Make-up Items in the 3-1-1 Bag

I'm chiming in to say that I have never put my mascara, chapstick, or HandiWipes in the 3-1-1 bag and have never had a problem - in the US or overseas.

Thank you for all of your replies. It sounds like everyone is seeing the inconsistencies with TSA. Usually this is not a problem, since when I travel I carry only a minimal amount. However, I have a trip coming up during which, for reasons I'm sure no one wants me to go into, I want to carry a lot of lipsticks. I will have too many to fit into the bag if I'm stopped, and I wouldn't want to have to throw them away. I suppose I'll just have to take my chances.

D.D. I did the same as you and put my lipstick and mascara in my 3-1-1 bag when I traveled to Europe. However, on recent domestic trips I have left out the lipstick and carried it in my purse without a problem. I would say mascara needs to be in the bag. I have also carried wet wipes but have not put them in a 3-1-1 bag.

Well, my experience has been that the lysol wipe packets, mascara, lipstick and chapstick were fine OUTSIDE the 3-1-1 bag. I've done both with the lip gloss and mascara, but was never stopped when they weren't in the bag. Then again, I had a really long thread a few weeks back where everyone agreed that the airports are really inconsistent. But if you have the items in an easily accessible area of your bag, even if they raise a stink, you can grab them and stick them in the ziploc bag anyway...

The rule is that liquids and gels have to go into the bag - anything that can be poured or squeezed from a container. Individual screeners may not follow this exactly.

Good morning! I have put those items in the little plastic bag for screening. I don't doubt there would be no specific information on the TSA website. I have found the TSA screeners to be VERY inconsistent. I said something to that effect to one of the screeners and the response was "If we are consistent, the terrorists will use that information." Thus, both the terrorists and the travelling public will just have to deal with the TSA inconsistencies. I could go on and on about the TSA but that wasn't the question.

I too do not put lipstick or chapstick in the 3-1-1 bag. I also don't include the mascara even though it seems like it must be liquid. I've never been questioned on this. But make sure that you have room for the mascara in the bag in case TSA calls you on it. Pam

I take baggies of makeup remover wipes in my carry on with no problem. I always carry lipstick and mascara in a bag in my pocketbook and have never had a problem. ( Ha...I just jinxed myself...now I will). Screeners in Europe seem to be more easygoing about things. Last trip I had to screen twice in Germany, forgot to take out my 3-1-1- bag both times, and they didn't notice. I had a large cookie sheet in my carry on. No problem in Germany, but when I got to Logan, I had to unpack the entire carry on, because the cookie sheet was "obstructing their view".

I have been stopped more than once for having just a single tube of lipstick floating around forgotten in the bottom of a purse or carryon. If it's really important for you to travel with a lot of tubes of lipstick that you don't want confiscated, you may want to resign yourself to checking a suitcase and putting all your questionable cosmetics and handwipes in there. Your other option may be to search for an empty palette that is small enough and slim enough to fit in the ziploc bag, cut off very small portions of the lipsticks (don't exceed 3oz total) you want to use and put them in the palette and use a lip brush to apply them. Unless you are a professional makeup artist working at Fashion Week, a small palette can give you more than enough options to change your lipcolor over the course of a vacation. Sephora sells empty palettes & you could also find them at your local art supply store.

I've never had any problems with liquid impregnated wipes in my carry-on outside the 3-1-1 baggie. Supposedly lipstick and chapstick is OK (solid) but lipgloss has to be in the baggie (liquid/gel). Mascara is supposed to be in the baggie. Sealed sample packets of thigng like eye cream, hand cream, etc. also are supposed to go into the baggie. Wipes are fine outside the baggie. Now, in practice, it seems like a lot of TSOs have developed relaxed perspectives on some of these things, like the sealed sample packets and mascara, for example. Or maybe they don't obviously show up as no-nos within the bigger carry-on. What I do know is that there are sticklers within the TSA who will enforce the rules to the letter. (Not to mention those who make up 'new' rules as they go along, like 'no products in unlabeled containers.' Or 'lipstick has to be the bag.' Neither of these is true but try telling that to the TSO who has decided that that will be the rule today. ) Luckily I travel often enough that, at least at my home airport, I know which TSOs are reasonable and which are likely to come up with bogus new interpretations of the rules. And I do stay within the letter of the rules myself. That way if I run into a TSO who tries to insist on something that I know isn't within the TSA rules, I feel confident calling for a supervisor. Can't do that unless you are sure your bag is within the letter of the rules...

The lipsticks and balms are solid, so according to 'them' are OK OUT of the 3-1-1 bag. Although there are STILL anecdotes from as late as Fall 2010 of TSA taking, or trying to take, solid deodorant sticks...(I'd get arrested...) For a while, in the very early days while they were still making up the rules (HA! the good ol' days!), the wet wipe-type items also had to go in the 3-1-1 bag, but that didn't last too long. THIS little beauty (no pun) is from the TSA blog (the 'friendly face' of the TSA - they figured out they have a public image problem...) and violates the 'liquid, gel, and aerosol' ("...if you can pour it, squeeze it, or spray it") rule: "Common size facial cosmetic and medicinal products in a tube, for example mascara, lip gloss, and lip balm are not required to be placed in the 1 qt. bag." (http://blog.tsa.gov/2010/05/tsa-2010-summer-travel-tips.html) HUH?!? Sorry - I'm still gonna put the mascara and glosses in the 3-1-1 bag 8^( I HAVE stopped packing it with the lipsticks and solid chapstick-type balms...And I start my deep, cleansing breaths as I approach the security area...and once I'm actually at the machines I Avoid Eye Contact Like The Plague!!! I'm not going to make it easy on them if they want to look inside 'somebody's' bag... "However, I have a trip coming up during which, for reasons I'm sure no one wants me to go into, I want to carry a lot of lipsticks. " No, no - I'm intrigued...;-)

I never put lipsticks, chapsticks, anti-bacterial wipes in the 3-1-1- bag. I do put the small packs of woolite in since they can be poured. That is the rule. Anything that can be poured must be in the 3-1-1 bag.

I put mascara in, and leave deodorant (stick), chapstick and packages of wet wipe type things out. On a half dozen occasions I have forgotten to take a small bottle of anti-bacterial gel out of my purse to put it in my 3-1-1 bag. Not one screener has noticed it. I actually forgot to take my 3-1-1 bag and my netbook out one trip when I was very distracted going through security, and they didn't catch that either. And yes, please tell us about the lipstick...I am dying to know!!

Rather than using an artist's pallett (good idea by the way) which is often open, you could use a small pill organizer and do something similar- cut the lipstick into a section. Then put the organizer in the 3-1-1 bag. Or find alternatives for everything else and just fill your bag with lipsticks. A quart bag will hold a good bit.

Another alternative is to put your kind-of-liquid items in one of those small plastic contact lens cases, and then put that in your 3-1-1 bag. I did this on my last trip with a couple of ointments that I only use a small bit of - the snap on lids of the contact cases hold up great, don't leak, are pretty flat, and didn't pose a TSA problem. My optometrist's office was happy to give me a lifetime supply of cases when I asked for a couple.

Toni: I was talking about the kind of refillable palettes that have lids which snap shut tightly so the contents inside don't dry out. Sephora sells them, as do several other more high-end makeup lines like Bobbi Brown, Makeup Forever. They usually come with a built-in mirror inside the lid and they are typically flat and hold anywhere from 6 to 10 different lipsticks. Art supply stores here in Boston also sell similar lidded palettes, but without the mirror inside. I assume they are meant to hold oil or acrylic paints so they won't dry out too fast. One can never tell what the airport screeners will have an issue with. I was pulled aside also for once having a tweezer in my carry-on. Because it had handles they thought it looked like a small cuticle scissor until I pointed out the ends were blunt. I now stick the tweezer in the plastic bag so they can inspect it. I shrug it off and don't get bent out of shape if I get an overly zealous TSA screener. They are just doing their job. I'd rather lose a palette with small unlabeled samples of my lipsticks or lipglosses than have them try to take away a half dozen Dior or Chanel lipstick/gloss tubes that cost $20+ a pop. Personally, if I was a TSA screener I would find it very odd if someone had a quart size bag stuffed full of nothing but lipsticks & glosses. That's a full body scan & luggage search just waiting to happen;)

Well Karen, I confess to having left a few lipstick kisses in my life, but I've never felt compelled to leave one on a tombstone, not even Oscar's... Or any other stone, including the Blarney. So anyway, I may throw a lipstick in the bottom of my purse just to see if it gets caught.

Thanks, everyone. For those who are curious about why I'm carrying so many lipsticks--I didn't mean to be mysterious; it just seemed like more detail than most people would care to know. But here it is: I am not just going on vacation, I'm moving to another country. During the move I will be doing a bit of traveling back home to the US. So I can't leave my lipsticks at home in Germany because once I leave to go to the US, I won't be coming back here. I don't want to put it in my household goods being shipped because it may melt in transit and because I will be without it for a while. I don't want to cut them up because I will be using them after the move. Besides, it gets expensive to replace this sort of thing. I don't wear a lot of makeup, but I am fond of my lipsticks and would like to keep them. The mascara and wipes are not really a problem; I just wanted to know how everyone else handled that. I'll probably just check a bag, anyway. I can survive for several weeks after the move with just a carryon, but I'm not sure I want to.

So, the multiple lipsticks have nothing to do with Oscar Wilde's headstone...

Karen, I like the Oscar Wilde reference -- how did that trend start anyway? Sorry .. not the question here. By the way I'm with D.D. I am fond of my lipsticks also and wouldn't want them confiscated.

We have traveled all over the United States, Canada, Japan and a lot of countries in Europe (Germany, Austria, France, UK, Italy). I have NEVER put my lipstick or lip gloss (it's not a liguid jel) in the 3-1-1 bag. I do only carry two so numerous tubes or containers could raise some questions. Same with individually packaged wipes of any sort. All as remained within the confines of my purse or carryall and I have never been questioned or asked to remove them. When in doubt, pack them in your checked luggage.

Well now, D.D., that was kind of a non-story ;-)

Eileen: Sorry for the disappointing non-story. If I were more creative I would have come up with a tale of international intrigue, or at least a titillating love story, and with the anonymity of the internet, who's to know? But I went with the dull truth. There you have it.

Honesty is ALWAYS the best policy. (no matter how dull, nor how disappointed your public may be...-bored sigh-...)

I am happy to see this discussed, as I wondered the same thing. I feel naked without my lipstick (I was born in the south, what can I say?), and I'm glad I don't have to put it in my little baggie which is already pretty full, or pack it in my checked bag. Funny about leaving lip prints on things. I have learned how to drink without leaving any of my red lipstick behind- use a straw and don't grip it with your lips. Instead, use your teeth and tongue. ;-)

Rebekah, I am a fellow Southerner (my mother always said that even if you don't wear much make-up, as I don't, at least put on sunglasses and lipstick). On my US visit home before moving to my next European country, I will be flying into a southern airport. For all I know they will be having a heat wave and my bags will sit on the tarmac roasting and my lipsticks will be a gooey mess. So you see why I might be reluctant to put them in the checked bag. Maybe I'll spread them out: some in my purse, some in the carryon, etc. and see which, if any, get stopped.

D.D.- I totally understand. Back in the good ole '90's, I always carried ALL my make-up and perfume in my carry on bag, never trusting the roasty Texas heat not to ruin my stuff. Those were such nice days for air travel, even if my bag weighed a ton.... :-) Now, up here in snowy land, and with my next trip scheduled to London next month, things melting are not a concern. Freezing, maybe? My mother always said the same as yours. I only wear lipstick and mascara myself. Enjoy your visit home!