Sunset at Melbourne, from South Yarra.
I’m just a weekend away from my big move to Melbourne. Kuala Lumpur’s been great, but it’s just time for some change in my life, taking on newer challenges to improve myself altogether.
Transitioning from a somewhat fashionable girl-about-town to a student is going to be hard. I’m so used to getting everything without even thinking about money, and now I realize I’d have to pay for everything.
And with my need to shop, you bet I have a tonne of clothes and shoes to ship with me. I have two large 28″ suitcases with me, and I’m in the midst of panic worrying that I won’t have enough space in my luggage since I’m only allowed 40kg of weight. 40kg seems like a lot, but I’m starting to feel the pressure of living out of 40kg of all my belongings in a new city. But then again, I’ve known people who’ve lived out of a backpack for a 2-month vacation, so challenge accepted, damnit!
In terms of clothing, I start with my treasured pieces first. I have nothing branded, but I’m talking about pieces that were pretty much investments – jeans, jackets, tailored blouses, dresses, jewelry, favorite tops, and the most – makeup and skincare!
I stored all my skincare products in a large storage box, along with their respective boxes. I know that storing your products in their boxes only takes up more space, but I’m especially worried about leakage (and I’m a sucker for presentation).
I probably have more makeup products than I do with skincare, so all my makeup required meticulous organization! All lipsticks were tied up in rubberband, along with my lip pencils, and eyeliners. I only have two eyeshadow palettes so I buried them at the bottom of two separate boxes.
Unfortunately, that’s just only 70% of the products I have packed. Let’s not forget that I also have my usual skincare ritual to worry about. I’ve timed my usage of these products so that they’re pretty much finished by the time I ship my butt off to Melbourne. This means – less weight, more space. If it runs out, I can grab a new item from my storage and start using it!
Just to be safe, I stored my daily skincare regime in one little snakeskin pouch to avoid a giant mess on the table.
Haircare products are one of the craziest to pack! Since they’re more prone to leakage, you don’t want to risk leaving it in a bag full of your other beauty products. If you’re hoping to save space on carrying your full-sized bottles of shampoos and conditioners, leave those at home and carry along your deluxe-sized (or travel/sample-sized) haircare products with you.
Not only will you save on weight, but at least you’ll have something to wash your hair with when you arrive. A perfect reason why it’s sometimes a good idea to invest in a travel-sized haircare kit.
While I have got most of my clothing sorted out, one of my other major concerns happen to by my shoes. Compared to a lot of people I know, I don’t have as much. But then again, I have over 10 pairs that my feet absolutely love. I’ll be limiting myself to about eight pairs of shoes, excluding the ones I’ll be wearing and carrying on board (CHEATER). Since flat sandals are generally very light, I’ll be carrying those light ones on-board with me in my carry-on. Snuggling my feet will be my newly-obtained pink and black Nike Women’s Cortez ’06, while keeping the studded ALDO Bueckers sandals go in the bag.
To decide on which pairs I’ll be taking with me, I laid them all out neatly on the ground and tagged them using little Post-it notes. I tagged them according to level of comfort and frequency of use. Sadly, the red ALDO Freedland wedges didn’t make it to the list, despite being exquisitely comfortable. I’ll also be ditching the F21 cowboy boots for my Topshop combat boots since they’re somewhat more versatile.
Prioritize the most comfortable footwear, followed by something functional, and then fancy. That’s one trick to live by!
I’ve still got a really long way to go with my packing, so instead of talking about what I intend to do, I should probably get back to it!
*All photos were taken using the iPad Mini, and edited with the BasicCamera app.
Dirt & Candy 