And now for makeup

For years I've been using the big name brands (Clinique, Revlon) to cover up the blotches that I am so prone to , thinking that surely no one is testing on animals any more.

But I was so wrong. Never mind the mica that is mined mostly in India by little kids.

So I have had to work back a bit in my search for low-waste skincare and go back to basics.

So the QV lotion gets to stay because they don't test on animals and their plastic bottles are recyclable. But I'm still looking for a body moisturiser and may have to accept plastic containers as that are recyclable - for now.

I've found a few brands of foundation to try. One is Oasis Beauty which covers all of the above products and fits the above criteria. Others I want to try are Napoleon, Inika and Jane Iredale.

So, quite a few options as long as you aren't trying to give up plastic!

There is a possibility that Ecostore will start offering moisturiser refills, but the two products of theirs I've tried so far do not do a good enough job on my skin.

It might be greener to eat out

Our family has always been high-protein, though while growing up at least I ate tons of stir-fried veges to go with  all that chicken, beef, lamb, pork and fish.

With the boy doing most of the evening meals these tend to be of the meat-and-two-or-three veg variety (but they are usually really tasty).

I am trying to move to a more plant-based diet but this would require me to do a whole lot more of the cooking and do a whole lot more careful meal planning so that the family gets all the nutrients we need.

I have done a few vegan meals here and there, for my lunches during the working week - and some of them have even turned out well, to my taste buds anyways.

But, you know that thing where you learn to cook new stuff and end up with tons of excess herbs, spices, sauces etc? yeah that's me.

Plus, when you buy little packets of stuff to avoid food waste you also end up buying lots of little bits of un-recyclable packaging.

So I'm moving away from that. During the week I'm eating out at one of the vegan eateries once a week, and having banana and peanut butter sandwiches the rest of the week!

On the "plus" side, because the boy was recently diagnosed with gout he is occasionally cooking vegetarian.

What I did for Plastic-free July

Not much actually, that I wasn't doing before:

• Getting our dish detergent, laundry detergent and hair conditioner bottled refilled at a local Ecostore refill station.
• Intercepting compostibles before the boy puts them in the rubbish and diverting them to the compost bin
• putting empty, clean, bread bags (and other suitable plastic bags) in our reusable shopping bags so they can be used to hold fresh produce items.
• emptying out our plastic-bag-lined indoor rubbish bins into the big rubbish bin (rather than lifting out the bags as well)
• picking up bits of rubbish off the street and putting them into a nearby bin, if there is one.
• avoiding buying stuff we don't need
• eating vegan most breakfasts and lunches (the boy does the dinners and they are usually carnivorous)
• Taking my own containers when I buy my lunch, or eating at the cafe instead of taking away
• saving up for a set of period undies for TLM (who is not yet at the stage of needing them)
• washing my face with bar cleanser
• using cloth napkins instead of paper towels
• trying to use handkerchiefs instead of paper tissues (unless I have a cold and need a LOT)

Next up I am deciding whether to replace disposable pens with pencils or with fountain pens and bottles of ink.

And I still haven't been able to satisfactorily replace my moisturisers with waste-free versions (as it's winter and my eczema-ry skin does best with the petroleum-based stuff with added urea). But I have had good results with basic mango butter + almond oil mixes which I buy in a glass jar. And I may try to do it myself so I don't end up with a ton of glass jars with plastic tops over time.

I also haven't had great luck with bar shampoo yet, but there are quite a few to try so it's only a matter of time (surely!).

On the difficulty of being a discerning and conscientious consumer when you have health needs

I was going great with the solid moisturiser bars until winter struck and with it, ezcema flare-ups.
I did push on through but my skin was just not getting enough hydration, so I have had to go back to my plastic bottle of sensitive skin moisturer made from petrochemical ingredients, plus my plastic tubes of body moisturiser with the urea from petrochemical ingredients.

I will keep trying though!