Inside the bag
A look inside the essentials I carry with me everywhere.
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There’s a certain kind of honesty that lives inside of someone’s everyday bag, and it’s something that I am beyond fascinated by. I’ve always felt that it tells you so much about a person, and maybe that’s why I used to binge-watch “What’s In My Bag” videos on YouTube growing up. It’s not surprising that I ended up going to college for Psychology…
Growing up, the concept of having an “everyday bag” was foreign to me. Like most 16-year-olds, I was constantly switching between miniature purses that fit nothing more than my card holder and some lip gloss. Nothing stayed consistent long enough to call it a staple because I really didn’t need to carry around anything with me. But now, at 26, I have finally achieved what I once thought was peak womanhood: having an everyday bag. Like the kind my mother took to work, filled with anything and everything she could ever possibly need.
Mine happens to be H&M’s studded shoulder bag, which has become my unexpected signature. My sister actually sent me a picture of it on sale the other day with the words: “Your bag.”
Funny enough, I was hesitant to purchase it when I found it in-store because it was $59.99, which, if you’re familiar with H&M prices, you know is expensive. But it was too cute to pass up, and now we’re in love.
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The next step was figuring out what actually deserved a permanent spot inside it.
And naturally, the one category that always earns its place is my lip routine. I don’t normally bring makeup with me unless I know ahead of time that I’ll be out all day, mostly because I don’t want my bag to be too heavy, but I will bring eleven lip products without blinking.
My L’Oréal lip liner in Worth It Medium is my baseline for looking alive. My “my lips but better” shade. The Summer Fridays balm, specifically the Birthday Cake flavor, is my go-to for more casual outings, and the Gisou lip oil in Glazed Plum adds just enough shine to make me feel put together. That trio will solve almost any beauty crisis.
The other lippies I carry with me (from left to right):
NARS lipstick in Dolce Vita
Rare Beauty gloss in Beam and Glimmer
L’Oreal plumping lip oil in 201
Neutrogena lip oil in Light Pink
Tower 28 liner in Work of Art
DIBS liner in Xoxo
Tarte liner in Hollie
A travel-sized YSL Black Opium Over Red also lives in there because I have constant paranoia that I smell bad. And yes, it’s pretty pricey, but it is my all-time favorite scent. Sweet, but sophisticated, I’m obsessed. My Gen 1 AirPods are still kicking, so those have been glued to me lately, but in all honesty, it’s just because I recently upgraded to the new iPhone and my trusty wired headphones no longer connect. Getting a dongle has been on my to-do list for weeks.
Then we have my Coach card holder from Coach Outlet where I have all the boring necessities like my ID, health insurance card, Costco card, and birth control (that way I never forget to bring it), and my little LV-look-alike key pouch that carries all of my gift cards. I’ve accumulated a ton of them, partly because no one ever knows what to get me and partly because stores give them out as credit when you return something past the deadline and I always miss that window. Attached to this pouch is my little collection of keychains (my favorite being the one my dad brought me back from his recent trip to Miami).
Then there are the small maintenance items that collect lint at the very bottom until they swoop in to save you: a Touchland sanitizer, Olive & June nail glue, and a Dae styling wand that can fix a hair situation in seconds. And of course, TCHO dark chocolate because my sweet tooth knows no bounds.
The last thing I keep is a mini Josie Maran body butter. If you’ve been following along on socials for a while, then you know my love for this product runs deep. The vanilla scent is stunning, and the glow you get is unparalleled.
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My bag didn’t always look like this. After college, I genuinely tried to carry the kinds of things I thought “put-together women” carried in movies. I bought the sleek planner, the perfect pen, even tossed in a book hoping I’d open it if I ever found myself with a few minutes to spare. But let’s be honest, the only time I ever manage to read is during that thirty-minute window between getting sleepy and fully knocking out, when I’m squinting at my Kindle trying to get ahead on my latest book — currently Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry.
At some point, without really noticing, I stopped pretending. I stopped trying to match the version of adulthood I had in my head (my greatest flaw is how reliant I am on expectations). Maybe it’s the anxiety medication…or maybe it’s just getting older…but I finally started packing what I actually reach for instead of what I thought I would need.
And now we’re here, with far too many lip glosses and a selection of items that have survived the weekly clean-outs, the mid-day errands, and everything in between. These are the things that, for one reason or another, have proven themselves useful enough to stay.
We’ll zip it here. Bags are meant to hold things, not confessions, and I’ve already shared more than enough for one post… There are only so many personal details a girl should unpack in one sitting! See you in the next one. x
