Stars: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Laurie’s family are always looking for ways to reduce climate change and try to save the planet. They grow their own vegetables, eat vegan and use the free market to find all the things they need second-hand. And now, ever since Laurie saw a documentary on garbage guzzling, now they find thrown out food in supermarket bins for food, too. For Laurie, this seems a step too far and she dreads anyone at school finding out what her family are like and how they spend their spare time.

One thing she does enjoy though, is making her own beauty products using things she can find in the kitchen. From chocolate bubble bars for the bath, to tomato spot zapper for your face, Laurie has a natural solution to all your beauty wants and needs.

When an entrepreneur venture starts at school, instead of working with her two best friends she ends up being sidekick to Charley – one of the most popular girls in school to sell her products the school masses to try and win themselves a huge prize. Along the way, she finds that she can’t quite find the balance between pleasing Charley, her friends and her family.

The first thing I thought when I read this book is how excited I am to try out lots of homemade skin and haircare products! Recently I’ve really wanted to cut down my own use of plastic packaged products as well as making more ethical choices so the beauty ideas in this book really resonated with me. I loved the sound of a chocolate crumble bubble bar!

I was lucky enough to be given a recipe from Joanne for this gorgeous vanilla lip scrub that you can make using items you have at home! The perfect weekend beauty hack for you to try yourself:

In particular, I found Laurie’s family dynamic really interesting. She loves spending time with her family and does believe in the causes they fight so strongly for, but is also becoming more aware of the other societal pressures that come from her peers and being in secondary school. Often this is something which children really struggle with, so having this explicitly shown within a book is something they can really connect with.

Being eco-friendly and more conscious of our carbon footprint is a hot topic currently, and there are books coming to the shelves which address this but also spark interest in the reader. To me, Beauty and the Bin felt like a really fresh take on a topic which is frequently discussed; packaged in a story the reader can relate to, it weaves in ways that they can assess and change their own impact in an area that is often close to home for teenagers!

And not only is there a fabulous story, but at the back there are some brilliant recipes for your own products at the back of the book too!

Like the sound of this book? Buy it here: https://amzn.to/2KQC9UV

Emily x

📚 Book gifted by publisher.