My makeup routine is what you might call … high maintenance. Every morning, I spend 20 to 30 minutes preening, primping, and painting on my face: First is foundation, which I buff out with a large, fluffy brush. Then come a handful of concealers in marginally different shades, which I might apply, variously, to my zits, under eyes, nose bridge, or forehead. Next I focus on my eyes, using multiple brushes and a full-size palette to blend shadow on my lids, add glitter along my bottom lash line, and smudge out my eyeliner. A daub of blush gets accented with a dusting of bronzer and a topping of highlighter, before I finally set it all in place with a loose mattifying powder. Finally, I stuff everything back into my makeup bags (yes, plural) before I’m dashing out the door.
But when I booked a trip to Greece last month, even I, in all my stubborn vanity, had to concede it would be folly to transport my entire makeup routine across the Atlantic. I was still recovering from the trauma of traveling to the U.K. last year, where notoriously strict Heathrow security forced me to jettison a couple beloved lip glosses that failed to fit into one liter-sized bag. I wasn’t sure if the same thing might happen in Athens, but I wasn’t about to chance a Sophie’s Choice situation between my Hourglass Glossy Balm and my YSL Lash Clash.
The need to pare down the number of products in my kit was what led me to Subtl Beauty, a cosmetics brand that bills itself as travel-friendly and portable by promising an entire makeup routine that fits in the palm of your hand. The company’s signature “Stak” is a collection of pastel purple compartments that twist together into one compact cylinder. They hold everything from eyeshadows to bronzer to blush, packed into petite tins similar in size to a pot of lip balm. You can buy a premade Stak or build your own, depending on what products are most integral to your routine.
I took a quiz on the Subtl Beauty website to figure out which products and shades would suit me best, and after studying the recommendations I received, I decided to call in samples of the concealer, powder, two eyeshadow duos, bronzer, and a lip and cheek tint. I also requested a pop-top lid equipped with a compact mirror, as well as a tiny brush that nestles into the base compartment.
When my package from Subtl arrived, the helpfully labeled individual compartments required almost zero effort to screw together — the hardest part was deciding what order to assemble them in. Though I was hoping to give the products a test run before I left, they ended up arriving only a day before my flight, so I just tossed it all in my bag and hoped for the best. Since the Stak didn’t cover everything, I also brought along a travel-size skin tint, two eyebrow pencils, mascara, liquid eyeliner, and my three most essential makeup brushes: a large fluffy one for the complexion, a medium size for shadow and contouring, and a small angled one for detailed eye work. True, it sounds like a lot. But my cosmetics bag actually had room to spare — an extremely novel experience for me. All in all, I would estimate my total makeup volume was reduced by 85 percent.
After a ten-hour flight, a 30-minute Uber ride, and a long shower, I was ready to give my Stak a go. Upon application, the products themselves definitely skewed toward a more natural, effortless, “your face but better” look. But that was fine with me, as I didn’t feel the need to go full glam for a day of tromping around seeing the sights. The eyeshadows duos combined nicely to create depth and dimension; the highlighter produced a subtle shimmer; the lip and cheek tint went on smoothly and imparted a lovely flush. The only product I didn’t love was the concealer, as the cream formula felt drier and “grippier” than I’m used to (I usually use a liquid formula, like Tower 28’s Swipe All-Over concealer). But it was available in a decent shade range — 19 in total — and I found that the one recommended to me by Subtl’s shade-matching module was pretty spot-on. Coupled with the supplementary products I’d brought, there was barely any difference between my everyday look at home and my look with the Subtl Beauty Stak.
Though there was a fair amount of jostling as my carry-on bumped about throughout the trip, the secure fastening of the Stak containers ensured that none of the products ever broke or made a mess. And while I haven’t run low yet, I do appreciate how the pans of each product are conveniently detachable from the external case component — you just push up from the bottom and they pop right out — so refills should be a breeze.
Now that I’ve returned home, I’ve mostly gone back to my full-size products. However, I’ve occasionally brought my Stak out on evenings when I want to do a quick mid-event touch-up. And I have no doubt that on future trips, it will become as faithful a travel companion as my Trtl pillow and my toothbrush.
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