24Hrs-Keeping Watch Of What You Consume

For this blog post, my topic will consist of the many items I used during one 24 hour period. By keeping record of this I not only become more aware of how I negatively impact the Earth due to my waste, but also where I can start cutting corners! Let's take a look at what I used as sorted into these different categories.

A. Food
Starbucks coffee(milk, vanilla, coffee, ice)
Sandwich( bread, eggs, cheese, bell peppers, oil)
Water bottle
Energy bar(nuts, grains, raisins)
Japanese style curry (carrots, potatoes, onion, curry mix, bell peppers, chicken)
Bread

B. House And Buildings
Home

School

C.Transportation And Roads
Car

D. Clothing
Jacket
Shorts (Denim)
Shirt (Cotton)
Shoes

E. School Supplies

Binder
Paper
Pen
Pencil
Textbook

F. Personal Care Products

Toothpaste
Japanese Facial Wash
BB Cream

G. Leisure Activities

Laptop
Novel

Other

Cellphone
Purse
Hair band




The product I want to talk about is BB Cream or Blemish Balm! This product is fairly new to North America, but was originally created in Germany to help laser surgery patients. BB Cream is essentially liquid foundation that depending on the brand differs in price, color; and elements such as sunblock, anti-aging, and whitener(to whiten your skin.

                                                                                
It has been popular in Asia( Japan, China, Korea) for a long time and has found its way into the makeup aisles at stores like Target produced by American brands. The type of BB Cream I use is a overpriced Korean brand A3FOn. Realistically, I won't be able to find information on this brand that is in English, so I decided to do research on some of the American versions and some of the Asian brands.

As I was unable to find the ingredients for the brand I use, so I found ingredients for another brand that has similar features.

MAC Prep + Prime Beauty Balm SPF 35 [$30 USd, Active Ingredients: Octinoxate 7.40%, Octisalate 4.00%, Oxybenzone 2.50%, Titanium Dioxide 1.10%, Zinc Oxide 3.50% Other Ingredients: Water/Aqua/Eau, Dimethicone, Butylene Glycol, Phenyl Trimethicone, Pentylene Glycol, Glyceryl Sterate, Behenyl Alcohol, Trioctyldodecyl Citrate, Polymethylsilsesquioxane, Octyldodecyl Stearoyl Stearate, PEG-40 Stearate, Polyglyceryl-10 ....and the list goes on.

Interestingly enough, all these items which are unpronounceable for most of us and probably unidentified are what so many of us wear daily. Foundations are oil, alcohol, powder, mineral, water  or even silicone based! That Mac Prep BB Cream is a mineral based foundation and to produce this minerals have to be mined. One ingredient I looked into was the Titanium Dioxide. It comes from titanium which is mined in Canada, Ukraine and only three states in the United States. After it is mined it is sent to a lab and combined with chemicals to produce titanium dioxide which is used in paint, food coloring and sunscreen amongst other things. All that work just for one of the long list of ingredients~ Just imagine how much is wasted and how much we hurt mother earth just to look beautiful. This is really sad to read about. I was not able to find out where MAC products are produced by the company has created programs for cruelty-free makeup products, child abuse, and protection for the environment through recycling. These are some small benefits to hopefully offset all the negative impacts their company has on the world.

Foundations is costly to purchase and mostly likely is expensive to import,export, and assemble as it is done mostly in a lab. Once people finish using the product they throw the empty container away which is then shipped to some landfill. Lipstick for example is usually consumed rather than worn for a long time, while we wash our faces or sweat away a lot of our makeup. We even spend money on wipes and goods to remove it! It would seem to some that BB cream or any makeup for that matter is a waste-and rightfully so it maybe a waste to some. But for the masses like myself, who buy it continually, we do so in hopes of being beautiful even if it does hurt the earth.


Overall, today was a much better day for me because I didn't consume as much as I normally do. The only two things that really bothered me was the water bottle and starbucks. Both ended up in the trash/recycle when I was done using them. Besides this, I ate at home and wore BB cream that had to be washed off, but was makeup free otherwise. I am constantly trying to be more Earth friendly, but find it hard sometimes as my selfish desires always get in the way.