As I was cleaning out the glove compartment in my car, I found an expired travel bottle of contact lens solution (I can’t tell you how many times one of my contacts has felt wonky or popped out in the car.)
This made me wonder two things…
First, do people ever actually put gloves in their glove compartment? And second, what beauty products do other people keep in their car? ??
Currently, all of the following items are in my car, and while I realize that a few of them aren’t technically “beauty products,” I’m still putting ’em in there.
- 1 bottle of contact lens solution
- 1 contact lens case
- 1 extra pair of glasses
- 2 tubes of hand cream (one in the front seat, one in the back)
- 2 industrial-sized tubes of hand sanitizer (again, one in the front seat, one in the back)
- Lip balm (several tubes, all over the place)
- Wet Ones wipes
- Baby wipes
- Paper towels
- Garbage bags (a relatively new addition, which came about after I threw up when I was driving home from the gym and had to keep the barf in my closed mouth because I had nowhere else to put it)
- A brow pencil (because sometimes I have Mom brain and forget to fill them in; it also doubles as eyeliner in a pinch)
- A hair brush
- Several hair ties (both standard-issue black and colorful ties for toddlers)
- Tweezers and a magnifying mirror
- And this might be TMI, but extra underwear (both for me and for coywolf, because you never know)
- Dental floss (because how many times have I left someplace with a piece of carrot or a sesame seed stuck in my back teeth!)
Now that I think about it, I really should put a toothbrush and toothpaste in there, too. Maybe a travel bottle of Listerine as well…
What about you? What beauty products do you keep in your car?
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
You pretty much have an evacuation kit there! And oh my gosh, Karen, I feel so bad that you had to carry vomit in your own mouth; I’m so sorry! I used to have emetophobia (fear of vomiting) so I wouldn’t leave home without a plastic bag in my purse (my TMI, since we’re sharing); it’s not so bad since I changed my diet and cleared my head over many years of therapy and intense meditation retreats. These days I’m a commuter so I carry an umbrella, hand sani, & lip balm. At work I keep extra lip liner, lip gloss, hair pins, toothbrush, floss, toothpaste, comb, and statement necklaces to cover up my chest tattoo. 😉
I don’t keep any beauty products in the car ever. The temps that are super hot and super cold would destroy the products. SPF for instance would degrade over time and become ineffective I presume. Lip products would melt. I would forget them. Any stuff I need like eye drops, hand sanitizer, tweezers I keep in my purse.
Yup, all of this, except I live near San Francisco, so “super cold” isn’t an issue. But I wonder if it’s also a question of where you park. I don’t park in my garage (too much crap in it), so my car’s out in the sun all day every day. If Karen’s usually parking in a garage, also in the San Francisco area, then her car may not be subjected to temperature extremes.
I’m sure her answer is based on her life and where she lives. I live in the Midwest so of course I was answering it from my perspective. None of what I wrote was a judgment on anyone. Just saying I don’t keep stuff in my car bc 1. The weather and 2. Bc I keep survival things like floss, a comb, lip balm, tissue etc in my purse ie not my car. I will say I do keep a raincoat in my trunk bc I have been caught in extreme downpours. And I do have blankets in case my car breaks down in the cold and they are handy when have a picnic at the beach. But those are not beauty items so I didn’t include. And I did have more of a survival guide with tissues, wipes, garbage bags, change of clothes etc in my car when my daughter was young but now that she is a teenager I don’t have to be so prepared. And my tiny Nissan only had so much room?
Hi gals,
My car is kept in a garage for most of the day. I don’t keep SPF in the car so I don’t worry about it degrading. 🙂 As long as I switch out the lip balms and lotions every once in a while, that’s fine with me. Hope you both are having a nice day.
Erica, you sound like me (though I live in the Northeast). My “always in the car” items include umbrellas, a blanket and mittens. Also, things like a multi-tool that has a knife and window glass breaker. In the summer, I always have sunscreen and bug spray. I also park in a garage but totally get the heat/cold extremes which also limits what I keep in the car.
Do you have problems with your lip balms melting? I like to have one in the car but more than once I have found a greasy puddle under the container. Other than that I have a box of Kleenex, hand sanitizer, and nail clippers. My dad keeps floss in his truck because he is OCD about that!
Nothing, because it’s too hot about 7 months of the year to get away with that, and it’s too cold about three months of the year. I worry even about leaving eyeglasses in the car due to the extreme heat of late spring, summer, and much of fall.
I don’t keep anything in the car except Kleenex. In my purse I typically carry a lip balm, the lipstick du jour, a small container of hand lotion that also has SPF, and a small hand sanitizer. That’s it. Sometimes the occasion will warrant carrying more items, but I never leave them in the car.
I cannot believe you threw up in your mouth and were able to keep it there. Of course, TMI, when I throw up, there is no holding it back. It comes out of my mouth and nose with force. Almost like the Exorcist. 🙂 When the boys were young, we always had wiped, paper towels and plastic grocery bags in the event of car sickness.
Now, in my car, I have tweezers, nail clippers, scissors and nail files. However, my purse is a different story and I almost never get in the car without it. That has a quart ziploc of glosses, lipsticks, balms, more tweezers and clippers, hand creme, floss and floss threaders, rollerball perfumes, band-aids, hand sanitizer and likely other things I’m forgetting. So, technically, I have all that in my car… when I’m in it!
The only thing that saved me was that the gym is close to home. I was about two minutes away and on a narrow street where it’s hard pull over! It was one of the grossest things I’ve ever done (although now after having a baby not a lot grosses me out anymore).
You’re kind of my hero for this. I’m not kidding when I say I don’t think I could ever do it, regardless of the circumstances. Agreed on the grossness but mouth related things still get me (dirty/rotten teeth, eating something “gross” like those old reality TV challenges where people have to eat a bug or a worm… OK, must stop). HAHA!
In the glove compartment and bottom compartment closest to the drivers side I actually keep gloves and hand warmers (my boys play sports all year round and this summer has been feeling more like fall these days), hand sanitizer, jack black lip balm, lots of napkins, disposable diaper trash bags that come in really handy, a fan, sunglasses, small baby wipes. In the back of my van I have a small duffle with a whole outfit for myself and my daughter and an old pair of shoes for the both of us. I also have a pair of undies, shorts and slides for my older boys. I have another bag with a couple of blankets, our emergency kit and medical kit, a couple of hats, a spray deodorant and a small bottle of febreeze. I also have a small hanging bag that I’ve attached to very back seat and throw water bottles and snacks in there so if my boys forget their water or need something to inhale before practice, they can grab something out of there. I’ve gotten pretty streamlined over the years and that ONE detail has helped my kids and their teammates on so many occasions.
I had a moment when I had to throw up too while driving home and I had to drive across the San Mateo bridge. I had nowhere to throw up and let’s just say I really had to get the interior of the car cleaned. Now I always make sure I have a cup disposable cup in the car.
That’s genius. Much easier and faster to get to than a garbage bag!
The only time the barf thing happened to me was DWP (driving while pregnant). I kept a tupperware in the passenger seat for awhile after that. My husband is an “everything but the kitchen sink” kind of person, so he keeps kleenex, hand wipes, hand lotion, sanitizer, a pile of napkins that rivals Everest, and several other things in the console. I have a lip gloss area near the coin holder area. I always keep 4-5 glosses there in case I’m sprinting to the car and don’t want to think about picking one before the first stop light. But I don’t always drive (walk/bike/rail), so my main stash is in the house, where I can browse and plop one in my bag for the day. After a lipstick meltdown a few years ago, I rarely keep lipsticks in the car, but if the temp is okay I’ll sometimes toss one in that I’m wearing a lot that week.
Hi Karen Happy Tuesday.
I do keep gloves in my glove compartment but they are now in my Bedroom drawer .
As for the contents just about everything.
Sunglasses , reading glasses , sun readers , gum , a scissors , tissues , wipes and a partridge in a pair tree . Well almost .
I use Hourglass now even tho O have plenty of Mac . My niece works at Blue Mercury and it’s convenient for her to match my color and keep on file .
I used to keep gloves in my glove compartment. On chilly mornings they were a driving essential! Usually there is a pair of sunglasses and various things my daughter will forget(extra socks, disposable contact lenses, travel size deodorant, lip balm) because she usually gets ready on the ride to school. I like to keep emergency makeup in there for myself- nothing I will get upset over if my car got broken into or if it melted. Trial packets of lipstick, moisturizer, a tiny jar of bb cream, tester mascara, a GWP blush and the last of an eye pencil have all come in super handy on days when I am rushing out the door! In my area, the temps can be trusted to hover at around 60 or below, so I can get away with it.
I once left a Tom Ford lipstick in my car, parked in my uninsulated not air-conditioned garage and it turned really funky smelling. So I don’t keep any cosmetics in my car at all. But I do have a center console filled with hair pins, hair elastics and hair nets. (If you ride at horse shows you understand the hairnets). My trunk always has hand soap, paper towel and toilet paper because I can’t tell you how many barns I’ve been to where there’s a port-a-potty and maybe a hose at the wash rack but no toilet paper or towels to dry your hands. So I always scope out the situation first and take a detour to my trunk if needed.
I always have lip balm, hand cream and an extra bottle of sunscreen in my purse.
Where I live, temps lately have been between 90 and 100 degrees, and, at best, it’s in the high 80s during the summer. My car bakes in the heat all day! Of course, winters can get very cold. The temperature extremes are why I keep nothing in the car; it’s all in my bag: lipstick, lip balm, tiny hand cream, tiny mouthwash, setting powder, hairbrush, tiny tweezers. I usually only bring wipes if I’m going to the gas station or to buy groceries. I think that’s it?
I realize now it would be a good idea to have some kind of receptacle in the car. Mercy! Thanks for the heads-up.
I honestly only have lip balm and lip gloss in my car! I do carry some more products in my purse though!
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