We are two friends living on opposite coasts (Brooklyn, New York and Santa Monica, California) that share a passion for living a minimal, zero waste lifestyle and on a mission to help others do the same.
Harper. Lives in Brooklyn with a +1. Sassy pup. Matcha. Wine. Whiskey. Cheese. Proscuitto.
Charley. Lives in Los Angeles with a +1. Doofy pup. Coffee. Wine. Whiskey. Cheese. Pasta.
All in Personal Care
GREAT buy, particularly for infant and toddler aged kids! Our kids LOVED Bubbsi’s Body Cream’s animal shaped bottles, which are made of a soft food-grade silicone, and it became an extra bath toy for us. We love the clean ingredients and very light coconut scent. While it is a bit pricier, it feels like we’re paying a bit extra for a bath toy and lotion in one, and it does get more affordable when you buy the refill pouch!
GREAT buy, particularly for infant and toddler aged kids! Our kids LOVED Bubbsi Shampoo & Wash’s animal shaped bottles, which are made of a soft food-grade silicone, and it has become an extra bath toy for us. We love the clean ingredients and very light coconut scent. While it is a bit pricier, it feels like we’re paying a bit extra for a bath toy and soap in one, and it does get more affordable when you buy the refill pouch!
GREAT buy! Bubbsi’s Coconut Oil Balm is our go-to baby balm, particularly helpful in the winter (we’re in New England) when the heat is on and our baby’s skin would stay chapped no matter what kind of lotion we used. We found this to be the most effective in combination with a humidifier. We like the solid form factor and found that a very little bit goes a long way. We also love to use this for baby massages. Appreciate the clean ingredients and refillable tub. It’s a buy!
It is a buy! We think Weleda Skin Food is a BUY! We love the simple ingredient list and it really is a magical, thick cream that we can use on body and face. Its free of synthetic fragrances, colors, preservatives, parabens and phthalates. Ingredients include flower, fruit and root extracts, minerals and essential oils. It smells slightly herbal and altogether cozy. We love that Weleda is a Certified B corporation, and has been certified with UEBT (Union for Ethical Biotrade) and NATRUE (certified natural). This will be a mainstay in our cabinets!
: ITS A BUY (if you highly prefer liquid body soap over bar soaps). We love Blueland’s commitment to zero plastic and it stays consistent with their Body Wash— no plastic in packaging, no PVAs in the formula, no harmful ingredients. We also loved the scent and experience — the powder, when combined with water, becomes a creamy consistency, which was a lovely surprise. We like the scent and the ‘forever’ bottle that comes with the first purchase that we can reuse over and over again. Of course, the powder format also reduces carbon footprint from shipping — liquid is just so much heavier.
It’s a BUY. We purchased Gaia Body 5% Bakuchiol Facial Oil primarily to help with dry skin and it delivered! It absorbed into our skin much better than other oils we have tried in the past (including argan, plum seed, squalane, blue tansy and more. Skin feels dewy and plump, and when we put it on before bed, our skin feels moisturized in the morning (not the case in the last couple of years after having a baby). We also appreciate that there are studies that say Bakuchiol is comparable with Retinol, without the irritation…
Ethique, as a company, is pretty great - a b-corporation with zero plastic packaging who plants trees and donates portions of their sales. Additionally, their ingredients tend to be limited, with mostly natural and those that have low impact on the environment. We loved their solid shampoo and solid face cleanser. We liked their solid conditioner bar and their zero waste deodorant. If we’re using them at night, we don’t mind the solid face and body moisturizers, but the thickness of them are just a bit much for daytime.
MIXED BUY. ThinkSport 50+ SPF mineral sunscreen is a buy if kids are constantly in the water and you’re looking for an affordable reef-friendly mineral non-nano sunscreen. Otherwise we found the lack of blendability and white cast to be less than ideal - Pipette’s mineral sunscreen did a much better job there.
We think Butter Me Up Organics Magnesium Lotion is a BUY! We love the simple ingredient list and the cozy shea, coconut and lavender scent. Great thick consistency that easy to apply. Jury is still out on whether this actually has improved my sleep, but it does make me feel calmer overall. Very reasonable pricing for an outsized amount of magnesium in the product!
100% a BUY from us. The DEET-free, natural Protector Mosquito and Insect Repellent is a steal when it comes to price and effectiveness. It is also made up of all-natural ingredients, relying on very pleasant-smelling essential oils to repel pesky bugs. The one drawback is that the vessel is plastic and not aluminum.
BUY: While Habitat Botanicals has the Buy One, Get One Free Daily Essentials kit, we recommend a BUY on the set! This way, you would get to try out all of the individual products and get a flavor for what you like! If you want to go down the individual route, we would recommend the zero waste shampoo, conditioner, and vegan deodorant. While the body wash was nice to use, it’s a bit pricy (not as pricey as liquid body wash though), as is the lip balm.
It’s a DEFINITE BUY. Nantucket Bug Repellent smells great and is chemical-free and DEET-free. We found ourselves spraying more on just because we loved the scent so much! And it works - we sat on the beach through sunset (when mosquitoes usually come out) and emerged unscathed (zero bites!).
While the pricing is very reasonable for the size of candle you get with EcoAroma, we were very disappointed with all the plastic in the packaging! The candle itself seemed to burn cleanly and smelled nice, but the packaging defeats the whole purpose of our going for a pillar candle to be low-waste!
Buy. We LOVE Oseque Korean Enzyme Powder Facial Wash. The enzyme powder is incredible at cleaning out dead skin cells and impurities, face feels softly exfoliated and clean. And for how little you need to lather for each wash, 1 bottle goes a long way.
Mixed BUY. Personally, we are really liking the scents available at Siblings and we will likely subscribe. We tried No01 (loved it) and sniffed the bag of the No04 (smells like winter holidays). These refillable candles cost more than drugstore candles like Mrs. Meyers, but the scent is really quite nice. Pillar candles like Aroma Naturals are going to be even more earth friendly, but we do like the variety that Siblings offers. Plus we have so many empty candle jars.
It’s a BUY. Ok Marrick’s Fly Away Bug Spray is not cheap, but it smells oh so nice. We found ourselves spraying more on just because we loved the scent so much! And it works - we spent an afternoon in a mosquito-ridden garden and emerged unscathed (zero bites!). A rarity as mosquitoes love me!
Pubic Goods has incredibly clean packaging and an admirable mission of making sustainable and earth friendly products available on one site. Unfortunately, we barely break even when considering the cost of membership against the products we tried and would actually continue to order.
We have been trying to use Public Goods Bamboo and Sugarcane Tissues for three months and we just can’t seem to get rid of them. It costs only $2-3 per year to be green here but we do not think the cost is worth it since all these tissues do is scratch our face (sad face).
If you’re already on the Grove Collaborative membership plan, then paying an extra $3 per year (as compared to drugstore QTips), per person might be worth the zero-plastic option — as long as you go for the bulk option. However, byHumankind is just a bit too expensive for us.
A firm no from us. Even though Public Goods liners are made of more sustainable bamboo over cotton, they are not user-friendly, feel stiffer than traditional liners and are way more expensive.
