Let’s face it, the world is overwhelming. The climate crisis may seem like something we can’t stop, but we promise you, any changes to your habits will be of benefit. Here’s a few small changes you can make right now to transition to an ecofriendly beauty routine.     If you’ve been following our Instagram, you will already know we’ve been slowly transitioning specific aspects of our lives towards more sustainable practices. (Check out this IGTV story on how we made the kitchen more eco-friendly.) In the last few months, we’ve been focusing on our beauty routine.   The beauty industry is wasteful. We love skincare and makeup, not to mention this job requires us to explore new products, which has been sort of an excuse not to focus on it too hard. It’s part of our job, so what can we do to change? But, as the world becomes more conscious, our options for sustainable practices become more common, which is very exciting. That being said, here’s a few small changes we’ve done to transition to an ecofriendly beauty routine  

Reusable Cotton Pads

  Are you a daily micellar water user? If you’re like us, you probably use up to two cotton pads a day. Multiply that by 7 days a week, 365 days a year and you can imagine the amount of waste we’re producing, just by cleaning our face. Cotton isn’t made of plastic, but you can’t recycle it. It naturally ends up in landfills. Moreover, cotton production requires a massive amount of water. Swapping for reusable cottons pads seems like an easy way to eliminate a huge amount of waste in your routine.   We like these ones from Amazon, but there’s a ton of other options made out of bamboo. These are made of organic cotton, but you can find other brands that use bamboo. It takes a hot minute to figure out how to use them, but once you get the hang of it, it’s very easy. Make sure to wash them with clean, non-fragrant laundry detergent and to use a laundry bag  

Refillable Fragrance

Did you know this was a thing? Refillable fragrance bottles make a huge difference. We’re daily user of the Angel Eau de Toilette (US$84), enough to empty a bottle every four months. That’s a lot of bottles a year, and have you seen how beautiful they are? It’s very sad recycling them, and worst of all, we don’t even know if all their parts are recyclable. The Mugler Fountain, which has recently been revamped, allows you to refill your Angel or Alien bottle. For our Canadian readers, your local Shoppers Drug Mart will have refillable stations. (Most importantly, you only pay for the fragrance, so it’s more cost-effective as a consumer.) Mugler is an example, but many brands have or are release refillable fragrance bottles–to cut down on waste and cost. Less waste, less energy spent on a new bottle, on packaging, shipping, etc.. it’s genius.  

Prioritizing Brands Making A Difference

  Prioritizing brands that are making a difference is a way to reward those making a change. Let them know they’re doing the right thing (because it’s not cheap, unfortunately), by giving them your time and money. For example, we can’t stop preaching about the earth-friendly initiatives behind REN. Our fave, the Atlantic Kelp and Magnesium Anti-Fatigue Body Wash (CA$36/US$27) is made with 100 percent recycled plastic, 20 percent of which is reclaimed plastic found in our oceans. The REN Clean Screen Mineral (CA$47/US$36) bottle is made up of 50 percent recycled plastic and the cap is 100 percent recycled plastic. They even went as far as to ensure packaging was made of a single type of plastic, to facilitate further recycling. We constantly re-purchase from REN and shout it from the rooftops, to reward them for their eco-friendly ways.  

Terracycling

  We recently discovered the Body Shop has a partnership with Terracycle, which is an incredible company. (Since then, we’ve noticed other brands doing the same, namely Burt’s Bees.) Terracycle collects plastic and works with companies that take hard-to-recycle materials. You can basically be assured your beauty products are being recycled properly. Why should you worry about it? Recycling isn’t as straightforward as we like to think it is. Each city does its own thing (in general) and a lot of the things we put in our blue and black bins aren’t fully processed by certain plants. For example, your greasy pizza box can be considered a contaminate. At the end of each month, we round up our empty (and clean) beauty products and deliver them to our local The Body Shop. It’s a total game-changer if you’re transitioning to an ecofriendly beauty routine.