Switching to re-useable makeup pads is one of the easiest eco swaps you can make
- Beauty
This is the easiest beauty swap you’ll make all year
Why you should swap to re-useable makeup wipes
While it’s true there’s a plethora of swaps, habits and sacrifices we should all be making on our quest to tread lightly, the pressure to do better can sometimes be overwhelming. Which is why we love simple, accessible swaps so much. Enter make-up wipes.
Did you know that In the UK, 9.3 million wet wipes are thought to be thrown away every day. At best, these end up in landfill, where they’ll take years to fully decompose. At worst, they end up in the ocean.
While on the surface single-use cotton pads, as an alternative to wipes or cotton blend pads, might seem to be a pretty good choice, it can take up to 20,000 litres of water to produce one kilogram of cotton, and if it’s not organic, then there’s the issue of pesticides depleting soils or leaching into our waterways.
Then there’s the issue of bleaching and processing that’s needed to make those little rounds fluffy and oh so perfectly white. What’s more, when they’re flushed down the toilet or end up in our water ways they can wreak havoc on our oceans and marine life.
Which is why the new guard of reusable makeup pads make us so happy.
How to use reusable make-up wipes
Using reusable pads isn’t rocket science. Simply apply your chosen makeup remover – or Garnier Micellar water – and wipe in the same way you would disposables. All that’s required is a little soap and water to clean the pad and when you’re done, then just leave them to air dry on a flat surface. When they’re in need of a deeper clean – around once a week – simply pop them in the washing machine and they’re good to go once more. In fact, most will last for up to 1000 washes, so that’s not only a lot of money saved, it’s also a lot of cotton rounds diverted from landfill or our oceans.
Re-useable makeup pads are as easy to use as disposable varieties, all you have to do is throw them in the wash after use
Our verdict
We’ve had a love-hate relationship with make-up removers for a while now thanks to the aforementioned waste problems associated with single-use cotton balls, cotton pads and even cotton buds. So you can imagine our delight when we started noticing the new breed of reusables. The Garnier Micellar Reusable Eco Pads offer an incredibly simple and sustainable solution to single-use cotton pads. They are super soft, machine washable and come in recyclable packaging. And while it left us wondering whether they might need a little more texture to truly slough away dead skin cells and impurities, after a splash of Micellar water we were pleasantly surprised at how well it removed our makeup and daily build-up.
We also loved there were three pads in a pack, so even when you have a little more makeup or dirt to remove (or you’ve skipped the washing part) you’ve always got a back up.