City Sightseeing: How To Stay Chic - Beauty Edition

Need help packing light for a city sightseeing trip? This is what CF’s beauty director would choose when travelling carry-on only.

City breaks always demand clever packing, especially when trying to keep your baggage allowance low but your travel itinerary full. From long days wandering around museums and old town streets to evening dreams of cocktails and city skyline dinners, there’s little time for a complicated beauty routine. But, that doesn’t mean you don’t want to still look chic while doing it all, of course.

The solution: a small-yet-powerful collection of beauty products that do more than one job, so you can pack light without compromising on style.

If you only pack five things to stay chic when city sightseeing, these are the essentials to choose – so you can focus on exploring the city, while your beauty essentials quietly cover all the right bases.

1. SPF tinted moisturiser

A good SPF with a lightweight tint is the ultimate beauty hack for city sightseeing, not least because it’s basically three products in one: moisturiser, sun protection, and makeup. Unlike foundations, which can feel cakey during long hours of exploring, a tinted protective moisturiser keeps your skin hydrated while shielding your skin from harmful UVA and UVB rays and can provide enough coverage to subtly blur imperfections.

Convinced the sun won’t be shining during your trip? You still need to be wearing SPF. Bustling urban locations (with all the pollution that comes with them) can be particularly tough on your skin, causing congestion and free radical damage – the latter of which can cause dullness and premature ageing. Antioxidant-rich sunscreen formulas can help protect and perfect your complexion.

2. All-in-one face palette

The problem with packing light is that it can feel like you have limited makeup options, but an all-in-one face palette rectifies the issue. Curated palettes combine multiple products, traditionally eyeshadow, blush, bronzer, and sometimes even a multitasking balm, into a single, compact case, freeing up space while still giving you endless options for day-to-night looks.

The beauty of this kind of palette lies in its efficiency. During a city break, you don’t necessarily need to be done up to the nines, but you still want to look polished – and have options to elevate your look for dinner and beyond. A single swipe of blush or bronzer can instantly lift your complexion, while eyeshadow shades can help you transition effortlessly from day to night – think neutral mattes for exploring the town and shimmery tones for an evening aperitivo. A creamy balm within the palette is particularly useful: it can double as a lip tint, highlighter, or a quick fix for dry cuticles, making it one of the most versatile items a traveller can pack.

3. Brow & mascara duo

Your eyes are the window to your soul – and also the biggest indicator of ‘look at me, I have jet lag’, which is why I wouldn’t recommend leaving your eye-defining products at home. To save on space, you actually only need one product – a brow and mascara duo. The recent rise in dual-ended wands and two-in-one formulas allows you to define your brows and lengthen lashes in seconds, without compromising on results.

The convenience of a combined product can’t be overstated for city trips. It eliminates the need for multiple brushes, pots, and tubes while keeping your bag light, and many formulas are smudge-resistant, waterproof, or infused with nourishing ingredients too, meaning your eye makeup will look flawless for longer.

4. Detoxifying cleanser

After a full day of navigating a city, your skin deserves a reset that’s a lot deeper than just face wipes or a quick splash with water. Yes, wipes are quick and easy (and don’t count in your liquid allowance), but considering you need to remove sunscreen, grime and pollution remnants from your skin, not giving your complexion a thorough cleanse is a recipe for breakouts, redness and uneven skin texture by the time you are home from your trip.

Look for formulas with gentle exfoliating ingredients such as PHAs and salicylic acid, to quickly clear pores, alongside moisturising actives to avoid stripping your skin. It’s a good idea to check whether the cleanser you use at home is available in an easy-to-use travel size too, helping bring some consistency to your on-the-go skincare routine.

5. Hand sanitiser

While you might not immediately consider hand sanitiser a beauty essential, in cities, every outing involves touching potentially dirty, bacteria-filled surfaces, so hand hygiene is essential for both your health and skin. In good news, the modern traveller doesn’t have to rely on a harsh or smelly formula. There are now much chicer options that keep things clean, while offering skin-softening ingredients such as aloe and glycerin, which leave hands feeling nourished.

Packaging matters, too. Choose a slim bottle that can slip into your cross-body bags, or even coat pockets during city sightseeing without taking up precious space. Beyond cleanliness, scented or subtly fragranced formulas can offer a sensory pick-me-up too, and some formulas even double as a quick hand treatment for dry cuticles, making them a surprisingly versatile addition to your travel bag.