How to make your makeup kit more eco-friendly

We all have our part to play in being more conscious about the environment, as the smallest actions we all take to have a bigger impact than we may realise. As a makeup artist, I am trying to convert to better working practices to be more eco-friendly whilst keeping my kit organised and hygienic. These are the initial steps I have taken to convert my kit.

1 Microfibre Cloths. These are my most recent kit addition, I purchased a pack of 10 microfibre cloths to replace wipes with enough to rotate and wash regularly. They can be used to wash the face or clean brushes on a job instead of tissues. Such a genius simple switch don't you think!

2 Travel tissues. I switched from purchasing the travel plastic packets to buying a regular box of tissues, unpacking them and placing them in this refillable tissue pouch by My Kit Co. It is wonderful as I can squish the packet down and it takes up barely any room in my kit. I use tissues sparingly and try to opt for reusable options where possible, eg blotting lips or mattifying a lip through tissue.

Microfibre clothes from Amazon

Tissue pouch from My Kit Co

3 Mascara fan brush. Disposable wands are the generally made of 2 types of plastic so switching to a mascara fan brush is a big one and nearly impossible to sanitise! Fan brushes allow for much more control and ease to get close to the root of the lash. This tool is one of the long-standing eco components of my kit.

4 Brow grooming. Another tool to replace the disposable mascara wand are these My Kit Co brow groomer and teaser. After filling in your eyebrows brush them upwards to soften the effect and blend in brow product with nothing to throw away.

My Lash Groomer from My Kit Co

My Brushed Brow from My Kit Co

My Brow Teaser from My Kit Co

5 Paper cotton buds. I haven't purchased plastic stemmed buds for many years. These are the selection I use in my kit to cover me to edit or remove effectively! These Superdrug ones have 2 different shaped ends, a pointed and a curved which are my go-to for an effortless smudge. Muji’s offering are great for editing detail or getting rid of stubborn makeup remains in the lashes.

For mayor precision, I opt for these on-point buds by My Kit Co, which will aid you create the sharpest liner EVER.

Pointed and cureved cotton buds from Superdrug

Thin cotton buds from Muji

On point buds from My Kit Co

6 Reusable microfibre/cotton/bamboo pads. Face Halo works with either cold or warm water to remove makeup efficienlty and effortlessly. The water loosens your makeup allowing the fibre strands to remove and trap makeup, giving your skin an invigorating clean in half the time. These can replace up to 500 wipes. Face Halo believes in sustainable beauty and are available to recycle which is pure genius.

The babmboo rounds are a more familiar texture to the traditional cotton pad, pass the micellar were ready to cleanse...

Remember to have a watertight bag in which to transport used wet pads hygienically, I like to repurpose my Glossier pink zip-lock bag as its super chic.

7 Olive soap to shampoo clean brushes. I prefer a bar of olive soap so that I can rub my brushes directly onto the bar of soap and then rinse. I do this at the end of a job at let them air dry 🧼 My brushes remain soft and conditioned this way. I felt super chuffed with myself when I found out the legendary Tom Pecheux uses Olive soap to keep his tools in tip-top condition.

Face Halo from Amazon

Washable Bamboo Cotton Pad from Amazon

Oliva olive oil soap from Holland & Barrett

8 Recycle your empties. This might be something that a lot of people skip. At the end of your job that last thing you want to do its take empties home, however, you shoud keep a hold of that plastic or glass empty product and recycle it ♻️ There are many brands that offer to recycle so take advantage of being rewarded for this habit. MAC Cosmetics, for example, has a Back To MAC initiative, where customers can bring in six lipstick tubes to be recycled by the brand and receive one lipstick for free in return.

Here is some extra information about recycling makeup in the UK.

9 Paper Straws. The straw is an underrated item to have in your kit, I made the switch from plastic to paper straws good year or so ago🥤 I stash them in my tissue bag and they are so handy on set to keep your model hydrated and that lip perfect!

10 Towel. I feel like this is a fairly obvious one. I always lay a towel under my kit working area, rather than tissues which are purely wasteful. I have seen so many towels in my day and I have quite a collection from many brands I have worked with at fashion weeks, MAC, Maybelline, NARs and purchased from My Kit Co. The best towel I have seen (yes I am that much of a geek I look at these sorts of things) when assiting a makeup artist was her Leopard print towels, SO cool!

Towel from My Kit Co

Paper straws from Amazon

I hope you have enjoyed these tips and have found them helpful. If we together, commit to making these small changes in the way we work, when we all participate the results of this quickly and significantly accumulate in turn that help us live in a better world now and for future generations. Please comment below if you have any points to add I would love to hear them! Thank you for reading

Love

Lisa x