The carry-on beauty edit (for those who refuse to check a bag)

Here's what's actually worth buying—and packing—from the Sephora Sale

I have a rule that has saved me more time than any packing list or system I’ve ever tried: my toiletry bag stays packed. Fully stocked, zipped, and ready to go at any given moment. The secret to making that work isn’t discipline. It’s mini sizes of your favorite products.

Travel-size products and dedicated doubles mean I never have to raid my bathroom the night before a flight. Nothing gets forgotten or left behind, and I never land somewhere without SPF because I didn’t make the time or remember to decant. It’s a small investment that pays off every single time I travel, which, at this point, is often enough that an unprepared toiletry bag would be genuinely inconvenient.

The Sephora Sale is one of the few moments a year where stocking up on this stuff actually makes financial sense. Travel sizes are already a premium, so a discount on the ones I actually use is not something I ignore. This is my edited shortlist: everything I’m buying or restocking this sale, filtered through the only lens that matters: does it work and travel well?

Read on for 10 travel-size picks worth buying in the Sephora Sale including:

• The SPF I’ve been evangelizing for months

• Sephora’s best skin-scent fragrance

• For hair: a flyaway fix, overnight hair serum, and a blowout in a bottle

• A cool-toned eyeshadow palette that takes up little bag space

• Refillable containers that make your toiletry bag look intentional

• And more

The sunscreen I’ve converted all my friends to. I am EXTREMELY picky about sunscreen. The bar is high: fluid consistency, no white cast, looks good under makeup, doesn’t burn your eyes or smell weird, and of course: actually protects your skin. Most formulas fail at least one of these, but this one clears every bar and then some. This is one product I’m incredibly evangelistic about.