“Slow cosmetic” embroidered toiletry bag

The vegan, cruelty-free and organic cosmetics trend has become a full-blown phenomenon. You can barely move without reading about the many uses of extra virgin coconut oil or the benefits of essential oils on the Internet!

I must admit that I have jumped on the bandwagon and have been happily trying various natural beauty products, reasoning that I “have to” buy shampoo, soap and moisturizer anyway, so I might as well choose the more natural options out there.

Now, these tests are not always conclusive. I tried cocoa butter, thinking that a chocolate-smelling natural moisturizer had to be for me. But the tiny sample I bought was rock hard, then too liquid when I melted it in a mug of hot water. It dripped everywhere and made life difficult.

I also gave aloe vera gel a go, fondly remembering slicing open the spiky leaves from our garden in Mauritius and spreading the gooey gel inside over my sunburned skin. However, I had thought (wrongly) that the bottled version wouldn’t be as sticky as the stuff that came out of the leaves. Let’s just say I did not like getting stuck to my sheets!

Coconut oil clogged my skin and gave me spots, a gorgeous vanilla-scented deodorant just didn’t do its job and my homemade sugar scrub eventually melted in the shower.

I have not, however, given up on the “slow cosmetic” trend. I’m all for having multi-purpose products that require less transformation and chemicals (even though chemicals aren’t all bad!) to actually work.

In my humble opinion, this embroidered toiletry bag ties up with the slow cosmetic phenomenon very neatly. I could have just bought any toiletry bag and been done with it… But instead, I chose this simple one and spent HOURS embroidering it. It was so soothing to sew the patterns over and over again. It was also ridiculously satisfying seeing them slowly spreading across the material under my fingertips. The 10+ hours I worked on this were so worth it: I love spending time on such objects and making them “mine”, of sorts. Creative appropriation establishes a certain bond that just doesn’t come from paying money for something!

Now that reminds me of Griphook the goblin in Harry Potter who covets the sword of Godrick Gryffindor because it is goblin-made. But in case you are worried for my sanity, rest assured: I would not break into a dragon-guarded bank to retrieve this embroidered toiletry bag if someone bought it from me. Hint hint.