My organizing kick was going strong…until it wasn’t. I’ve been pretty lazy (I suppose that’s relative these days.) these last couple weeks of quarantine, which is why I’m just now putting this post together. I have, however, been enjoying my updated bathroom storage areas!
Here’s a before photo of my bathroom medicine cabinet:
Not terrible, but certainly not the level of organization one expects from Holly R. Layer. My drawer under the sink was slightly worse:
These spots were organized at one point, as evidenced by the clear containers holding various items. Over time, just as in nature, all systems will devolve into chaos…my bathroom storage areas included.
One of the reasons this project took longer than others is that I combined my organization efforts with a ‘greening’ of my products. While I haven’t spent hours upon hours researching all the ingredients in my skincare and makeup, others have and I trust their data. When my best friend was pregnant with her first daughter, about five years ago, she introduced me to cleaner products, making your own soap and the Environmental Working Group’s website and app. I wasn’t ready to go all-or-nothing–or make my own soap–at the time, but I did start switching some of my skincare to fragrance-free versions, and made a few tweaks here and there.
Over the past six months or so, I’ve learned even more about the harmful substances that are in our household cleaning and skincare products. Common ingredients such as phthalates, parabens, methylisothiazolinone, and oxybenzone are known carcinogens, endocrine-disruptors and allergens. Here are the some of the sites I found helpful:
Toxic Beauty : documentary about talc and its link to ovarian cancer
Crunchi Blacklist : a super-clean makeup company, their goal is education and empowerment
Beauty Organix : a local clean beauty boutique, their weekly blog gives a lot of good information
I’m not 100% there, and I will continue to use my favorite perfume and a unique face color palette that Andrew gave me as a gift. Between using my Norwex body cloths with water and greening my skincare, I’ve decreased the amount of products I’m using as well.
Here is the after:
I keep my makeup in my drawer (lower right tray), and it feels so good to simplify my routine! I still can’t believe I threw away so much makeup, but when you think about all the chemicals in them that aren’t good for us, it was easier than I thought it would be. Plus, some of it was SO OLD and I rarely used most of it. No one needs eyeliner in EVERY COLOR.
I visited Beauty Organix here in town and got a makeover with all clean products and treated myself to a few basics, such as foundation, eye shadow, mascara, lip gloss and blush.
The organization continues with my desk downstairs! Have you ditched and switched any products to go greener/cleaner?
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