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Friday 28 February 2014

GOSH's Vegan List - Phone Friendly Version!

UPDATED 16.03.2016

The GOSH vegan list I posted last week is a little tricky to read on the phone (when you're trying to see it in Superdrug!! haha) so I decided to type it out. Cuz I'm nice like that....

I messed with the order a bit, just to make it flow a bit more logically. Hope this helps! :o)

OLD LIST REMOVED.

PLEASE VISIT THIS POST FOR AN UPDATED LIST AS OF MARCH 2016.


Love & Stuff
Sal xXx

THIS POST WAS ORIGINALLY POSTED ON LOVE-LIPSTICK.BLOGSPOT.COM

Friday 21 February 2014

GOSH's Updated Vegan List


PLEASE SEE THIS POST FOR UPDATED 2015 LIST.

So it took a couple of tweets but GOSH emailed me a list of their vegan products this morning, HURRAH! It is also detailed on their Facebook page but here it is again for those that missed it.


I know they're small but click on them to go to the full size picture (or head on over to their Facebook page for a closer look).

Mainly I'm excited to try the Amazing Length N Build Mascara and that the CC Cream foundations are ok because I love that foundation!

If only more companies would actually have a list!!

Love & Stuff
Sal xXx

Wednesday 19 February 2014

Makeup Geek Gel Liners

Makeup Geek recently confirmed to me that their gel liners are vegan. YAY!  So I thought I'd share this news for anyone who was wondering and also post a swatch of the colours that I have.

So they look like this: 

You get 1.8g (0.064 oz) in a pot and they are $7.99 each (that's about £4.80 to us Brits). The only downside is they're only available from the US MUG Site, but the shipping is pretty quick and it's reasonable too.  (Do bear in mind though that you'll get hit with customs charges if you're in the UK, that you'll have to pay when you pick them up from the post office!)

I absolutely love these liners. They are smooth and pigmented, I mean just check out Immortal in the swatch below..... SUPER black and way smoother and creamier than MAC's blacktrack (in my opinion). They are also waterproof and so they're great for the waterline.  They also make a great base for making shadows pop more and last longer.

And here's the colours I have 
L-R: Poison, Mobster, Fame, Amethyst, Immortal, Electric, Mystic

Fame is my absolute favourite. The picture really doesn't do it justice in any way; it is the most beautiful shiny teal colour that look amazing over a neutral, taupey coloured shadow for a pop of colour. Immortal and Mobster are also must haves in my opinion - they are a staple in my bridal makeup kit!

So yeah, big thumbs up from me.

If you want UK only products, here are some other vegan options for gel liner:
Illamasqua Precision Gel Liner (only comes in black) - £18 for 5g (CV)
B. Precise Gel Liner (comes in black and chocolate brown and has a brush included) - £4.66 for 3g (V)

Love & Stuff
Sal xXx

THIS POST WAS ORIGINALLY POSTED ON LOVE-LIPSTICK.BLOGSPOT.COM

Sunday 16 February 2014

ELF Moisturizing Lipsticks

When I last ordered some stuff from ELF at the end of December, I decided to try out a couple of their Moisturizing Lipsticks. I got 3 colours, Party in the Buff, Flirty & Fabulous and Red Carpet. (The hand swatches were all 2-3 swipes, no primer.)


Firstly "Party in the Buff"

I'm pretty sure that if swatched this on my hand in a shop I wouldn't have bought it. It swatches really orangey and I have a couple of colours like that already.  Here it is on my hand:

But on the lips, it's lovely. OK the lighting is slightly different here, as I took the hand-swatch pics in my lightbox and I can't stick my whole head in the thing! But actually this is pretty true to life. It looks much less orangey on and it's a lovely nude shade.

Secondly "Flirty and Fabulous"

This is a night bright, fuschia pink. I think this would be lovely just with a simple eye look. My camera does unfortunately wash it out a little bit on the swatches.


Lastly, I got "Red Carpet"

This is a bright red that is more blue toned than orangey but is a bit of a cross between a deep cherry red and a brick red. It's a lovely shade - although as my teeth are not the whitest in the world I would prefer a deeper blue-toned red because it makes your teeth look whiter than a more orangey shade.

Forgive my lip swatch - as us lippy lovers know, red lips take time and patience to perfect and I just kind of slapped this on quickly for the pic! Also, the pic has washed this out a little too.

I like the formula of these lipsticks a lot. Their name doesn't lie, they are moisturising and feel very nice on, not drying at all.  The downside of this is that they won't last as long as a matte formula. But I'm ok with this, most lipstick/gloss doesn't really last on me I find anyway (except for Limecrime's Velvetines - those awesome lil suckers stay on ALL NIGHT!!)

I would definitely pick up some other shades of these when I do future orders.

Have you tried these lippies? What do you think and are there any other colours I should pick up next?

Love & Stuff
Sal xXx

THIS POST WAS ORIGINALLY POSTED ON LOVE-LIPSTICK.BLOGSPOT.COM

Thursday 13 February 2014

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Wednesday 12 February 2014

Illamasqua

UPDATE: THEY NOW HAVE A LIST ON THEIR WEBSITE HERE.

After a few emails to check, Illamasqua confirmed to me today that the following items are suitable for vegans:

Gel Line in Infinity
Precision Ink in Scribe (the other shades are probably ok too because I don't see carmine listed, but I just checked about Scribe as I wanted a white eyeliner!)
Skin Base Foundation
Sealing Gel
Nail Varnishes
Freak Fragrance
Hydra Veil

This list makes me happy because I am a huge fan of Skin Base Foundation and Hydra Veil primer and of the sealing gel; they are all a must-have in my pro-kit for brides etc.

I am a massive fan of the Freak fragrance as well.

Also, their gel liner is fab, so anyone looking for a replacement for MAC Blacktrack / Bobbi Brown / Clinique etc gel liner, now that Estee Lauder brands are no longer cruelty-free, I'd recommend giving this one a try. Actually, I think it's much better than Blacktrack, it's more pigmented for a start!

They also added the following in their email....

"We do have other vegan products, specific to shades so please let me know if there are other products and shades you are interested in knowing the suitability of and I can check this for you."

....so if you do have any specific products give them an email or a tweet and if you find out any other products/shades are vegan, please give me a shout too, so I can edit this post.

Love & Stuff
Sal xXx

THIS POST WAS ORIGINALLY POSTED ON LOVE-LIPSTICK.BLOGSPOT.COM

Lee Stafford Hair Products

I'm a massive fan of Lee Stafford's products and not just because their packaging is pink. Although that helps.

I discovered them a while back when I was looking for something to deal with my dry, bleach-damaged hair. I bought the Heat Protective Spray after standing in Boots googling on my phone for about 10 minutes to check they were cruelty free, which they are.  So I scanned the labels of a couple of items and they looked good to go. Not long after this, Boots had a 2 for 1 sale on and so I basically stocked up on a bunch of stuff.

Ever since then I've been building up my collection of LS products, pretty much anything I think I need for my hair, this has become my go to brand. So I'm going to list a few of my favourite products below.

Firstly my number one product, the Arganoil Nourishing Miracle Oil. I love this stuff. I rub one pump between my palms and work it into the bottom half of my hair, concentrating on the very ends, which get super dry. I also sometimes use a tiny bit like a serum if my hair is looking a bit frizzy and I'm too lazy to straighten it!

Second is the first thing I ever bought from this range, the Arganoil Miracle Heat Defence Spray. I use this before ALL heat styling, on wet or dry hair. So if I'm both blow-drying and using a heated appliance like a straightener or curling wand (which I try not to do too often), I will use it before both.  I believe that it's a combination of this product and the one above that has helped get my hair to a much MUCH better condition. My hairdresser has commented on it the last couple of times I've seen her, so that is validation enough for me! :o)

Next up is the detangling spray. My hair is fine and colour damaged from years of being an unnatural blonde and so when it's wet it gets really really tangled and knotty. In conjunction with my Tangle Teezer, this makes combing out wet hair WAY less traumatic.  I also sometimes use on my dry hair, this is especially useful if my hair was styled in curly do or backcombed the night before, because that generally means the underneath will be a mass of knots.

Lastly I picked the Shine Head Spray Shine. This does what it says on the tin, so I won't labour it, but I love this to make my hair look healthier and shinier on days when it is looking a bit dull (ie day 2 or 3 hair when I've put dry shampoo in! hahaha - I try to only wash my hair 1-2 times a week to avoid drying it out more than necessary!) I've also just seen on Boot's website that there's now an Arganoil Shine Spray, so I'll probably be trying that when this one runs out.

There are other products I also love but I didn't want this to turn into a rambling behemoth of a post so I just picked my favourite 4.  Also it's worth noting that some of the products can be bought in mini size, so great for travel if you're only taking hand luggage.

THIS LIST HAS BEEN REPLACED BY THIS POST, CONFIRMED BY LEE STAFFORD ON 14 MARCH 2016.

I'd love to know, have you tried this range?  What's your favourite product?

You can buy Lee Stafford's products in the UK in Boots Stores and from Boots Online.  Lee's Website details where you can buy from if you're elsewhere in the world.

Love & Stuff
Sal xXx

THIS POST WAS ORIGINALLY POSTED ON LOVE-LIPSTICK.BLOGSPOT.COM

Tuesday 11 February 2014

Profile Pic Makeup

In case anyone is interested in the makeup I'm wearing in my pic to the right.... here is some info on the products and brushes I used: 

Yeah, I'm all kinds of classy!

It was a pretty simple eye look as I was going with a bold lip.

Face:
Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer in Fair 1 and Light 2 (CV)(2 for blemishes and under eyes, 1 for brightening up under eyes and highlighting).
- Blended with a Sigma P80 brush (V)
ELF HD Undereye Setting Powder (V)
- Applied with a Real Techniques Setting Brush (V)
Lily Lolo Mineral Foundation (V) in Warm Peach (V)
- Applied with a bdellium tools Pink Bambu 957 Precision Kabuki Brush (V)
Sleek Contour Kit in Light (AV)
- Applied with a Real Techniques Contour Brush (V)
NYX Blush in Peach (AV)
- Applied with a Real Techniques Duo Fibre Contour Brush (V)

Eyes:
Limecrime Eye Shadow Helper (VI no longer wish to support Limecrime; please google Limecrime controversy for info.
ELF Pressed Mineral Eyeshadow in Miss Popular (V)
- Applied with a bdellium tools Maestro 937 Concealer Brush (V)
MUA Undressed Palette shades 1 & 3 (AV)
ELF Baked Eyeshadow in Burnt Plum (V)
Sleek Ultra Matts V2 Palette, shades Dune and Pillow Talk (for blending & highlighting) and Maple and Paper Bag for deepening the crease (AV)
- All Applied & blended with a Furless Bronze Blending Brush (V).
- And a Furless Pro3M Pencil Brush for the lower lash line
Makeup Geek Gel Liner in Immortal for cat eye and in waterline/tightline (CV)
- Applied with a Furless PPM2 Angle brush (V)
- Waterline set with darkest shade from MUA Undressed Palette, using Sigma E17 Waterline Brush (CV)
Barry M Lash Vegas Mascara (V)
Anastasia Brow Wiz in Ash Blonde (AV)

Lips:
OCC Lip Tar in Harlot (V)
- Applied with the brush it comes with

Pouty McSerious Face!

 Eyeball close up!

UK Suppliers
You can buy ELF products at: EyesLipsFace UK
You can buy OCC, bdellium, Sigma & Real Techniques from Cocktail Cosmetics
You can buy NYX from NYX UK I no longer support NYX as they are now owned by L'Oreal.

You can buy MUA from Superdrug stores, online or from MUA UK
You can buy Sleek from Superdrug, some Boots & Tescos stores or from Sleek UK
You can buy Barry M from Superdrug, Boots, some supermarkets or from BarryM
You can buy Collection from Superdrug, Boots, some supermarkets or from Collection
You can buy Anastasia Beverly Hills from Cult Beauty (or from their US site if you wanna pay extra customs charges!)
You can buy Makeup Geek Products from Makeup Geek. Shipping is reasonable but be aware there'll be customs costs.
You can buy Furless from Furless; shipping costs are very reasonable.
You can buy Lily Lolo from LilyLolo

THIS POST WAS ORIGINALLY POSTED ON LOVE-LIPSTICK.BLOGSPOT.COM

Street Foodz

Afternoon all. As promised in my mammoth beauty favourites post, I also have some food pics to share with ya.  Last weekend, I met up with my vegan ladybros in London for a day of scoffing and gossip.
 
My friend Holley and I started in Cakes 'n' Treats in Camden, as we wanted CAKE!  Cakes 'n' Treats is an all vegan cafe located in Pratt Street, which is about a 5 min or so walk from Camden Town tube.
 
But after being starvin for cake, Holley had a breakfast and I had a tofu scramble-filled bagel!  My bagel was pretty ace, behold....

Holley did get cake though, double (triple?) chocolate gateaux. She let me try a bit and it was really good. I loved the frosting because it was sort of moussey, not overly sweet.  I do love a cupcake but the amount of sugar in buttercream always makes them soooo sickly.  But yeah this was good. Holley described it as just like a Sara Lee chocolate gateaux which is apparently a good thing. But I don't remember eating those as a kid really.

And because it would've been wrong to not get something sweet, I took away a vegan snickers. Basically this was super gooey caramel, with big whole peanuts in and a chocolate topping and it was DELICIOUS! I had it the next day and it took me a few goes to finish it becuase it was very sweet. But that caramel, OMG - awesome!
 
Then we headed off to meet Jojo at a pop up market - help me out Jojo, where was it?  I just am along for the ride when we go out in London because I usually don't know where the hell I am. But we met at Liverpool St. Station and walked about 10 minutes from there to an indoor market, where The Mighty Fork had a stall.  I've blogged about them before (I had the Big Chilli last time), this time I knew before I got there I was going for the Brew Dog (because last time I was kind of regretting not getting one of those as well haha) and I made the right decision. Awesome.  I loved the extra jalapenos they put on too, because I like the sshpicy!
 
We then found a bar round the corner from the market and stayed for a couple of hours chatting and drking prosecco out of a plastic champagne flute. Fancy!  By that point it was time for more food. So we hopped on the tube to Soho and found an all you can eat, vegan thai buffet that Holley suggested. It was great but I only remembered to take a picture of my first plateful; which included awesome noodles, spicy 'beef' curry, rice and somewhere hidden under there are a couple of spring rolls.
 
Last week, Mummy Alien had a week off work and as I'm currently an unemployed bum, we decided to go to Guildford town for the day and do some shopping. There was a farmers' market going on and when I saw the bread stall I knew we had to go look. I wish I'd taken down the name of the stall now, because the bread we bought was delicious and I found a vegan pasty!  Marked vegan and all their items had ingredients lists displayed as well.  I'm just gonna have to go back aren't I!

I must admit I'm surprised that it was pretty good. It had loads of root veggies and wholewheat pastry. Normally this kind of thing is bland as hell and needs salt, but this one didn't. I very much enjoyed it! Now that I think about it, it would've been even better if I'd thought to bust out the Reggae Reggae sauce. Dammit!

Last a pic of a curry that I knocked up last week after watching Jamie Oliver's Money Saving Meals, he made an Indonesian beef rendang with leftover beef and I've been googling for ages and I cannot find the recipe anyway.  But basically I didn't write it down anyway, I just stole his idea and used Fry's beef strips. I also added veggies which Jamie didn't, because I like me some curried veg! I've put some basic instructions below if you're interested.

First, I chucked the following into my mini food processor: a whole red chilli*, a clove of garlic, a thumb size piece of ginger, 2 small shallots, about 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds, about 1/2 teaspoon turmeric and all the stalks / half the leaves of a small (supermarket) bunch of coriander.  I whizzed it up as fine as it would go (I added a tsp or so of olive oil to help it along).

Then I hacked up half a red pepper and sauteed it in a couple of tsps of coconut oil.  Then I added the paste and cooked that out for a couple of minutes.  I added a big carrot that I chopped and blanched for 5 minutes in the microwave. I also added a couple of handfuls of green beans that I chopped in half and a good couple of handfuls of Fry's beefy strips.  Then I added a couple of cups of hot water and a stock cube and let it cook down until the rice was done cooking (about 10 minutes).  While the rice had it's 5 minutes standing off the heat with a lid on, I added in half a small tub of CoYo coconut yoghurt and the remaining coriander leaves.  A good stir and it was done!


*I tasted a bit of the chilli as Jamie said to do and it wasn't overly hot so I chucked the lot in, seeds ribs and all. It was after I blended it that my tongue started burning! hahaha. So this was pretty hot, but I like it like that.  Really I'm just suggesting that you test your chilli first and if you don't like it too hot, take out the seeds/ribs!

This would've served 2.  My mum and dad ate the leftovers between them though.

Laterz
xXx

Monday 10 February 2014

Sleek Limited Edition Garden of Eden iDivine

So I'm kicking off my newly rebooted blog with a review of the latest offering from Sleek Makeup.  Their Garden of Eden iDivine eyeshadow palette.

Sadly, it's limited edition; sadly because it's gorgeous.

Firstly a tiny little baby gripe .... a plastic insert with the shade names on! Yuck. I wish that the shade names were somewhere on the body of the palette so you don't have to keep this thing that constantly falls out and flies around your bedroom! GAHH.  Also, foam tip applicator. A FOAM TIP APPLICATOR!  I think it's time companies started doing away with these. If they did, there'd be more room in the palette for, I dunno... shade names??  Gah.

So vent over. I will let the above go and calmly breathe, because this palette is less than a tenner (£7.99 to be precise) and it's lovely.  Most of the colours are really pigmented, they are smooth and they blend well, just like all of Sleek's palettes. Also, the colours are super pretty.  So here's the outer packaging.

Inside shot

Below are swatches of the colours. All the swatches are done dry, 2 swipes with no primer underneath.

Swatch of Top Row 
(L-R = 'Gates of Eden', 'Eve's Kiss', 'Paradise on Earth', 'Python', 'Forbidden' and 'Flora'. 
Swatches of Bottom Row 
(L-R = 'Entwined', 'Adam's Apple', 'Fig', 'Evergreen', 'Fauna', 'Tree of Life'.

And a close up of Fig, Evergreen, Fauna & Tree of Life as it's a bit tricky to see them on the above pic.

Hopefully you can see in the swatches that most of the colours are shimmery. There's 3 matte colours ('Flora' on the top row, 'Adam's Apple' and 'Tree of Life' on the bottom row.) Really this could do with a slightly lighter matte brown than Flora, to serve as a nice transition colour. The palette could also benefit from an off-white matte for brow bone highlighting, rather than the light matte green that is Adam's Apple.  That shade isn't particularly pigmented and I'd probably only really use it for blending out the darker greens, if ever. Over a white sticky eye base, this might show up better.

All in all, I really like this palette and if you like greens and shimmery earthy tones, it's definitely for you.  

Here's a couple of eye looks I did with the palette.  (My computer shows the pictures as pretty washed out, my phone shows them as pretty true to life!)

Firstly using Fauna and Evergreen on the lid, Python in the crease and a bit of tree of life on the outer v. (Please ignore my terrible brows, I had them threaded the day after this!)

Secondly a more neutral look using Eve's Kiss and Python. I wish Eve's Kiss showed up a bit better in this pic because it really is a lovely lovely colour.

Available from Superdrug stores, online and Sleek's website for £7.99.

Love & Stuff
Sal xXx

THIS POST WAS ORIGINALLY POSTED ON LOVE-LIPSTICK.BLOGSPOT.COM

Reboot!

Hello old friend.

If you are subscribed to this blog but totally forgot you were, you could be forgiven for that! I haven't posted on it in over a year and I have now deleted all the old posts, because a lot of them were not that useful and also used a lot of products I mentioned are not vegan and a lot are no longer cruelty free. :(

I am not sure why I didn't do so before, but I felt that if I were to relaunch this blog, it would be only right to give it a makeover and keep it vegan, like me!

So stay tuned for some posts about products I'm loving, I have some planned for the next couple of days.

Love & stuff
Sal
xXx

Sunday 9 February 2014

My current beauty favourites and bit of a facelift!

Helloooooo,

Notice anything new?  Do you like my new layout and my silly picture?  My dad and I had fun taking derpy pictures of me with a piece of toast! hahaha.

I've mentioned before about wanting to a post about my current favourite beauty items, for those that are interested. I'm working on getting my beauty blog overhauled, which is going to include deleting all the old posts because I don't think any of them are particularly useful anymore, as so many of the brands I used to use are no longer cruelty free. Also, I want that blog to be totally vegan, as this one is and for some reason I didn't do that when I first set it up (because I still have a tonne of pregan makeup that isn't vegan!).

So if you would be interested in a vegan beauty blog, there is a link up above now to it, but please note that until tomorrow sometime, (Monday 10 Feb), the posts are old and out of date.  I'll edit this post once the new version is live and also post about it here and on my new blogz facebook page. Come follow me and keep up to date on posts on this blog and Lovelipstick, when it is back up and running. (If you're not a facebooker - fear not, I have other social media stuffs too ... check out the links on the sidebar on the right-hand side of this blog.)

OK I'm babbling, on with the favourites.  Disclaimer: All the products below are vegan as far as I know!  I have either had confirmation from the company themselves, or the product is marked vegan at the point of sale or on the packaging. Any exceptions will be noted.

Note: prices quoted are Superdrug's prices, unless otherwise stated and if not Superdrug, it will be the UK supplier that I buy through. OK, onwards. Let's start with my favourite thing.

MAKEUP


Bourjois Happy Light Foundation (£11.99), Concealer (£8.99) and Primer (£10.99)

I should start by saying that Bourjois do not test on animals. However, I am still unsure of their actual affiliation with Chanel, who sell in China so do test. I'm not sure if they are owned by Chanel or if they are just manufactured in the same lab, but the products are very similar.  I'm still investigating this.

EDIT: I've since found out that Chanel & Bourjois are owned by the same company. So although Bourjois don't actually animal test, they are the sister company of a company that do (Chanel is sold in China, so required by law to test). Hopefully this information is enough for you to decide if you want to still buy Bourjois.

Anyway, I am a massive fan of Bourjois and their foundations and last year they came out with Happy Light and I adore it. It has a lovely dewy but not sparkly finish and the primer is just gorgeous, as you can see by how much I've used.  There are 2 primers, one for dry/normal skin and one for oily/combination. I am dryer and I love this primer so much. I use it every day!

Also, the concealers are fabulous. I have 2 shades; 21 Ivoire, which I use under my eyes to conceal my dark shadows and also on the high points of the face to highlight. I love the texture and it does a pretty good job of concealing my shadows.  I also have shade 22 Beige Rose, which I use on the rest of my face for concealer blemishes.

Collection Cosmetics Lasting Perfection Concealer (£4.19)

Another great option for concealer (and a cracking bargain!) is Collection's Lasting Perfection concealer. This has excellent coverage, it's smooth and lasts a long time. I use it just on the inner corner, as it's very creamy and as with pretty much EVERY concealer I've ever used will crease in any fine lines, over the course of the day.  It has a doe foot applicator, which makes it really easy to apply and you really don't need that much of it.

Barry M Lash Modelling Mascara (£6.19)

Barry M is, in my opinion, the best point of call in the UK drugstores to find vegan mascara.  They have a couple of varieties but the Lash Modelling Extra Black is my top pick. I do like the Lash Vegas that they brought out last year (maybe?) but it can be quite clumpy if you are not fastidious about wiping off the wand. Speaking of wands, I really like this type of plasticy fine wand - it is good for my naturally clumpy lashes!

Sleek iDivines (£7.99)

I love love LOVE Sleek's iDivines (eyeshadow palettes).  However... they are not on Sleek's vegan list and I was unsure why. So I googled every ingredient and nothing was flagging up as animal based. When I emailed them, their response was that it was made on the same line as non-vegan products! Doh... So anyway that makes them vegan enough for me!

But back to why I love them. They are smooth, they are really pigmented, they blend well, they have a tonne of options and they are less than a tenner! Such great value and they really are good.

My 2 little gripes with Sleek's palettes are 1, that the names of the shadows come on a plastic insert, which is super annoying. And 2, that they come with a foam eyeshadow applicator - come on now, Sleek, It's 2014...... NO ONE USES THOSE!!**  This basically sums up how I feel about foam eyeshadow applicators:

But I'll let it go, because aside from those 2 little niggles, these really are great palettes.  The one pictured above is the newest palette, it's called the Garden of Eden palette and sadly it's limited edition. It's gorgeous.  I think that their Au Naturel Palette and Storm Palettes are the 2 biggest must haves though, for any neutral or smoky eye look.

*If you're sitting there thinking, "hang on there, Sal, I use those crap eyeshadow fings"!  Well then you should be ashamed of yourself buddy, consider yourself chastised! Throw them out.... Throw them out now; then go look at my recommendations below for brushes and keep your eye out on my beauty blog for a post about my favourite brushes and their uses.

Sugarpill Chromalust Loose Eyeshadows (£8.98 from Cocktail Cosmetics)


For loose eyeshadows, I think you can't beat Sugarpill's Chromlusts.  Not all their pressed shadows are vegan, but the ones that are, are clearly labelled. But ALL their loose ones are vegan YAY and they do some seriously gorgeous colours.  The pic on the top is the ElektroCute Collection that was released last year. They are neon and seriously glittery! (A word of advice, do your eyemakeup first when using these because you will get a shittonne of glittery fallout that will ruin your foundation!). The bottom pic is of my other 3 favourite colours, L-R they are Lumi, Goldilux and Darling. Lumi is THE most gorgeous shimmery highlight that reflects teal. So pretty.

OK, let's move on to

NAIL POLISH

Barry M Gelly Polishes (£3.99)

I have to admit, the Barry M Gelly polishes were actually my second favourite polish over the last year, but I've recently discovered that CND are owned by Revlon, who still currently sell in China, so Vinylux can no longer be top of my list.

But that's not to take anything away from Barry M, because I absolute LOVE these polishes.  They dry fast, go on smooth and dry to a lovely shiny finish (they are meant to have the appearance of a gel polish, hence the name). Also, for a regular polish, they last pretty well on me. They come in a tonne of colours and I must admit, I have most of them. I use them on my toes mainly as I do wear Gelicure Gel Polish on my fingers 99% of the time.

Speaking of...

Nubar Gelicure Gel Polish 
(Gelicure is a professional product - you'll neeed to look for your nearest Gelicure Salon for prices)

I kind of intimated above, that regular polish doesn't really last on me. It lasts fine on toes but fingers, 24 hrs is a long lasting polish! Some of you may know that I quit my job at the end of last year and have opened a beauty room. One of my treatments is gel polish manicures/pedicures. I researched long and hard for the brand I wanted to go with and found Nubar. I was already a fan of their polishes and I love that all their products are cruelty free AND vegan! YAY.  I tried it out at a trade event and decided to invest in the product and the training and I'm very glad I did. If my nails are ever looking crap and breaking off, 9 times out of 10 it's because I haven't had Gelicure on for a week or so and without that extra strength it provides, my nails just break.  The pic above is a recent manicure I did on myself.

With correct aftercare, a gel manicure should last 2 weeks without chipping and with a good tech that won't over-buff or incorrectly apply/remove your gel polish, there should be no damage to the natural nails.

Let's move onto 

SKINCARE

Eve Taylor 
(prices vary by product, available from EveTaylor.com)

For years and YEARS I used Liz Earle's skincare products and they are great, they really are. But once they became affiliated with Avon, who animal test, I didn't really want to keep buying them, even though they do still have their leaping bunny certification.  Also, their cleanser has beeswax in.  So I looked for an alternative and found Eve Taylor at a beauty trade show. At the time, I was starting to set up my beauty business and had bought Eve Taylor's mobile skincare kit, on the recommendation of a lot of therapists and online reviews. But when I decided against doing facials in my salon, I kept the products for my makeup kit and decided to try them out on myself. I found that they were great and I really liked them on my skin.  I use the soothing cleanser, toner and moisture cream. I also have the soothing moisture lotion, which has a lighter texture than the cream and is good for me in the summer, when my skin is not so dry. I also use the advanced eye treatment serum. 

I use the cleanser the same way that I used to use the Liz Earle (massage in then remove with a muslin cloth soaked in hand-hot tap water). It's not marketed as a hot cloth cleanser but that's the way I feel all cleansers work best for me!

Eve Taylor confirmed to me that these products are vegan, however I cannot vouch for their entire line. But they were very quick to respond to my email asking about vegan suitability, even over the Christmas period, so if you're thinking of trying them out and don't have dry skin, give them an email!

Hurraw Lip Balm
(£3.99 from CutECOsmetics.com)

This was a tricky one because I'm addicted to lip balm and I always have a bunch of different ones on the go. But this one wins it for me, both brand and flavour!  Honorable mention also goes to Crazy Rumours, because those are also fab and I heard that some Holland & Barrett stores have these now!

Superdrug B. Pure Micellar Water (£2.47)
(this is the one picture i had to borrow from Superdrug, as mine just wouldn't come in the right way up for some reason!!)



A while back, beauty bloggers and vloggers alike were abuzz with the fact that Bioderma was now available in the UK. I was excited too but it was brief because I found out it's not cruelty free. When I researched it I discovered it's actually just a micellar water and there's other brands that make these!  Including good old Superdrug. I just want to say that I think Superdrug are awesome for making sure all their own brand products are BUAV approved and they also label their products as to whether they're vegetarian or vegan! HURRAH! Why can't all companies do this? Anyway, a while back they came out with a fully vegan skincare and makeup range called B. and it is really rather good.  

Micellar water is a makeup remover and I use it to remove my makeup, duh!  But yeah, it takes off the majority of whatever's on my face, including most eye makeup (it struggles with super heavy black liner and mascara) and then I use my Eve Taylor cleanser afterwards.  If I'm having a super lazy night, as long as I use this and some moisturiser, I'm happy enough to go to bed!

Soap & Glory Sugar Crush Shower Gel (£6.50), Body Buttercream (£10.50) and Body Scrub (£8) - available from Boots

I never thought I'd ever find a shower gel that I love more than my Lush Snow Fairy! I still love that, but it's only available at Christmas. Boo!  This line is available all year round and it smells, forking DELICIOUS!  I'm absolutely obsessed with it.  If you like sweet but citrusy smells, you have to get this. HAVE to. Soap & Glory also confirmed that all 3 products are vegan, as I wasn't 100% sure from their vegan list.

Marks and Spencer True Red Perfume (£12 for 100ml)

Oh perfume! If you are a fan of perfume and you only buy cruelty free products, it's super friggin hard to find something decent. Almost all the designer brands are sold in China and so even if they swear blind their products are cruelty free, it cannot be guaranteed.

Enter Marks and Spencer.  They have a tonne of different perfumes, all BUAV approved, all vegan and some very very nice indeed. Some are disgusting, but that is the way with all brands.

My favourite is their True Red perfume, because I love that kind of musky, jasminey scent!  The price above is the normal price, but it's currently on M&S's website for £9.60! Which for 100ml of perfume is a bargain, in my book!  Also, I have a 10ml handbag sized one that cost me about £3.50 (currently showing as £2.80 on the website) because I love it so much.

Another one I smelled in store the other day was their Autograph Black Amber perfume, which I realllly liked, but they only had a gift set, not just a bottle on it's own. So I'm keeping my eyes peeled for that and hoping it's not a limited edition!

Steam Cream
(£12.95 from steamcream.com - I have also seen it in large Tescos)

Steamcream is a lovely, all purpose moisturiser that you can use on face, hands and body. It smells amazing, like lavender (which I usually HATE) and it's very rich and thick so it's great for dry skin. However, it sinks in fast and doesn't leave me sticky. I use it mainly as handcream and I HATE that sticky feeling you sometimes get from thicker creams.

It comes in tonnes of different tin designs, the one pictured was a limited edition Movember tin (I also got a free mini one in the same design when I bought this and I keep that in my handbag).  It's great for flying too for handcream but also for when my face starts feeling tight and dry! 

HAIR PRODUCTS

Lee Stafford (£various, available in Boots)

I'm going to do a full post on Lee Stafford's products over on my beauty blog so here I'm just gonna talk about my 3 favourite things.  Their Argan Oil Heat Defense Spray, Shine Spray and Argan Miracle Oil.

I use the Argan Miracle Oil on my hair when it's wet, after I've brushed it through and then the heat defense before any type of heat styling. If I'm blow drying and straightening or curling one after the other, I use it before both!  I really do believe these products have helped get my hair in a much MUCH better condition. My hairdresser has remarked on this several times, how much healthier and shinier my hair is.  

This range is cruelty free and is surprisingly vegan friendly. Not 100%, but a very good percentage. (A very lovely lady in their customer services sent me a list of vegan friendly products!) Keep any eye out for a full post if you want to know more.

Tangle Teezer (£10.99 from Boots)

I couldn't talk about hair favourites and not mention the Tangle Teezer. But there's not much to say except that this makes light work of combing out my super knotty hair, without tugging and with minimal breakage. I've been using one for years and can't see me ever giving it up!

Batiste Dry Shampoo (£2.99)

I've tried a few dry shampoos and generally I've thought they were a crap waste of money; but this one actually works!  I spray it into my roots in layers, then give my scalp a vigorous rub and then brush it back to tame it. There are tonnes of different flavours but this one's my favourite smell and tin design! hehe.  I also love this even when I've just washed my hair, as it adds some volume to my fine, flat hair!

And lastly.... 

MAKEUP BRUSHES

Furless - £various from furless.com.au

Whether you're a naughty foam-tip applicator user, or just someone who wants brilliant, vegan makeup brushes, I would highly recommend checking out Furless' selection.  The above is just a selection of the brushes I have from them and I love every single one.  See the 3rd from the bottom?  Well they sent me that free (they do that, send you a freebie when you buy brushes) and I have since bought 2 more of them for my kit, because it is THE best brush for blending out any eye look I have ever used - including a dark smokey eye! It has a pinched ferrule which means it's slightly flattened so it is also great for packing on colour - WIN WIN!!

Sigma F80 (£15.95) & P80 (£12.95) - available from cocktail cosmetics

I'm giving a special shout-out to these 2 brushes from Sigma. They are the F80 Flat Top Kabuki and the P80 Flat Top Eye Kabuki.  I love the F80 for foundation, I really think it is THE best brush I've ever used for buffing out foundation to a flawless finish.  The P80 is a smaller version, both have short, densely packed bristles and I love this smaller brush for buffing out concealer and cream eyeshadows.

Not all of Sigma's brushes are vegan, but the product descriptions on Cocktail Cosmetics usually tell you what the bristles are made from!  

Other great brands for vegan makeup brushes include Real Techniques, Crownbrush* and BDellium Tools*. (*these brands are not 100% vegan, so check at point of sale for the material of the hairs. Crown has a fully synthetic range called Syntho and all of BDellium's Bambu brushes are vegan - and pretty!)


And so that is it for my current beauty favourites.  I know there was a lot there, (and there were way more products I wanted to include but some companies suck at replying to emails!!) so if you've made it to the end, WOO GO YOU! And also, thank you so much for reading.

I hope you enjoyed a bit of a variation in subject and don't worry, if beauty's not your bag, I have foodz to post tomorrow!

Laterz
xXx