Low (plastic) Waste Concealer

Make-up is tricky. It’s very personal. Some people wear a lot, some people wear none at all. Some people are real experts and wear many colors and styles, others don’t know where to start. And that’s all okay, none of those things are good or bad. I would say I’m sort of the middle and currently I’m transforming my personal make-up stash. There are so many options, organic make-up, vegan make-up, cruelty-free make-up, zero waste make-up. And that last things is the thing I’m currently focussing on. I have bought concealer in bamboo!

With Make-up or Without

I am always in doubt about make-up. One the one hand I love wearing no make-up at all. Not having to worry about it, it saves me time and it’s most sustainable. Without make-up no impact. But it isn’t that simple. Because I also like wearing make-up. When I sometimes see people passing by with stunning, extravagant make-up I am amazed. It’s an art really. Make-up makes me feel pretty most of the time. And so I am doubt most of the time. Will I wear it or not today? For now I just take it by the day. And when I decide to wear make-up I want it to be vegan, organic and waste free.

My Make up Routine

Now that I am writing this I’m in a period where I wear make-up almost every day. I then wear concealer, powder and blush. When I go to parties I put on a little more to make it more fun. Then I also use foundation, mascara, eyeliner, eyeshadow or lipstick. Those things come in later and so today I’m sharing about the base. The base for me is concealer, I start with that. You can buy make-up secondhand, I’ve seen it a lot on Vinted. Somehow it doesn’t attract me because with make-up I stick to brands. If I like a product, I stick with it. Maybe that’ll change in the future too, who knows.

The Old Concealer

My old concealer is from HEMA (a Dutch store). I liked it because it was easy to use and did the trick, I have to admit that. But that’s it. It’s not organic or vegan (that I know of) and it’s packed in two layers of plastic. Time for change! When I used it up entirely I went to search for a sustainable alternative.

The New Concealer

Below you can see the new concealer I’ve been using. It’s from the brand Zao and it’s packed in bamboo! I went for the color Ivory because that suits my skin-tone best. As you can see I had a really light concealer before too. I find that it works really well, it covers up my puffiness! It costs 19,40 and so that is more expensive than the one I had. But you get a lot in return!

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Zao Concealer

The concealer has 8 types of certifications! The ones I find most important are the organic certification, the vegan one, the cruelty free one (it’s not tested on animals) and the refillable one. Zao offers refills for this concealer. When you finish the concealer you keep the bamboo outside. You only get a new refill. And here comes the downside for me personally too. The outside (the shell sort of), is made out of bamboo. The inside is however partly made out of plastic. But because of this system they have the littlest plastic of all brands. And as I know, the inside of the product is more important than the packaging (just like with food). The fact that it’s organic and vegan does more for the environment than the packaging. So this is the best thing I have been able to find so far. Zao also packs their products in cotton bags. If you don’t want them to do that, tell them so in the notes of your order. I did so and then I got only the concealer, nothing else (see the picture below). They ship plastic-free as well. Great!

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Recycling

I contacted Zao about the recycling of this packaging. They say the inside of the concealer is made out of plastic and metal. It’s metal with a piece of plastic. They also say this plastic is recyclable. That’s probably not true, since plastic only downcycles. Here in Enschede we recycle plastic and metal by throwing it in the bin for plastics. It’s not perfect, but it’s the best I could find.

My plan is to share the transformation of my make-up stash. This was the first step, but there are more to come. And maybe I’ll even switch from this concealer to another one if I find a better one, entirely plastic-free. Who knows?

Yours sincerely,
Romee

Disclaimer: I ordered and paid for this product myself. This is not a sponsored post. None of the posts on my blog are. I do this because I want to be honest and give you my honest opinion.