in my empties: the ordinary, la roche posay, paula’s choice
01: reviews on products you probably don’t need...
I opened my phone the other day, planning to do another round of Empties, a series where I share the beauty and skincare products I actually finish until the very last drop. Instead, I clicked on an article about the beauty industry’s harm on the environment and not surprisingly, it made me take pause. While I try to put my blinders on when new beauty products come out and stick to my absolute must-haves, I know I still add to the beauty consumption problem when I try to only share products I genuinely use and love.
I asked on Instagram stories: “Is it helpful to share only what I actually use and love? Or is it harmful to share at all?” Most of the answers I got urged me to share anyway, as they trusted my honest reviews. One person had a better point, though: maybe if less people saw beauty products overall, perhaps these items wouldn’t be purchased nearly as much.
So I guess here’s my way of taking it down a notch. Instead of sharing my empties to thousands of people on a platform that makes mindless purchasing so easy (which I’ve definitely fallen victim to myself), I’ve decided to share them here, where I can be more thorough and honest and include articles that may make us think twice before we buy. It seems like everyday, there are new beauty brands and skincare products cropping up and because of my work, I get gifted a lot of them. Some I like, most I don’t and it’s rare I like something enough to finish it entirely. Out of all that’s out there, I actually find that I almost always go back to my tried and true. This is my attempt at cutting through that noise. Below, find some recent empties – none of which had been gifted and all purchased by me. As always, please only click on and purchase the items you really think you need. If you already have a cleanser in your bathroom, you don’t need another one. If your skin is just fine, don’t mix it up. And if you are tempted to buy any of the below, please take a few days to think about it before adding to cart.
Oh and one more thing — only 8% of all plastic is recycled and plastic used in skincare and beauty products is even more difficult to recycle, especially those small tubes, bottle pumps, and mascara wands. Instead of dropping my empties in the blue bin at home, I keep a bag under my sink and fill them with empties until full and then drop them off at a nearby Nordstrom or Nordstrom Rack, as they recycle skincare and beauty packaging with TerraCycle.
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