Budget beauty: look good while travelling

Living on the road can get complicated when extra meetings and social obligations get thrown into the mix.

How do you get ready for a last-minute invitation to the ballet after having spent the day on the train or in the boardroom?

Here are some travel tips for budget beauty:

NAILS:

The tips of your nails take a beating, which wreaks havoc on your appearance when the colour starts to come off. Don't stress about making time in your travel schedule for an entirely new manicure.

Simply take your polish colour and paint a generous path down the middle of each nail, starting a bit in front of your cuticle and pressing down as you go to cover a wide area. This covers the worn patch, but saves the worry of getting the sides perfect or dealing with tedious edge clean-up.

HAIR:

At some point, frazzled hair will become an issue. To freshen up on the fly for a business dinner or cocktail gathering, put some solid conditioning product on the ends and run a comb through from top to bottom. This provides a touch-up that looks fresh and makes detangling easier if you want to go for a quick French twist or polished ponytail.

A backpack-to-briefcase product I've used successfully for this is Burt's Bees Miracle Salve. It comes in a flat tin, can be used for multiple purposes, and easily bangs around in any bag I use it without incident.

COSMETICS:

For a quick fix when it comes to colour, I keep a neutral lip-lining pencil with me. I use it not only for lining lips, but also for lip and cheek colour in a pinch. This strategy takes up minimal space, gives me no stress in the airport security line, and keeps unexpected replacement costs low since I'm only using one product instead of three.

ACCESSORIES:

While I don't like to pack too many of them, accessories do take up much less space in my luggage than extra clothing. So if that silk scarf or silver concho belt will give you three different ways to wear that little black dress, then consider tossing them in your suitcase instead of an extra outfit.

Jewellery and head coverings are also space-saving ways to spruce up a travel wardrobe. So toss in that tribal cuff bracelet and jewel-toned beret if there's a chance you'll be hitting a gallery opening after that business presentation.

Myscha Theriault is co-author of the book 10,001 Ways to Live Large on a Small Budget, and founder of TrekHound.com, a website for independent travellers.