On a flight to Rosemary Beach, Florida, for a bachelorette weekend, one traveller in a group of 12 pulled out a lighted, foldable makeup mirror just before landing. Cabin lights were off, everyone else was squinting at phone screens for touch-ups, and her tray-table setup made such an impression that at least one friend ordered her own before the plane touched back down at Newark.
The product is Funtouch's travel makeup mirror, sold on Amazon for around $17. It unfolds to reveal a full-face mirror, then switches on via a touch button in the centre. There are three light modes—white, warm and cool—and a long press dims the brightness, useful on early-morning flights when a full glow would be anti-social. It stands up on its own, so no propping it against a window or water bottle.
Why not just use a phone camera? Because it depends on ambient light you often don't have: darkened cabins, hotel bathrooms at odd hours, or a shared vacation rental where 12 people are competing for one bathroom mirror. That was the second use case on the Florida trip—half the group got ready with the mirror rather than waiting their turn and rushing dinner plans.
A few months in, the reviewer has kept finding reasons to bring it. On a recent trip to Newport, Rhode Island, she did her makeup en route to The Vanderbilt hotel, avoiding a full face of product sitting through a four-hour car ride. Other practical details worth knowing: it's wireless and charges over USB, so the cord can stay home; the battery lasted a four-day trip without a top-up; and the whole thing is roughly the size of a Kindle or iPad Mini, slim enough for a tote but with a durable exterior that survives being crushed in a bag.
One deliberate design choice divides opinion: there's no magnification. If you like a close-up for eyeliner, this isn't that. The upside is you can see your entire face, head and neck at once without hauling anything bulky.
For travellers, the appeal is simple. Touch-ups happen in the worst-lit places imaginable—airplanes, cars, airport bathrooms, shared hotel rooms—and a self-standing, self-lit mirror solves that for less than the cost of an airport sandwich. It also makes an easy gift for anyone who travels with any regularity, since it's the rare accessory that gets used on nearly every trip rather than once and forgotten.
