My all-time favourite type of feature in any magazine/on any beauty website is when people reveal what they lug around in their handbags. It’s quite weird, really, but I could watch Vogue-videos (available on Youtube) on this topic forever. Unfortunately I cannot because work. Which nicely brings me to the topic du jour: what’s the stuff I carry around for work. 

I must remind you that the picture is a highly edited version of the godawful mess that usually finds itself in my handbag. I’ve left out badges, travel cards, keys, bits of unidentified fluff, a toothpick with a Belgian flag on it as well as a collection of business cards, most of which were covered in a lipstick that had unanimously decided to open itself and smear its “Damage” -shade (a favourite by NARS) all over the lining and the business cards. ​

I seem to have a minimum of 4-5 lipsticks for work situations (obviously not all worn at the same time). I keep some in the office, together with two liners in red and in nude. In my handbag I carry around Kjaer Weis lip tint in “Goddess” and NARS limited edition Afterglow lip balm in “Orgasm“. I am aware of NARS testing some of their exported products on animals and applying their makeup does make me feel like a seal cub killing psychopath, but I’ve decided to use up whatever I have by them and be done with it. 

Substantially adding to the weight of my handbag, I also carry the Kjaer Weis translucent powder around. I love their products but their packaging is heavy. Yet gorgeous. I could just sit at my desk just swirling the lid of the powder case and hear it “clic” back again (You’d be surprised how often I do, actually). It needs a brush/puff for application, which can be slightly high-maintenance for mobile situations, but I keep a brush in the office for touch-ups and hope for the best otherwise.

IGK Beach Club Volumizing Texture Spray is rather a random product that I rarely use. If I need to create a “do” for an on-camera situation, I turn to it, otherwise it just clonks along. I have a definite weakness for American hair products, because unfortunately they do this stuff much better than us Europeans. While I do fully, and I mean fully, subscribe to the French chic of an unstyled messy head of hair in a je ne sais quoi -way that only Caroline de Maigret can really pull off, at the same time I do, every now and then,  appreciate my own hair not sticking out in all directions like I just got out of bed. For these moments some heavy-duty American sweet-smelling goo (silicone) can be therapeutically good. 

It’s not once or twice I have been stopped at airport security when I’ve had Le Labo metal travel tube in my carry on. It also adds to the list of heavy items in my handbag. Yet it’s very nifty for having perfume on the go – it fits the brand’s own 10ml bottles (mine is Santal 33) and to my endless delight, it’s also a good fit for the Frédéric Malle travel sizes. 

Handcream. This time by Byredo, in Blanche. During the summer I went for anything that had SPF (French pharmacy brands are very good with these). 

Eyedrops: Computer screen for extended periods of time.

I am wearing glasses more and more, because of the reason above: staring at the screen seems to fry my contact lenses and eyeballs into oblivion. I recently got new glasses and the wipe came with them. It often feels like I’m spending most of my waking hours wiping my glasses clean, which feels like a waste, as I could possibly use all that time fighting the patriarchy instead. 

A safety pin. There always must be a safety pin in vicinity. I have small cases of pins at home and in the office, but there absolutely must be one at hand ​at all times. 

The same goes to a notebook and a pen. I’ve tried to be the millennial type who types things down in various mobile apps in a neat manner. I’ve given up being the millennial type.