I have been quiet lately. In January, I started a new part-time job and ended up working more hours than originally planned. I also took a summer job so I am now juggling between my two jobs.

I have some really good new though! I am going to university to pursue a career in environmental science. As environmental issues and science is is something really interests me, I decided to take it further by gaining as much knowledge as possible. I am really excited about this and can't wait to meet people similar interests.

Finding various make up pencils without plastic caps is hard, finding natural ones is even harder. I knew Kjær Weis' pencils had metallic caps but then I came across Odylique. One of the organic beauty shops I commonly buy from messed up my order. They gave me an eyeliner pencil by Odylique as a "we're sorry gift". It turned out that the lid was actually metallic and not just plastic made to look like it.

Summer is just around the corner and proper skincare is important to prevent damage. During the winter I use potent antioxidant serums, but I move away from these in the summer because they make skin more sensitive to UV radiation. When the sunnier months approach, I turn to products with sun-protecting and moisturizing properties.

The two plastic-free products I'm using now is Antipodes, Immortal SPF 15, natural sun protection face & body moisturizer and All Good, Sunscreen butter, SPF 50. The Immortal SPF 15 moisturizer is a light, odorless, multipurpose cream and is therefore perfect for daily use. It consists of natural ingredients (see image below for ingredients) and offers some sun protection due to the zinc oxide. This cream comes in a recyclable aluminum tube. The only plastic is the cap.

UV radiation is at it's strongest between 12:00-18:00 and SPF 15 is not enough during those hours. I therefore use the All Good, Sunscreen Butter with SPF 50. This sunscreen comes in small, handy tin jar that is easy to bring with you everywhere because it fits in pockets. This sunscreen is water resistant up to 80 minutes, biodegradable, non-nano and coral reef safe. The active ingredient here is also zinc oxide. I don't know why the other ingredients are not listed on the back of the jar, but they're listed on All Good's product website. They are: Organic Coconut Oil, Organic Beeswax, Organic Calendula Flowers infused in Organic Jojoba Oil, Vitamin E.

Wrinkles and fine lines gradually sneak up on us as we age, though a natural and unavoidable process, it's not exactly something to look forward to. Thankfully, there are preventative measures that can be taken to slow the progression. Hydrating your delicate under-eye skin is key and that makes eye creams must-have skin care products.

There are a lot of natural products to chose from, Tata Harper caught my eye early on. This luxurious brand, named after it's creator, uses 100% natural ingredients. Many of the ingredients are farmed at Tata's own organically certified farm in Vermont. Several of her products have been on my watchlist, but the brand is quite pricey, making me hesitate. I later gave it some thought and my conclusion can be summed up in four cringeworthy letters: YOLO.

The product I purchased was the Boosted Contour Eye Mask. The mask comes in a 15 ml glass jar. I thought the lid was tin, but it's unfortunately plastic, but it's still better than an all-plastic jar. Now, over to the product. I'll start with the consistency because it was not what I expected, not in a bad way though. The mask is thick, buttery and has a somewhat hard consistency. One thing I really like is that the mask gives long term moisture. Ordinary creams tend to be too liquid and evaporate quickly, leaving your skin just like it was before you applied anything at all. I must say that the scent on this mask is just amazing! It has a delicious, almost tea-like, jasmine scent. I'm not fond of scented products for your face, but this one smells lovely.

I do not regret giving this product a try, even with the large price tag. Despite being only twenty-something of age, it's never too early to start moisturizing!

I present to you ... Sustainlabel. Yes, I renamed my blog. Why Sustainlabel? Well, most of my entries currently deal with sustainable products by sustainable brands and not so much waste management after all. Also, when organic beauty is such a large part of what I write about, I don't want to limit my blog to zero waste only.

I've realized that zero waste is not as easy as I thought. I'm not going to give it up, but I'm also not going to pressure myself as much as I have been doing. One of the reasons are the limited local options, something that has been an obstacle for many of us. I've said before that sometimes the least sustainable option, paradoxically, still becomes the best option.

Norwegian grocery stores, for example, are notorious with their plastic packaging. Fruits and vegetables are almost always wrapped in plastic. A girl's gotta eat, you know... Of course I made some no-no purchases. I can't quit veggies just because they're packaged in plastic. Just to be fair, I'd like to mention that Norway's recycling options are excellent. Any plastic I've had to purchase has been recycled.

Anyway, I've ended up filtering my posts in my attempt to present a zero waste lifestyle. This was of course hardly mentioned, and I felt that it was wrong. How To Lose Waste was not an appropriate name for my blog, and thus I renamed it.

RMS Beauty has become one of my favorite makeup brands. The ingredients, packaging and what the brand stands for is great. It's hard not to like it so I recently added two new products to my makeup pouch. I previously reviewed the "Un" cover-up concealer and Lip2Cheek in the color Illusive. Today, I'll be reviewing two of Eye Polishes, Seduce and Lunar.

Seduce
Seduce has a deep brown color. It is very pigmented, a light poke into the jar gives more than enough product. It is easy to blend, but is a little bit drier than Lunar. Seduce also can also work as a contour.

Lunar
Lunar has a ivory shade with a tiny hint of gold, it looks almost velvety. This eye polish is very moist and easy to blend. It's not very noticeable on me, but that could just be my fair skin. I tried using it as a highlighter, with poor results. It works best on the inner corners of my eyes.

Even though I am very satisfied with my Kjær Weis eyeshadows, I've missed cream eyeshadows. I find this type of eyeshadow more practical for daily use. You don't have to a brush to apply them. Plus, you can be more sloppy with the application and still get good results. The oil-base also makes them moisturizing and easier to wash off after a long day.

I participated in an online Christmas calendar contest in december. It was run by a Norwegian organic beauty store called Skinlove. The contest offered daily prizes and was quite simple. I just had to answer a daily question related to organic beauty. Unexpectedly, I won on Christmas and the prize that day was a 500 NOK gift card (roughly 50 € or 60 $).

Because of the contest and a huge sale following the holidays, some of the items I had been looking at were sold out. I had to wait until they were in stock which is why I'm posting this so late.

I bought the following items with my gift card

• Wooden hair brush by Redecker
• Natural bristle hair brush by Redecker
• Hair Oil for dry and damaged hair by Badger
• Face Tan Water by Eco By Sonya

The wooden hair brush is amazing! It is so gentle on my hair and scalp. I cannot believe I didn't get one earlier. Both of the wooden brushes prevent static which is nice too. The natural bristle brush is good for distributing hair oil and brushing out fine knots and tangles. I'm also very satisfied with the hair oil by Badger. It is moisturizing, leaving my hair soft and shiny as well as having a lovely citrus scent. I've only tried Eco By Sonya's Face Tan Water once. I think I need to give this product a few more tries. I read the reviews and people were pleased because they got very even results, but I am exceptionally pale and my ended up a little patchy. I'm still overall satisfied with my purchase.

I have accumulated a nice little collection of organic makeup products with nearly plastic-free packaging. I have already reviewed some of these products and I'll leave links to those reviews. However, I've never showed how these products look on my face, something I desperately seek in other people's reviews.

I don't wear makeup on a daily basis, that has been one of reasons why I didn't add any photos. I also realized that wearing glasses is not a good idea for an eye makeup review. Long story short, I didn't have any photos of myself wearing makeup without my glasses on. Luckily, I wore contact lenses and makeup during the holidays (hurray!). I finally have some decent photos I can use.

Now, I'm no beauty guru. I prefer a very plain look. I shun black pigments in makeup so much that I never wear mascara or eyeliner. I still believe my photos can give you an idea of how these products look on a face. The photos were taken without a flash, in front of natural lighting (my window, hah). I've also adjusted the brightness, as raw images tend to be dull and unsaturated.


My near zero waste makeup
None of these products have been tested on animals.

Kjær Weis
This is a makeup brand founded by the New York-based, Danish-born makeup artist Kirsten Kjær Weis. The brand combines sustainability and luxury. All the ingredients are certified natural or organic and the products come in a sleek, refillable alloy containers, making them very zero waste and plastic-free.

I use the eye shadows Cloud Nine and Wisdom and I've already made a more detailed review about them here.

Eye shadow, Cloud Nine
Cloud Nine is a pastel-pink eyeshadow with medium shimmer. I use it on the inner corner of my eyelid and sometimes as a highlighter for my cheekbones. For this I use generic sponge eye shadow applicator.

Eye shadow, Wisdom
Wisdom is medium shimmer too and has a cool brown shade that's neither light or dark. What I love about this eye shadow is that it's buildable. I blend it out thoroughly on my lids with EcoTools' eye shading brush because I prefer a mild look, but I also this eye shadow to create a smokey winged liner with my EcoTools' angled liner brush.


RMS Beauty
This is an American brand created by makeup artist Rose Marie Swift. Her story is interesting. After working in the cosmetic industry for years, she developed health issues. It turned out that she had toxic levels of chemicals found in makeup in her body. This inspired her to create her own brand and help women claim their right to healthy beauty. I've also reviewed my RMS beauty products before.

Un' cover-up concealer, shade 000.
I use this concealer under my eyes to soften my dark circles and to cover up my occasional blemishes. I don't use any brushes or tools for this.

Lip2cheek, illusive
This one is mainly for my lips. I use it on my cheeks sometimes too and I did in the photos.

Packaging
These products are plastic-free, with the exception being a thin plastic sticker on the bottom of the jar. The jar itself is made out of glass and lid is tin, making it very recyclable.


Physician's formula
This is an American brand that has been around for quite some time and specializes on creating makeup for very sensitive skin.

Gentle wear, organic pressed powder, translucent medium
I use this powder exclusively under my eyes after applying the 'un' cover-up concealer. This is to prevent the concealer from creasing and smudging. I apply the powder with my EcoTools airbrush concealer.

Packaging
This product is not completely plastic-free. The powder comes in a paper maché like container but it has two thin plastic windows, one on the top and one on the bottom. It also includes a brush with a plastic handle. I am seeking a future replacement for this one.


Maria Åkerberg
This is a Swedish brand that sells organic skincare products but also makeup. I don't think the products are available outside of Scandinavia, which is a pity because this brand has the best hair conditioner I've tried. I have been using Maria Åkerberg's shampoo and conditioner for four years now (mentioned in this post: Bar soap for your hair?).

Brow Pencil, perfect for blondes
Years of plucking has thinned my brows. I use this pencil to fill in what's lost, ha ha! This is a wooden pencil but it's not entirely plastic-free because of the plastic cap.

What I didn't mention in the photo and why
I didn't mention my lip liner by the French brand Terre d'Oc. I believe the brand has discontinued their makeup. Terre d'Oc still sells skincare products, but I can't find my lip liner anywhere online. I excluded it because I don't want to recommend something that is unavailable.

It's a shame though. I loved this pencil so much that I hoarded a whole bunch when my Norwegian retailer was having a clearance sale. Is it plastic-free though? Like most lip, eye or brow pencils, no. It has the usual plastic cap. When the time comes I'll find a replacement, hopefully one with a plastic-free cap. Kjær Weis' new lip pencils are potential candidates but I'm not liking the current shades.

Thank you for reading! If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. I don't bite. :)

A new year can feel like a fresh start. It is like a blank piece of paper that has not been written on yet. This certainly boosts the motivation for many of us, making us take our aspirations more seriously. I myself am not a stranger to this effect. Some of my New Year's resolutions belong to the environmental corner, so I've decided to share them here.

Here are my New Year's resolutions for 2018.

Buy less than five pieces of clothing
One thing that I find somewhat irritating is being unable to wear all my clothes. There are of course different reasons for that. I have both special and formal wear that I use infrequently, but that's not the kind of clothing I have in mind. I also have casual wear that rarely sees daylight. To me, this indicates that I own both too many pieces, and some that I do not feel comfortable in.

Fortunately, I have already donated and sold off a significant amount, but I am still unable to wear it all. I hope that by the end of 2018, I will be left with something that resembles a capsule wardrobe. I will continue to sell and donate, but refraining from new purchases should make this goal even more achievable.

So, why five? Well, I'm not aiming to buy five clothing pieces in 2018. It's just that I can't predict what I might need. These five purchases are not intended for fashionable clothing, but rather functional. I will allow it if it's absolutely necessary and there's no other way around it. Hopefully, I'll buy nothing.


Produce a minimal amount of non-recyclable waste
I'm still only in a transitional phase. I don't feel ready to commit fully to the zero waste/plastic-free lifestyle. I can currently pull off a zero non-recyclable waste.

These lifestyles can be extra difficult in small countries, especially when you don't live in the large cities. The local options can be very limited. Sometimes the less eco-friendly alternative, paradoxically, becomes the most eco-friendly one. Traveling a long distance for an eco-friendly product, or having it shipped to you takes the "eco-friendliness" out of it.

Anyway, my goal is to go zero non-recyclable waste. I'll still make an effort to minimize my use of plastic and unnecessary waste. I've thought about getting a jar to keep track of my mistakes, but we'll see.


Make a video for this blog
I've already made a video, but I was hardly in it and didn't say a word. I'd like to make one where I discuss a topic. This idea has been on my mind since I started this blog.

English is my third language and I'm not always that confident in my writing. Discussing through speech feels more natural sometimes and I already have a few topics in mind.


Do a cleanup
This one is pretty straightforward. Whether it's a beach, forest or something more public like a park, I'd like to do a cleanup.

Great news for all the lazy people out there! I have found the easiest way you can be a tiny bit more environmental. It is so simple, you hardly have to do anything.

Ecosia
Ecosia is an awesome web search engine that plants trees with it's ad revenue. Eighty percent of the profits goes to support tree planting programs. It takes about 40-50 searches to fund the planting of a single tree, but it's totally worth it! All you need to do is download the extension for your browser and search the web with Ecosia.

Get Ecosia and start planting trees!

You can read more details about Ecosia here.

Or watch this video for more information.

The snow has fallen, the temperature is dropping and it's already December. Winter has truly arrived. Cold temperatures can be surprisingly drying on your skin and anyone living in such climate knows the struggle. Winter eczema is a very real thing, especially here in Norway.

My lips and hands tend to suffer the most during these winter months. However, dry hands can easily be prevented with gloves. Lips on the other hand can't be covered with layers of fabrics, so a different solution is required. To prevent them from chapping I use the obvious: lip balm.

For years I used lipstick as balm, but my makeup use has declined over the years. It was time for a new, plastic-free lip balm. I landed on Burt's Bees' Beeswax Lip Balm for two reasons: one, beeswax feels less moist, something I prefer. Two, I did my Christmas shopping on Ecco-Verde and decided to throw in a lip balm. Burt's Bees' balm was the only beeswax balm available in plastic-free packaging.

So, what can I say about this lip balm? I really like the solid consistency. I despise that overly moist and sticky feeling that other types of lip balms give. This balm is not sticky, nor too moist. One thing did surprise though. I feel like the intense peppermint scent should have been mentioned on the lid. Peppermint oil was listed in the ingredients, but there's no way I could have predicted the intensity of it. It is so strong that it tingles on my lips, which is okay for me, but maybe not everyone else. Beside from that I find this balm effective and I'm pretty satisfied.