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By: Megan James Hazel

We can all remember a time when we reached into our bag to find something, and ended up hunting around for what seemed like an hour, coming upon the same items again and again and never finding what we were looking for in the first place. What a frustrating experience! There are certain must-have items that belong in one's handbag, and the receipt collection from purchases you made two years ago does not fall into this category. Let's take a look at what is really essential, and leave the other items out of it.

Lipstick

This should go without saying, but you would be surprised just how many women are caught in a place where they want to look good, like when they see an old boyfriend in a store, and have absolutely nothing to freshen up with! You may be a more traditional lipstick kind of girl, the kind who still wears a natural, matte finish and likes to put it on once and be done with it. If this is the case, make sure to have a neutral peach with you. This color is good on most skin hues, and it will be perfect for daytime in any season. It will stay fresh in a matte finish, whereas some darker shades such as plum or red can get pinkish, faded, or worse yet feather throughout the day.

If you like your lips a bit more slick and you're a gloss kind of girl, you have more options. Your best bet is still a lighter shade, which you can reapply as often as you like without worry. A peach works well here for you too, but you can also go for a deeper tone without worrying about overuse or over-application. Either way, lipstick or lip gloss of some kind, preferably one of your favorites, is an absolutely essential handbag item.

Mirror

A compact mirror is almost as critical as the lipstick. How else are you going to apply it in a pinch? Especially if you are the type who likes to line her lips, you can have quite a messy scene on your hands if you do not have a compact mirror available to apply your gloss or lipstick. A mirror is important for a lot of reasons: To check your teeth after lunching with a friend, to check your hair and face while your date is in the bathroom, or to get something out of your eye or put drops in your eyes when your contact lenses are bothering you. You can get the cutest, most stylish mirrors now for your bag. The best kinds are the ones that open to a double mirror, where one side is magnified and the other is not. Although magnifying mirrors aren't always the most flattering, they can be very helpful!

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