It’s been a long time since I’ve posted, and I hope y’all are doing as ok as possible during all this chaos. Thank you to everyone out there doing amazing things to keep us going, especially healthcare workers! I’ve hesitated to post because blogging about travel and fashion feels so insignificant when we’re all just trying to survive each day.

But writing on here is self care for me, which I desperately need because moving our courses online (I teach at a small college) has been incredibly difficult.

No secrets here! This post may contain affiliate links that provide me with a small commission at absolutely no cost to you! Thank you for supporting Biscotti and a Ph.D.!

A lot of things have changed in a short amount of time (even though it feels like every week lasts a couple years). I feel guilty being bummed about plans that have gotten canceled because so many things are terrible right now, but I think it’s also healthy that we let ourselves be sad over things we’d normally be doing.

The hubs and I were supposed to go to Denver, and he was so excited because we were going to the motocross event (Denver Supercross). Maybe I’ll create a post showing all the things we were planning on doing, since usually I create travel posts after the trip has been taken…

I was also really excited because I had been accepted to present at the American Literature Association conference being held in San Diego in May. We’ve never been to San Diego and were really looking forward to that trip because we’ve heard such wonderful things about that city. Maybe one day.

The point of all this rambling is to say, if you’re sad because some of your travel plans got canceled or you’re feeling the travel itch because you’re just tired of staying at home, here’s a little way to travel without physically traveling.

Bh Cosmetics has a really fun travel series of makeup palettes that I personally love. And these days, whenever I use them, I try to imagine being in the place they’re named after (I haven’t been to most of these places, but it’s fun to imagine).

The best part is that right now most of the travel series palettes are on sale for 40% off until April 18th!

The first two palettes I purchased from this travel series were the Love in London and Blushing in Bali palettes. I actually bought the London one right after we got back from London last year…it just felt appropriate!

Blushing in Bali has three blushes and three highlighters – it’s my go-to these days. The darkest blush is a bit too dark on me, but I think it’ll be a good option for the summer. The Love in London palette contains neutrals and metallics with such cute eyeshadow names like ‘cheeky,’ ‘scone,’ and ‘crumpet.’ It’s a good option for more subtle eye looks.

I think all the palettes have solid pigmentation, and I haven’t noticed any problematic fallout from any of the palettes, but I also don’t have a heavy hand when it comes to getting color on my brushes. They’re also a convenient size and are easy to pack when traveling.

My most recent travel series palette purchase was the Trendy in Tokyo palette – it has really bright, fun, neon colors which are perfect for summer! In fact, the three looks below came from the Trendy in Tokyo palette.

The above look was pretty much the last time I was out and about before the social distancing took effect and was the first look I tried using the Trendy in Tokyo palette.

The above look was my first official day of online “teaching” – I put that in quotation marks because it’s more just crisis management than actual teaching. I had all these ridiculous expectations that I would get dressed and ready every day and be an amazing online teacher. Ha.

But I followed this video by the gorgeous Rae Roesener – my look certainly isn’t as good as hers, but it was a helpful tutorial to follow as I got started playing with the palette.

The above look is from this past week. I’m still getting dressed for “class” videos, but these days I just let my hair air dry (had no idea that my hair was so naturally wavy…are you learning anything about yourself during these days of isolation?).

One of my goals during all this stay at home time is to work on my winged eyeliner (please don’t zoom in on the last photo!). I don’t know how some people have such steady hands to get such perfect lines and fill-ins. But practice makes perfect, right?

There are several other palettes in the travel series, too. If you’re interested in highlighters and blushes, there is the Glowing in Greece palette and Illuminating in Ireland. The Ireland palette contains only highlighters, but it’s a lovely range of colors (and really, is it possible to have too many highlighters?).

The eyeshadow palettes include Beautiful in Barcelona, Smitten in Switzerland, Summer in St. Tropez, and Hangin’ in Hawaii. The Barcelona and Switzerland palettes contain warm tones, with a few more blues in Barcelona and green tones in the Switzerland one. St. Tropez has several purples and pinks (bold, but not quite as bold as the Tokyo palette), and the Hawaii palette is mostly beautiful bronzes and browns. All of these are currently in my shopping cart just because I really love the colors in all of them! If you also love them, be sure to hurry and make your purchases because it looks like they are selling quickly due to the current sale!

Did you have any travel plans disrupted because of the pandemic? How are you managing and satisfying your travel itch? Where do you most want to visit when all this is over (or where do you most want to travel one day in the future)? And let me know which palettes are your favorites – I always love to know about people’s makeup preferences!

Hang in there, friends!