Best of 2016

OK so I dunno about you but personally, 2016 has been a festering turd of a year and I for one cannot wait to be done with it. Between the death of our beloved Jazzy cat, back injuries, job losses, Brexit, more back injuries, more colds than I can count on one hand, an endless stream of celebrity deaths and Trump... this year is not one I want to remember.

However, it wasn't all bad, right? RIGHT?

Right! Behind every cloud there is a silver lining, so here are the good bits from 2016!

I found out that I'm going to be an Auntie again in 2017. We booked a venue and started planning our wedding for next year. I got a new job, one I actually like with a boss who is pretty awesome. I already knew I won the lottery when it came to friends and family and I feel so lucky to have had my awesome parents, fiance and friends all there for me through it all.

Again, I already knew the guy I'm marrying is amazing, but dealing with so much difficult stuff together this year has just made us even stronger.

OK OK, onto some less mushy stuff.

Rogue One
It was pretty damn epic. In fact I'm looking forward to going and seeing it again before it leaves the cinema.

The BFG
We had a day of cinema when this film came out (we planned to watch 5 films in a day but quit after 3) and the BFG was the first one.

This book was my absolute favourite as a kid and I loved the cartoon movie from the late 80s with David Jason as the voice of The BFG. So I had high hopes for this movie and it did not disappoint. I loved it.

I especially loved Jemaine Clement as Fleshlumpeater :)

Zizzi's 
Zizzi's updated their menu again late this year and added even more vegan options, after introducing vegan cheese for their pizzas earlier in the year. They added a lentil ragu, which I HOPE they never discontinue and a dessert pizza.

Gary!
Earlier this year Sainsbury's released their new range of vegan cheeses and it was pretty friggin exciting. The taste test video I made has more views than the rest of my videos put together I think hahaha.

Caramelised onion Gary, melted on toast!

TV Shows!
There were quite a few good TV shows this year, I'll start with...

Gilmore Girls - A Year in the Life
I KNOW I wasn't the only one excited for this. I couldn't wait to watch the new episodes and although it wasn't perfect (far from it) I still loved it!

If you want to read some very thorough and awesome reviews of the series, head over to my friend Randi's blog to read her posts about each of the episodes (and spoilers so only if you've already watched!)

there was also

Stranger Things

Everyone seemed obsessed with this one and rightly so, it was brilliant!

Westworld

I had trouble with this at times and couldn't decide for a few episodes if I was into it, but by the end I was totally hooked and loved it!

The Crown

My most recent obsession! I don't give a flying crap about the monarchy but I do love me a dramatisation like this. And it's fantastically acted.

Sainsbury's Meatless Balls (hehe*)

Sainsbury's updated some of the meat analogues this year, including their meatballs and they are pretty dang amazing!

here they are all saucy and covered in Gary! ooh-er!


*In case you're wondering, the answer is no! It will never not be funny :)

Really, I just want to give props to all the brands out there who've brought out even more awesome vegan products, whether accidental or not. Like Oatly and their custard and creme fraiche, Quorn nuggets, fillets and spicy burgers, Alpro dessert moments and new ice creams... more and more stuff is appearing every day. 

And also to the chain restaurants who are starting to realise we exist. I mentioned Zizzi's above but also Bella Italia, Harvester*, Toby Carvery, Ask Italian, Nando's and Prezzo's  all now have at least one vegan option labelled on their menu and most have a pudding that's suitable too. (*I still haven't found a Harvester near me that has the new menu, but hopefully some day soon it'll arrive!)

Skechers Memory Foam Trainers

I know I know, I'm getting old, but dammit they're just so damn comfy!

 (did you know you can search for vegan shoes on their website?)

I've deliberately left out makeup and beauty items, because I'll be filming a video on my 2016 beauty favourites.

I want to say a HUGE thank you to whoever is reading this, for staying with me this year, whether you're new here or not. Have an awesome New Year's eve no matter what you do and I'll see you in 2017.

Also, if anyone is celebrating their veganniversary tomorrow (like me - 9 years!), happy veganniversary.

So eff off 2016, you're no longer welcome; 2017 we're counting on you!!

Love & smooches

Sal xXx

New Year's Eve Makeup

Hey peeps

Just a quick post as it's NYE tomorrow (thank fuck, the end of this year cannot come soon enough!) and for anyone stuck for some makeup inspiration, I've posted a few tutorials this week. One has just gone live and there is one more tomorrow.

 

Head to my channel via THIS LINK to check out any of the above looks and there's one more tomorrow!

Have an awesome NYE whatever you do and I will see you in 2017!

Sal xXx

Christmas Foodz

Hey beautiful peeps,

I was pretty rubbish at taking food pics this year, but I did take one of our main. This year Simon had his first every totally vegetarian Christmas day (he isn't veggie, but he doesn't eat most meats anymore including turkey).

My back was still pretty bad so I helped by chopping the veg for our wellington sitting at the dining table hehe.

This year, we couldn't find a tofurky anywhere, so we made this magnificent beast from Mildred's recipes. The only changes we made were to leave out the truffle oil as we couldn't find any and we added a few extra finely chopped muchrooms, that I sauteed with the onions. It was fantastically awesome and I would not hesitate to serve this to any omnivorous dinner guest!

Also, it wouldn't be boxing day without an epic boxing day leftovers sandwich!!

oh look, a couple of christmas day bellends!

 

On Chrimbo day, my bro made the dessert and I didn't take a pic! doh. But basically it was a dairy free ice cream bomb and it was the bomb. Geddit? .... I'll get my coat.


Oh no wait, come back... before I sod off, I'll leave you with a shameless plug for my latest video - a new year's eve party makeup tutorial (it was actually the makeup I work on Christmas day, so much for subtle glitter). I'd love it if you checked it out and subscribe if you haven't.

Also, tell me what you had for Chrimbo dinner / leave me a link to your blog or instagram... etc if you've posted it.

Sal xXx

Christmas Day Makeup

I'm sneaking in a last minute Christmas look! Here is the makeup (or something similar to what) I'll be wearing tomorrow. It's pretty simple, just a few colours on the eyes and some (very subtle) glitter of course.

To see the video tutorial, clickety click below!

Products Used
Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer - 01 I've since discovered Collection are not cruelty free!
Makeup Revolution Single Eyeshadow - Touch Me
Makeup Geek Eyeshadows - Peach Smoothie, Barcelona Beach and Mocha
Sleek Solstice Highlighter Palette
Makeup Geek Foiled Eyeshadow - Magic Act
GOSH Xtreme Gel Liner - Black
Collection Glam Crystals Liner - FunkBarry M Fine Glitter Dust - 15
Barry M Lash Vegas, Fibres
Becca Undereye Brightening Perfector
Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer - 01 and 03
NYX HD Finishing Pressed Powder
Hourglass Arch - Platinum Blonde
GOSH Velvet Touch Eyeliner - Renaissance Gold
Sugarpill Chromalust Shadow - Olivia
Collection Glam Crystals - Le Freak
Kiss Lashes - Vamp
Eylure lash adhesive
Wet n Wild Contouring Palette - Dolce De Leche
MeMeMe Blush Box - Pink
TheBalm - Mary-Lou Maniser
Barry M Mist and Fix Dewy Finish Spray
OCC Lip Tar RTW - Hush

Brushes
Bdellium 785
Illamasqua Blending Brush
Makeup Geek Small Crease Brush
Zoeva Bamboo Wing Liner Brush
Beauty Blender
Real Techniques Mini Perfecting Sponge
Furless PPE2 Brush
Furless Powder Brush
Real Techniques Duo Fibre Contour Brush
ELF Blush Brush
Makeup Revolution Small Detail Brush

For anyone interested, on my nails I am wearing Fairypants Nail Polish in Nymph, topped with Barry M Princess Textured polish (glitter).

Bonus pic of my sexy festive t-shirt for today, for those of you who don't follow me on instagram!

Have an awesome Chrimbo if you celebrate it and if not, then just enjoy the time off work, eat loads and I'll see you in a couple of days with some NYE makeup ideas!

Love & festives snogz!
Sal xXx

Festive Gift Ideas for Lamey McLate Shoppers!

There are those people in life that are super organised, do all their Christmas shopping in the previous year's boxing day sales and have it wrapped by mid june.

I'm not one of them.

If like me you've just realised you have less than 2 weeks until the day itself and you haven't done any shopping yet and are dreading facing the crowds of the high street, you are not alone.

Here's some options for gifts that you can buy online and still get delivered before Chrimbo!

Lush 
An obvious one but a good one. Lush always have a tonne of awesome product releases for the holiday season (check out my post about it HERE) and they also, very handily, do a tonne of gift sets that are already beautifully wrapped and loads of them are vegan.

Check out their selection of gift sets HERE.

Food Hampers
If you don't fancy making your own, you could order one of these awesome raw food hampers from Nama! You need to leave a few days for posting as they make the contents fresh.

Certain areas within London, the delivery is free but they do ship outside of London too. Order by 22nd December for one of these hampers,

Nama recently sent me a selection of some of the items you can find in their hampers and I made a little taste test video:

Vegan Tuck Box
You can order a subscription or a single box for someone HERE. There are a bunch of boxes, including a gluten free one for the GF people in your life. Psst, you need to order by the 18th December from this site to get it before Christmas.

Vegan Kind Box
Are a subscription service that do a monthly food box and a quarterly beauty box. I have a beauty subscription with them that is totally worth it, in my opinion. You can buy past boxes as gifts, or they also have a whole page dedicated to gifts and gift sets HERE.

Real Techniques
RT often have gift sets out at this time of year and I think this one is pretty awesome. Good selection of brushes (I am a HUGE fan of RT's brushes) and a carry case too. Available from Superdrug.

Tanya Burr Beauty Box
The TB line is carried at Superdrug also and the bits I have tried have been lovely for the price. The range is cruelty free and they advised me it's vegan friendly. I did find a palette (limited edition) at this time last year that had carmine in, so now I always check through the ingredients and they seem fine on this. Available HERE.

In this box it looks like you get a trio of eyeshadows, a lip gloss, liquid highlighter, a mirror, some eyelashes and a couple of nail files. It looks pretty nice and I do like the formula of the TB eyeshadows.

Eden Perfumes

Most high end perfumes are NOT cruelty free. But if you have a favourite designer scent, chances are Eden makes a cruelty free, vegan dupe for it. I have the J'adore copy (Dior) and it is amazing!

Eden have a shop in Brighton but ship as well from their website.

Ethical Superstore

The Ethical Superstore has a section for gifts and you can filter vegan items - last posting day is 19 December on this site. 

They have booja booja truffles. Just sayin'!

Violent Veg Desk Calendar 2017

Because who doesn't want a desk calendar? I buy the Violent Veg one every year, have for at least the last 3 or 4 years now and I've already ordered next year's too. I normally buy it from one of the Calendar Club shops or stalls that always pops up in one of my local towns but as I'm avoiding the high street like the plague right now, I got it from amazon. You can also buy it from HERE (along with a tonne of other options, if hilarious veg are not for you!) for less than I paid for it from amazon. DAMMIT!

Fancypants Makeup from Charlotte Tilbury

For the fancy lady in your life - why not get her some highfalutin* makeup from Charlotte Tilbury! (*Word of the day toilet paper?)

CT is one of the only luxury makeup brands that is actually cruelty free and they have lots of vegan options (Logical Harmony has a list HERE). Also, if you go onto her site, one of the changing stories on her front page tells you how long you've got left to order in time for Christmas (8 days at the time of writing this on 14 December!!)

Personally, I've been eyeing the Filmstar Bronze and Glow kit for a LONG time. In my mind it is going to be part of my wedding makeup next year hahaha

Also, hardly any high end eyeshadow palettes are vegan, but CT has a few and I think this Golden Goddess palette looks beautiful!

More makeup

Also, you have until 19th December to order from Makeup Without Malice, which is a website that sells only vegan and cruelty free makeup!! Like this awesome VE Cosmetics eyeshadow palette!

Not really vegan related, but I found this awesome Dinosaur play doh (ish) set, for any of you that, like me, have a little family member who is obsessed with dinosaurs. If you have prime you will get this in a couple of days!

And lastly, if you really wanna get someone to sleep with love you, get them an Amazon Echo Dot! Simon got one from his friends for his birthday last month and it is AWESOME. I just kind of like bossing Alexa around. What? Don't judge me. "Alexa, play the Backstreet Boys. Erm, I mean Led Zep, play Led Zeppelin!!"

Happy shopping!
Sal xXx