Makeup Labs

Tag: reusable beauty tools

  • Sustainable beauty doesn’t have to be expensive: Our top picks under £20

    Sustainable beauty doesn’t have to be expensive: Our top picks under £20

    There’s a myth that going green with your beauty routine means spending a fortune on tiny jars with minimalist labels. It doesn’t. Some of the best sustainable swaps are cheaper than what you’re using now, because reusables pay for themselves and a single bar replaces bottle after bottle.

    You don’t need to overhaul everything at once, either. Pick one or two of these, all under £20 and all on Amazon UK, and you’ve already cut a chunk of waste from your routine without feeling it in your wallet.

    In This Guide:

    1. Why eco doesn’t have to cost more
    2. Our Sustainable Picks under £20
    3. How to swap without the waste

    1. Why Eco Doesn’t Have to Cost More

    The trick is to focus on swaps that replace repeat purchases. A pack of reusable pads costs a few pounds once and retires hundreds of cotton-wool rounds. A shampoo bar outlasts two or three bottles. So the upfront price isn’t the real number, the cost-per-use is, and on that measure these win easily. That’s the whole point: better for the planet and your bank balance.

    2. Our Sustainable Picks Under £20

    Six swaps that deliver, across makeup, tools and haircare.

    Bambaw Bamboo Reusable Face Pads — around £11. A set of soft, double-sided washable pads (one velvety side for gentle everyday cleansing, one textured side for light exfoliation), with a cotton wash bag to keep them together in the laundry. Use them with your cleanser or micellar water in place of cotton wool, then wash and reuse again and again. One set retires thousands of single-use cotton rounds, so the cost-per-use is tiny, and it’s the swap you’ll reach for every single day. [INSERT AFFILIATE LINK]

    Effect Mascara — around £4. Proof that vegan makeup can be both brilliant and pocket-money cheap. Essence is now a 100% vegan brand, and this mascara has cult status for volume that punches well above its price. The no-risk way to try a vegan version of something you would buy anyway. [INSERT AFFILIATE LINK]

    EcoTools Makeup Brushes — from around £6. Brushes with handles made from recycled materials and soft synthetic (so cruelty-free) bristles, at high-street prices. A genuinely sustainable upgrade from cheap throwaway brushes that shed within weeks, without the premium-brush price tag. [INSERT AFFILIATE LINK]

    Ethique Shampoo Bar — around £15. A concentrated solid bar that replaces up to three plastic bottles of shampoo and lasts for dozens of washes. Ethique is vegan, cruelty-free and a certified B Corp, so the ethics run deeper than the packaging. Slightly pricier upfront, far cheaper per wash, the swap that converts sceptics. [INSERT AFFILIATE LINK]

    Bambaw Bamboo Cotton Buds — around £3. Plastic cotton buds are one of the most common bits of beach litter; these swap the plastic stem for biodegradable bamboo for the price of a coffee. A tiny change, but one you’ll repurchase guilt-free forever. [INSERT AFFILIATE LINK]

    The Konjac Sponge Company Facial Sponge — around £8. A natural, biodegradable sponge made from konjac plant fibre that gently exfoliates and composts at the end of its life, unlike synthetic sponges that shed microplastics. A soft, sustainable swap for sensitive skin. [INSERT AFFILIATE LINK]

    3. How to Swap Without the Waste

    One important rule: don’t bin everything you currently own to “go sustainable”. Throwing usable products away creates more waste, not less, and rather defeats the point.

    Instead, swap as you run out. When your mascara dries up, your shampoo bottle empties or your last cotton pad goes in the wash, replace that one thing with a greener version from the list above. Start with the daily-use items, since that’s where a single swap saves the most over time. Within a couple of months you’ll have quietly rebuilt your routine, spent less than you used to, and barely noticed the change, except in your bin.

    Small Budget, Real Impact

    Sustainable beauty isn’t a luxury reserved for big spenders. The swaps that matter most are often the cheapest, because reusables and concentrated bars cost less over their lifetime than the disposables they replace. There’s no compromise to make and no fortune to spend.

    Pick one swap to start, see how easily it slots into your routine, then add another when you next run low. For more easy wins, browse the rest of our sustainable beauty edit, where every pick is chosen to be kinder to your skin, your budget and the planet.

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    References

     

  • Ditch the Disposables: The Best Reusable Cotton Pads and Makeup Remover Cloths

    Ditch the Disposables: The Best Reusable Cotton Pads and Makeup Remover Cloths

    If you take your makeup off every night, you’re getting through a lot of cotton wool, and all of it goes straight in the bin. A single reusable pad can replace thousands of disposable rounds over its lifetime, which is better for the planet and far cheaper for you.

    The catch is that not all reusables are equal. Some are gentler, some last longer, and some (despite the eco marketing) actually shed microplastics. Here’s what to look for and the pads and cloths worth buying.

    In This Guide:

    1. Why ditch single-use pads
    2. What to look for
    3. Our Sustainable Picks
    4. How to keep them clean

    1. Why Ditch Single-Use Pads

    Disposable cotton pads seem harmless, but the scale is the problem. Used twice a day, they add up to hundreds per person per year, and conventional cotton is resource-intensive to grow. Multiply across a household and it’s a steady stream of waste for a few seconds of use each.

    Reusables turn that into a one-off purchase. Buy a set once, wash and reuse for months or years, and you stop the cycle, while saving the money you’d spend repurchasing cotton wool forever.

    2. What to Look For

    Two things matter most: material and washability.

    On material, natural fibres win. Cotton, organic cotton, lyocell and bamboo are soft, effective and (mostly) biodegradable. Avoid microfibre if you can: it removes makeup well with just water, but it’s a synthetic that sheds microplastics in the wash, which rather undercuts the point. Look for OEKO-TEX certification (tested for harmful substances) and, for bamboo, FSC certification (responsibly sourced).

    On washing, choose pads you can wash hot. A 60°C wash is the hygiene standard for face cloths, so pads rated only for 30°C are harder to keep genuinely clean. A set of around seven is ideal: one a day, then a weekly machine wash.

    3. Our Sustainable Picks

    Four reusables across budgets and cleansing styles. Drop your tagged links into the markers below.

    Best overall:

    LastObject LastRound. A set of seven dual-sided pads in a cotton-lyocell blend, machine washable at 60°C, rated for 200+ washes and stored in a neat reusable case. Soft, durable and naturally moisture-wicking, the closest thing to a disposable round that lasts.

    Best budget swap:

    Bamboo Reusable Cotton Rounds. A multipack of soft bamboo pads with a mesh laundry bag, usually for a few pounds. Biodegradable fibre, gentle on skin, and one pack retires thousands of cotton-wool rounds. The easiest, cheapest place to start.

    Best for water-only cleansing:

    Face Halo. A makeup-artist favourite that lifts makeup with just warm water, no product needed, thanks to its ultra-fine fibres. Hugely effective and reusable up to around 200 washes. One honest note: it’s a microfibre, so rinse it well after each use, and if microplastics are a dealbreaker, lean on the natural-fibre picks above.

    Best for a full cleanse:

    MakeUp Eraser Cloth. A soft reusable cloth that removes a full face (even long-wear) with water alone and replaces hundreds of wipes. Great for a deeper, all-over cleanse rather than spot removal. Like Face Halo it’s a synthetic fibre, so a hot wash keeps it fresh; an organic cotton muslin cloth is the natural-fibre alternative if you prefer.

    4. How to Keep Them Clean

    Reusables only work if you keep them hygienic, and it’s easy. Rinse each pad straight after use to stop makeup and oil setting in. Pop them in the mesh wash bag (most sets include one) and machine wash at 60°C with your towels, roughly once a week.

    Air dry rather than tumble to protect the fibres, and replace them when they start to thin or stop feeling soft. Treated well, a good set lasts months or years, paying for itself many times over.

    Stop Binning, Start Washing

    Switching to reusable pads is one of the simplest sustainable swaps there is: a one-off buy that quietly removes a steady stream of waste from your routine and saves you money every month. Choose natural fibres where you can, wash them hot, and you’ll barely notice the change, except that you’ll never run out of cotton wool again.

    Pick the set that suits how you cleanse, then browse the rest of our sustainable beauty edit for more easy swaps.

    Featured Products

     

    References