On Thursday I focused on some of the Recycling Schemes that are available to consumers at the moment but today I wanted to look at the topic more widely and look at a few simple changes we can all make to help the environment and to simplify our beauty routines. I don't think I am really going to discuss anything revolutionary but I feel like it is good to put it all down in one place and if you think of any other ways in which beauty can be more sustainable, leave me a comment.
Recycling
As I said, I already spoke about recycling schemes on Thursday but I thought it was worth mentioning again in case you missed it. Lots of brands are now doing recycling reward schemes to give you an incentive to recycle your empties. I use Back to MAC regularly but brands like Lush, The Body Shop, Kiehl's and even John Lewis are now getting in on it. One that I did forget to include, and technically it comes under beauty, is Boots. Boots will now take empty contact lense packets so if you are a daily contact lense wearer, it is worth taking them in because there is a lot of waste.
Not only is it important to recycle your empties but also it helps to shop around and look for products which include less packaging. Lush now have an entire store in Liverpool which uses no packaging, it is called a 'Naked' store. Obviously this can't be done for all brands or products but it is worth looking out for this because I'm sure it is a trend more brands are going to jump on. Even the Drugstore is in on it with Simple reducing the amount of packaging they use to be more travel friendly but also so there is less waste. If a drugstore brand can do it so can the more luxury ones! A really simple change to make which automatically reduces your plastic is swapping to a bar of soap from a bottle of shower gel. Both do the same job but soap just melts away whereas you have to dispose of the plastic from a shower gel. A bar of soap can be a bit messy but it is worth it for having less fuss when it comes to recycling. I am all for recycling but I am not going too say it isn't a pain.
Not only can you look to recycle your empties and buy less products with packaging but a lot of brands are starting to launch refillable products. I know some perfume brands like Mulger have done this for a while but Lush have just launched refillable lipsticks and Charlotte Tilbury are about to do the same. I feel like this heralds back to the 50s when you would have a lipstick holder and refill it. In my mind someone like Audrey Hepburn would have a refillable lipstick so I am pleased to see that someone like Charlotte Tilbury is doing this. Not only that but the cases are gorgeous.They have literally just launched so it worth checking them out. More brands should jump on this refillable product trend because not only does it mean you buy less packaging but it also makes it more customisable for the consumer and who doesn't love a custom product?
Use your Empties
I have to say that re-purposing my empties is one that I have always struggled with. You always see these really cute reused products on Pinterest but whenever you try to do it yourself, it never ends out how you want it to, or it doesn't for me. I see things and think it will be easy but I attempt it and it looks like shit. However there are certain items that I always reuse. I will always clean out my candles and either put them for recycling or I will use them on my dresser, it depends how they look. Plus older re-purposed candles can end up looking slightly grubby so I do swap them out quite often.
To empty my candles I:
- Burn the candle until it cannot be burnt anymore
- Boil the kettle and pour boiling water all over the remaining wax
- leave it to cool down so that the melted wax creates a solid layer at the top of the water.
- When you are able to, peel the wax layer off and bin it.
- Repeat if all of the wax did not melt from the bottom
- Get a cloth and wipe the inside of the candle jar to get rid of any wax or any smoke marks
- Now you have your empty candle jar to do whatever you want with.
I use these to hold my brushes, I am currently using 3 standard Jo Malone Candles for my brushes. Plus I have an empty Deluxe Jo Malone Candle which houses my Lipstick Pot and then I use them for my cotton pads (which I am replacing with reusable ones.) I've seen a couple of pictures of people using skincare pots to house succulents and some of them look cute but it is hard to not make them look crappy so I haven't tried this yet and I prefer to recycle them if I can.
The thing that slightly irritates me is that people spend money on these plastic brush holders and the acrylic shelves which look good but they are never going to break down. Why don't you use something that you have already purchased and up cycle something. If you buy cute candles then it is just an added bonus and spreads the cost.
Not only are they a mess for the drains but also the environment, they take ages to break down and if you use them to take off your makeup, you use them daily, they are just clogging up landfills. Really there is no excuse for it either, there are so many alternatives now-a-days that no one should be using face wipes. Plus the alternatives are way better for your skin. My personal choice is a cleanser and a muslin cloth, I find my face gets a good clean and I can use a cloth to remove everything. If I've used a face mask I will use the muslin cloth to help remove it and such. Also I can use it multiple times before I put it to wash.
If you want to go one better and ditch the chemicals, use a Face Halo. Face Halo is a relatively new Australian brand who have created a little round face cloth that removes all of your makeup without the need for a cleanser. I do have one and I was shocked to find out that it really did remove all of my makeup. If you want to find out more I did do a whole blog post on it here: Face Halo: Gimmick or Does it Work? With a Face Halo you can get up to 200 washes out of one and if you use one Face Halo a day, you are using 1 product instead of 200 and they aren't being binned. All you would need is 8 face halos for a week and you would be covered: 7 for each day and allowing one in the wash. This is a way better system of cleaning your skin and limiting your effect on the environment because you can just throw them in your standard white wash you would do weekly anyway.
I will admit I have always been pretty good with not using face wipes but I do regularly use cotton pads to remove my eye makeup, well there is a solution for this too. I didn't know until a recent video by Jamie Genevieve that you can buy reusable cotton pads from Amazon for around £11, which you use a normal eye makeup remover with and then throw it in the wash. This is something I definitely need to get into because at the moment I am using too many cotton pads and this is a little change I can make to improve my beauty routine.
There are so many ways of removing your makeup without the need to use Face Wipes or Cotton Pads so why not ditch them for a more eco-friendly life?
Ditch your Face Wipes
Do yourself a favour and ditch the face wipes! Not only are face wipes the worst thing for your face but they are also the worst thing for the environment. I have never been a fan of them and I've never really used them opting for cleansers instead so it honestly came as a shock to me that people put face wipes down the toilet?! I didn't even know that was thing. Since I was little I've always been told that the only thing you can put down the toilet that doesn't come from your body is tissue and used tampons, other than that it goes in the bin. I was horrified to see the images of how many issues face wipes cause the drains and the mess they make.Not only are they a mess for the drains but also the environment, they take ages to break down and if you use them to take off your makeup, you use them daily, they are just clogging up landfills. Really there is no excuse for it either, there are so many alternatives now-a-days that no one should be using face wipes. Plus the alternatives are way better for your skin. My personal choice is a cleanser and a muslin cloth, I find my face gets a good clean and I can use a cloth to remove everything. If I've used a face mask I will use the muslin cloth to help remove it and such. Also I can use it multiple times before I put it to wash.
If you want to go one better and ditch the chemicals, use a Face Halo. Face Halo is a relatively new Australian brand who have created a little round face cloth that removes all of your makeup without the need for a cleanser. I do have one and I was shocked to find out that it really did remove all of my makeup. If you want to find out more I did do a whole blog post on it here: Face Halo: Gimmick or Does it Work? With a Face Halo you can get up to 200 washes out of one and if you use one Face Halo a day, you are using 1 product instead of 200 and they aren't being binned. All you would need is 8 face halos for a week and you would be covered: 7 for each day and allowing one in the wash. This is a way better system of cleaning your skin and limiting your effect on the environment because you can just throw them in your standard white wash you would do weekly anyway.
I will admit I have always been pretty good with not using face wipes but I do regularly use cotton pads to remove my eye makeup, well there is a solution for this too. I didn't know until a recent video by Jamie Genevieve that you can buy reusable cotton pads from Amazon for around £11, which you use a normal eye makeup remover with and then throw it in the wash. This is something I definitely need to get into because at the moment I am using too many cotton pads and this is a little change I can make to improve my beauty routine.
There are so many ways of removing your makeup without the need to use Face Wipes or Cotton Pads so why not ditch them for a more eco-friendly life?
Buy Less
Throughout No Spend June I have been using a lot of products up so I have been able to recycle more products and I have been trying to dispose of my empties properly. However I would not have this problem if I simply purchased less products. If I bought less products there would be less waste and if in general people didn't buy into the consumerism of the beauty industry then less beauty products would be created and therefore the beauty industry would not be in the mess that it is currently in.
There is currently a movement called the #NoBuy Movement which is all about buying less and only buying what you need. More people are getting in on this and it is certainly a change within the industry. A lot of bloggers now receive PR and smaller bloggers are trying to find ways that they can spend less and use less so the shift seems to be going against the brands who are less likely to see the same return from bloggers.
For the entire month of June I always take part in No Spend June where I do not spend any money on beauty and I have been doing it for the past three years. We are now close to the end of June and I am seriously thinking of continuing it on into July. I have so many products to talk about already in July so I do not need any products for content and I am not likely to run out of anything. Actually as I type this I have decided that I am going to continue this into July so you will not be seeing too many new products on my blog.
If you want to read more about the No Buy Movement, here is an article I read on Vogue: What is No Buy Beauty
Donate Products
There are lots of charities which have now started to take in beauty products. Obviously there are quite strict rules on what will be accepted but if you are able to donate, you should. My one criticism is that a lot of these charities are London based and really they should be all over the country, surprisingly not all bloggers and beauty addicts are based in London. However I encourage you to do some research and find out if you are able to donate within your area.
Even if you are not able to donate to a charity, it is worth offering products to your friends and if I have a product I'm not sure about and I think a friend would prefer it then I will give it to them. When I last went to my besties house she gave me a whole stash of beauty which she no longer wanted. I have actually used most the products she has given me and one will even be in my empties at the end of the month. What I am trying to say is just because you don't like a product, it doesn't mean that someone else won't like it which is why you should also consider if there is someone who the product can be given to before you get rid of it.
Really we are doomed, no matter what we do we can never reduce our effect on the environment completely but we can certainly help a little bit. I always think it is the worst seeing the empty plastic bottle floating around in the sea and that is not something I want to see. If I can do my bit to reduce this then I will. These are just some of the ideas that I try to live buy and some of the changes I have made over the past year to try and improve my effect on the environment. You can't be expected to save the environment yourself but we can all do our little bit to help.
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