The 5-Minute Face | Makeup I Wear on Every Flight

I have a rule about airplanes. I board barefaced, and I land looking like myself. Somewhere over the Atlantic, in about five minutes, with everything I need fitting in a little bag, I do my quick 5-minute makeup routine. We all know airplane air is brutally dry, airplane lighting is awful, and, in reality, nobody wants to do a twelve-step routine at 30,000 feet.

Step 1: The Pads Lenox and Sixteenth Prep Pads. I wrote about these before because a week of testing genuinely changed my mornings, and they are even better at altitude. One swipe of the textured side wakes up my skin, the smooth side hydrates. It is the prep step, and on a plane it matters twice as much. I keep the $16 travel size in my carry-on.

Step 2: The Moisturizer Lenox and Sixteenth Soft Landing Smoothing Peptide Moisturizer, right over the pads. It locks in everything the pads just did and keeps my skin comfortable for the whole flight. Skip this step and every step after it sits on dry skin. Do not skip this step.

Step 3: The Concealer Jouer Essential High Coverage Liquid Concealer, only where I need it. Under the eyes, around the nose, on any spot that appeared overnight. I blend it with my angled foundation brush. On a plane, you need less coverage than you think, because you are about to walk into daylight.

Step 4: The Mascara Stila Made-U-Lash Length & Define Tubing Mascara. Tubing is the only mascara I will travel with, because it does not smudge, flake, or migrate by hour six. It comes off with warm water, no remover needed, which means one less thing in my bag. One coat, top lashes only, and I look awake.

Step 5: The Cream Blush Pixi On-the-Glow Blush Stick, on the apples and blended up. Cream, never powder, on a plane. Powder sits on dry cabin skin and announces itself. Cream melts in and looks like you, just better. I use whatever is left on my fingers on my lips as a stain, which brings us to...

Step 6: The Lip Gloss. The EADEM lip trio, the one from La Lettre Issue No. 1 ( did you get It In your Inbox?) Hydrating, a little shine, no mirror required. This is the finishing touch that pulls the whole face together. Five minutes, six products, and I walk off the plane looking like I slept eight hours in my own bed. We all know I did not.

That is the whole routine. Pads, moisturizer, concealer, mascara, cream blush, lip gloss. Everything travel size, everything under the TSA liquid limit, everything I would repurchase without thinking. The next time you are packing for a flight, leave the full makeup bag at home. This is all you need.