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Saturday 25 July 2015

Chain Restaurants

I've added another page to the blog, vegan options at UK based chain restaurants.  Click the link above and please let me know if there's any others that you know that I missed.

Hope you're having an ace weekend.

xxx

Thursday 16 July 2015

Cruelty Free List

Hi Everyone,

Just a little quickie post and I'm not sure if me adding a page will show up like a new post in blog readers etc.

I have now added a list of cruelty free companies, that relates to makeup, hair, bath & body products and skin care.  The link is above, just click where it says 'UK Animal Friendly Beauty Brands'.

There's a lot of lists like this out there, but not many that are from a UK buyer's perspective; so I hope mine will come in useful.

It is a work in progress, as you'll see from a few of the categories not having many brands listed yet. I'm constantly working on it! :)

If I've missed anyone off, please do feel free to leave a comment or hit me up on FB/Twitter so that I can add them.

Have a fab weekend.

Laterz
xXx

Thursday 2 July 2015

Dermalogica Bought by Unilever

Sigh.... feels like I've read a story like this once a month lately!

Unilever recently announced that they have acquired Dermalogica.

I don't use Dermalogica anymore, I used to though and they are great products with lots of vegan options. Dermalogica have apparently told a few therapists (I've read on beauty forums) that they will remain cruelty free.

However, this is still not great news though for those who avoid companies with parent / sister companies who animal test.  It was also one of the few well-known salon brands that you could feel ok about, if you went for a facial!

I hadn't planned a huge post today, but I thought that I'd list a few other UK Facial Brands that are cruelty free, for those that no longer want to use Dermalogica:

SALON BRANDS

Eve Taylor: Not totally vegan, as far as I know, but they are vegan friendly and their customer services is pretty helpful, when it comes to letting you know what products are suitable. (This is the brand I chose for my salon, although I no longer do facials; the products are really nice.)

Kaeso: Almost everything from Kaeso is vegan and they try to use more natural ingredients. I've tried a couple of things and they are pretty nice. I found this on the beauty forum I post on, from earlier this year:

"Thank you for your email and your interest in the Kaeso collection.

Please see the below information which I hope is helpful to you.

Each product has been carefully designed to meet with Kaeso’s Innocence Criteria. To meet this criteria all products must be free from Parabens, Sulphates, Propylene Glycol and Mineral Oil and then they are proudly stamped with the Kaeso Leaf of Approval.

We do not test our products on animals, which actually prevents us from selling our products in China .

All Kaeso Manicure & Pedicure products have been checked and are Vegan-friendly.

All Kaeso Skincare and Facial product are also Vegan-friendly except for the Moisturising Soufflé Body Moisturiser which contains Lanolin and Beeswax and the Collagen and Micro Current Gels which contain Collagen.

All other products in the Kaeso range are safe for vegans and vegetarians."

Murad*: Cruelty free but I do not know anything about this brand or vegan friendliness yet. 
EDIT, just found out that Unilever have bought this brand too!! :(

Natural Elements*: I don't know much about this brand at all, but a salon near me uses them. Their website says they are cruelty free and completely vegan.

Does your salon use a brand you're unsure of; let me know in the comments, I'd be happy to research it.

STORES

Merumaya: I'm not 100% sure that everything from this line is vegan and from their response when I emailed them, (to ask about their melting cleansing balm, which I will do a post about if anyone's interested because it is AWESOME) neither are they! This is their reply:

"Thank you for your email and interest in MERUMAYA Integrative Effective Skincare
As my previous formulator confirmed, my contract manufacturer's cosmetic scientist has also confirmed that the products are suitable for vegans.  Out of complete respect, I want to add a caveat that in order to be 110% we would have to check with every single manufacturer of ingredients and we have not done that."


So, a bit confusing, but I basically just read the ingredients now and if there's something I'm not sure of, I don't buy it. 

B. (Superdrug): Good old Superdrug.  Their entire B. skincare and makeup range is vegan and pretty extensive.  Also, most of Superdrug's own brand stuff is vegan and it's also all labelled as such if it is.

Lush: Again, not fully vegan but awesome and cruelty free and everything that is vegan is clearly marked with the sunflower.

Yes to: Carrots / Blueberries / Cucumbers... they are now in some UK drugstores and they have quite a lot of vegan products. I emailed them and they advised me that the following products are NOT vegan, due to inclusion of beeswax, honey or silk:

"Thank you so much for your inquiry about our Yes To product line! We love that you're interested in saying YES to something new.   The only products in the Yes To lines which contain ingredients derived from animals are beeswax, honey and silk amino acids. These ingredients are derived naturally. Products in the Yes To line which contain one of these items include:

YTC Daily Softening Hand & Elbow Cream:  Beeswax
YTC Dry Scalp Shampoo:  Silk Amino Acids
YTC Dry Scalp Conditioner:  Silk Amino Acids
YTCb Nourishing Baby Lotion:  Beeswax
YTCb Soothing Diaper Cream:  Beeswax
YTB Eye Firming Treatment:  Beeswax YTB
YTB Smoothing Daily Cleanser (old & new):  Beeswax
YTG Dark Circle Correcting Eye Cream:  Beeswax
YTG Dark Spot Correcting Body Crème:  Beeswax
YTG Correct & repair Body Crème:  Beeswax
YTG Correct & repair Eye Cream:  Beeswax
YTCu SPF 30 Sun Stick:  Beeswax
YTCu Natural Sunscreen SPF 30 Stick:  Beeswax
YTCo Head to Toe Restoring Balm: Beeswax
ALL Lip Balms: Beeswax
DISCO: YTC Leave in Conditioner:  Honey
DISCO: YTB Line Reducing Lip Treatment:  Beeswax
DISCO: YTB Rejuvenating Body Lotion:  Beeswax


YTC=Carrot line; YTCu=Cucumber line; YTB=Blueberry; YTG=Grapefruit; YTT=Tomato; YTCo=Coconut; YTCb=Carrot Baby; DISCO=Discontinued products"


Soap & Glory: List of vegan products HERE.

Boots: No 7, Botanics and their generic stuff is usually pretty vegan friendly and you just need to send a quick email to their customer services team about veganness.

Also, take a look HERE at Ethical Superstore, they have a bunch of vegan skincare brands available.

Brands with a * next to them are brands that some local salons used that I have just done a bit of research on. I cannot vouch for veganness, as I haven't researched them yet.

I know there's tonnes more brands out there, I've been mainly just racking my brain to think of brands I love and have used recently or in the past.

If anyone wants a full vegan skincare post, let me know and I'll get to researching!  I'm planning to do one of the products I use everyday anyway, so look out for that fairly soon.

Sal
xXx