The best travel-size beauty products under 100ml to take on your holiday flight
Check out our round-up of travel beauty products which are all under 100ml - the perfect size makeup and skincare kits for your hand luggage.
Check out our round-up of travel beauty products which are all under 100ml - the perfect size makeup and skincare kits for your hand luggage.
Travel-sized beauty products can really make or break the beginning to your hard-won holiday. Picture it, or even better, just remember it: you’ve got to the airport excruciatingly early, only had three mild panics that your passport isn’t in your bag/pocket/hand/the last place you left it, and you’ve zipped past all the bored families queuing for a bag drop. You, hero, have managed to learn the exact dimensions your budget airline will allow as cabin baggage and successfully packed everything for your multi-day trip into your allotted compartments. Granted, you’re wearing three layers on a flight to a city/country/island idyll that is about 27 degrees right now, and yes, you had to make some hard footwear decisions based on a level of practicality that just isn’t you. But you’re there, amidst the bright lights and giddy excitement for the holiday ahead.
And then you get to the desks full of piled up baggies and people frantically unpacking their bags as they select the items ready for the security check. Ah dear. Now it’s your turn. You unpack, you locate your liquids, you struggle to fit them in the little slippery bag, you end up having to chuck a bunch of absolute necessities out, knowing that on the other side of the gates you can buy some more, but will be destined to use any new cosmetics within the realms of your holiday then chuck those ones away because you’ll face the same liquid rules on the return flight. And sure, you’re flying, and it’s not so great for the planet, but all of this plastic going to waste feels extra! Why does it have to be like this?!
Why you’re only allowed 100ml of liquids in your hand luggage
Of course everyone likes to travel light, leaving unnecessaries at home so we’re able to relax and feel free when we’re on holiday. But there’s another, darker reason why you can only take 100ml and under liquids through airport security. Back in 2006, members of terror group Al Qaeda plotted an attack on multiple trans-Atlantic flights from Heathrow, London. This group - 10 were eventually convicted of terror crimes - weren’t going to use guns, knives or shoe bombs. No, they opted for carrying a selection of liquids on board that, when mixed, could prove explosive. Ever since the attempt was - thankfully - foiled by the Metropolitan Police, security measures at airports have beefed up. At first, no liquids apart from baby food was allowed onto flights, then soon, the rules relaxed, just a bit, so that passengers could take up to 1 litre on board with them.
The rules on travel-sized beauty products, in case you’ve never been rudely reminded at the security gates:
- containers must hold no more than 100ml
- containers must be in a single, transparent, resealable plastic bag, which holds no more than a litre and measures approximately 20cm x 20cm
- contents must fit comfortably inside the bag so it can be sealed
- the bag must not be knotted or tied at the top
- you’re limited to 1 plastic bag per person
- you must show the bag at the airport security point
As for what constitutes a liquid? Well, it’s everything from water to honey, lip gloss to toothpaste, contact lens solution to mascara - yes, even when the mascara’s gone all cakey and chunky!
When will UK airport security scrap the 100ml liquids rule for travel-sized beauty products?
The good news is that the UK has actually scrapped the ban, provided that airports can provide the CT scanners necessary to assess the liquids far better. These 3D scanners, which work by taking loads more images of whatever’s in your bag, will allow for people to travel with up to two litres in their bags, no need to separate everything into a separate bag. Early adopters of the CT scans include London’s City Airport, where it takes about three minutes to get through security as it is, and passengers are said to be delighted. It’s expected that all airports in the UK will upgrade their scanners by 2024. However, anyone who’s waited around for any major travel developments in the past decade - Crossrail to be finished, that budget airline to actually treat passengers like humans at some point soon, people to be nice and quiet for the duration of your 8am flight southwards, train prices to match those in mainland Europe - would understandably expect a delay in this transition.
So the bad news is that all the faff and fuss of the 100ml rule is here to stay for at least one summer season. And we all face having some of our favourite beauty products confiscated while we watch grown adults sipping on baby food to prove it’s not acetone peroxide. So to help you out we’ve compiled a list of our travel-sized beauty products. They’re all under 100ml as well as bar soaps, shampoos and the rest that entirely defy the liquid rule because they’re solid!
Products are selected independently by our editors from the woo online store, a carefully curated platform for feel good fashion, beauty, wellness and lifestyle, as well as externally. Items on sale are subject to change pending stock availability. Discover more here.
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