.4 oz, 1.3 oz, 2.2 oz) with flip top cap
• Matador flat pack 3 oz bottle
• 3 oz. Silicone tubes
• Muji 1.7 oz. Bottle for Foam soaps and cleansers
• Muji pump bottle for lotions & other liquids (0.5 oz, 1.0oz, 1.7 oz, 3.4 oz)

Creams and pastes

• 1 oz aluminum tin
• .5 oz aluminum tin
• contact lens case (0.1 oz per side)
• Muji cream containers (0.1 oz, 0.5 oz, 1 oz)
• Matador refillable toothpaste tubes (I use up the “1 week” tube in a month)
• Muji Transparent Stacking case

Solids

• Matador reusable soap bar case (💖💖💖 bring chunks of bars instead of the entire thing. The soap dries in the bag reducing that soap residue mess.)
• 2″x2″ mini ziplock baggies

My toiletries

Here’s some photos of toiletries that I have decanted:

Crystal salt deodorant or Baking soda deodorant 

Pretty Frank is a standard deodorant stick for reference. I put that deodorant into the tin to the right. The crystal deodorant is the travel size you can find online.

Toothpaste tabs

Toothpaste tabs are about the size of a tictac. Good alternative to liquid toothpastes.

Liquid Toothpaste

Regular sized toothpaste for comparison to the Matador and airplane tubes. The Matador lasts me a month, and the airplane tube lasts me 2 weeks (brushing 2x a day).

SPF 50 Face moisturizer 

Bug Repellent or balm

Dr Bronners soap or Solid conditioner bar in a matador case 

I pack a full sized bar for a month or longer, 1/2 for less than a month, 1/8 for two weeks or less. Chunks of bars do well in these bags.

SPF Lip Balm

I don’t always decant lip balm because I prefer applying with the tube, but have used this.

Lanolin Lip Balm 

Make up

Everyone is different when it comes to how they want to present and I am not here to say you should skip make up if you want to bring it. If you’ve pared down your other toiletries, then that makes space for any additional liquids you may be bringing.

The makeup I’ve pared down to over the years: mascara, tinted brow gel, lip balm that doubles as blush, and sometimes liquid eyeliner. I bring folded up make up remover wipes in a ziplock baggie.

***This might be too minimal for some of you!

If it is, yet you want to decrease what you travel with, I would instead ask yourself the following: will I make the time to apply this specific item? Will I have the time? What activities will I be doing throughout the day? Can I do this on-the-go? Do I want to carry around all of this/a lot of make up? Can I use fewer items to achieve multiple looks? Can I decant this into a smaller container? Can I plan the looks I want to create in advance and pack only that?

Decant because you decan!

I hope this list helps you pack lighter on your next trip. Remember, less is more!

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