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Friday 27 January 2017

Phil Smith Hair Products - Vegan Items

I've been using Phil Smith stuff for a while; it's awesome, cruelty free and affordable. I knew a lot of it was vegan so have just been checking labels while I waited for them to send me a list of the vegan items.

Anyway, the list arrived and here it is, so you don't have to spend ages in Sainsburys reading the labels! (They colour coded it too, which is awesome - colour of the box corresponds with the product's packaging colour!)

As far as I know, Sainsbury's is the only stockist at the moment. 

Sal xXx



PRODUCT
BE GORGEOUS BIG IT UP! VOLUME BOOSTING SHAMPOO, 350ML
BE GORGEOUS BIG IT UP! VOLUME BOOSTING CONDITIONER 250ml
BE GORGEOUS BIG IT UP! VOLUME BOOSTING MOUSSE 75ml
BE GORGEOUS BIG IT UP! VOLUME BOOSTING MOUSSE 200ml
BE GORGEOUS BIG IT UP! VOLUME BOOSTING SPRAY 200ml
BE GORGEOUS BIG IT UP! VOLUME THICKENING CREAM 100ml
BE GORGEOUS HELLO MOISTURE NOURISHING REPAIR SHAMPOO, 350ML
BE GORGEOUS HELLO MOISTURE NOURISHING REPAIR CONDITIONER 250ml
BE GORGEOUS GLAM SHINE GLOSSING SERUM 50ml
BE GORGEOUS GLAM SHINE GLOSS FINISHING SPRAY 75ml
BE GORGEOUS WOW! BRUNETTE SHAMPOO, 350ML
BE GORGEOUS WOW! BRUNETTE COLOUR ILLUMINATING CONDITIONER 250ml
BE GORGEOUS BOMBSHELL BLONDE SHAMPOO, 350ML
BE GORGEOUS BOMBSHELL BLONDE RADIANCE CONDITIONER 250ml
BE GORGEOUS SOS RESCUE DAMAGE PROTECTION IRON STRAIGHT MIST 75ml
BE GORGEOUS CURLY LOCKS CURL PERFECTING SHAMPOO, 350ML
BE GORGEOUS CURLY LOCKS REVIVE CONDITIONER 250ml
BE GORGEOUS CURLY LOCKS PERFECTING SPRAY 200ml
BE GORGEOUS CURLY LOCKS CURL CONTROL CREAM 100ml
BE GORGEOUS HOLD ON FIRM HOLD HAIRSPRAY 250ml
BE GORGEOUS HELLO MOISTURE INTENSIVE CONDITIONER 150ml
BE GORGEOUS BOMBSHELL BLONDE INTENSIVE TREATMENT 150ml
BE GORGEOUS TOTAL TREAT ARGAN OIL CREAM (ARGAN OIL), 100ml
BE GORGEOUS TOTAL TREAT ARGAN OIL (ARGAN OIL), 50ml
BE GORGEOUS COCO LICIOUS COCONUT OIL SHAMPOO, 350ML
BE GORGEOUS COCO LICIOUS COCONUT OIL CONDITIONER
BE GORGEOUS DRY CLEANERS REVITALISING DRY SHAMPOO
BE GORGEOUS DRY CLEANERS VOLUMISING DRY SHAMPOO
BE GORGEOUS GENTLY DOES IT! SHAMPOO
BE GORGEOUS GENTLY DOES IT! CONDITIONER

Wednesday 25 January 2017

Lush's Valentine's Day Specials

So Lush have a few new items out, ready for V-Day next month and here's some info on them (for the full range head HERE on Lush's website!):

Lovestruck Bubble Bar
It looks like a hearty face emoji and it's super cute. It smelt lemony and the geranium was quite strong. It was quite nice but not sure it's my favourite ever scent.

Cupid Bath Bomb
Look how cute! Lush's website says it is a blend of raspberry, lime and rose; I thought it smelt quite sweet and would definitely enjoy one in my bath, but I had resigned myself to only buying ONE thing from the range (so hard!) and this one was pipped by the ....

Lover Lamp Bath Bomb
This smells like chocolate orange and it has little hearts on it! Winner!

Unicorn Horn Bubble Bar
I've never smelt this before and it's one that's been around before. I have to say, it's cute as hell but I really don't like the smell of it. I'm not a huge fan of neroli and I thought that was the over-whelming scent to me!

Love You, Love You Lots Soap
I just had to get a pic of the full thing, because it's sooo pretty! It's rose scented (which I LOVE) and I was definitely tempted to snag a bit, but as mentioned above, I was on a mission to keep it to one product.

There is a bunch of other stuff too that I didn't get pics of (you can view HERE). What's your favourite thing from the V-Day range?

Sal xXx

Thursday 19 January 2017

Mitchum is not cruelty free :(

OK so for years I've been under the impression Mitchum deodorant was a brilliant accidentally vegan and cruelty free deodorant, despite being owned by a non-cruelty free parent company (Revlon).

It was just something that was told to everyone in vegan message boards and chat groups and accepted. Not like me not to research that, but for some reason I didn't until I saw a few people saying that it's actually not cruelty free at all.

Silly me! After the whole Batiste debacle you'd think I'd have learnt, but we all make mistakes so .... I did a bit of googling and the only sources I found saying it was vegan were replies on message boards or the odd blog post. I found them on a few 'do test/avoid' lists from bloggers I trust. So I wrote to them and asked to try and get an answer for myself.

They of course came back to me with Revlon's stock animal testing statement, the usual spiel about how they don't animal test and haven't since the late 80s and believe in innovation and women expressing themselves through makeup... etc.

And then - the important bit - "Regulatory authorities in a few countries conduct independent testing in order to satisfy their own mandatory registration requirements., Revlon complies with all regulations in the countries in which are products are sold...."

So basically they submit to animal testing where required by law. This means they are not cruelty free.

So I wrote back and said (I'm paraphrasing), yeah thanks I know Revlon aren't cruelty free but I just want to know about Mitchum specifically. Do you sell in China and can you answer my original questions in relation to Mitchum only, thank you please.

They wrote back with "This is the only statement we have for all Revlon/Mitchum/Almay products"

So there you have it. Not able to confirm they're cruelty free, so I'm not gonna buy any more.

Now please excuse me while me and my sweaty pits cry into our tea and then try to find something that works even half as well!

Please leave me your suggestions in the comments if you have a deodorant that works well for you!

Sal xXx

Tuesday 17 January 2017

New Video

A new video is up now on my youtube channel and I think it's a good one!

Simon did my voiceover haha, please go check it out and leave him some love!

Sal xXx


Wednesday 11 January 2017

Vegan and Cruelty Free Makeup Brushes

The other day I filmed a video about my favourite vegan makeup brushes and it's a question I see asked a lot. So I thought I'd do a post about some vegan brush brands (and brands with vegan options) for anyone looking for some animal free makeup brushes. The video is HERE if you wanna watch :)

Any that you cannot buy easily in a (UK) store will have a link to an online supplier next to it.




Brands whose brushes are all Vegan:
This only goes for brushes; not for any makeup that the brand manufactures. Any you can’t buy on the high street will have a link to an online supplier.

B. (Superdrug)
Barry M
Beauty Blender http://www.beautybay.com/beautyblender (I know, not strictly a brush, but still an awesome beauty tool!)
Beauty Without Cruelty http://www.bwcshop.com/accessories-2/
Eco Tools
Fairypants http://fairypants.co.uk/product-category/cosmetic-brushes/
Flawless https://www.myflawless.co.uk/
Furless http://furlesscosmetics.com.au/ (not UK but shipping is pretty quick and reasonable)
Real Techniques


Brands that have vegan brush options:

bdellium Tools (all the Bambu ranges of brushes are vegan but not all their other lines are) http://www.cocktailcosmetics.co.uk/brand/bdellium-tools
Crown (they have a couple of synthetic brush ranges and the product description for each one confirms if synthetic or natural (animal) hair) http://www.crownbrush.co.uk/
ELF – all the studio brushes are vegan but I’m not 100% sure that all the older ‘Essentials’ range are. http://www.eyeslipsface.co.uk/makeup/tools
Sigma (most if not all are vegan now, as they’re in the processing of swapping them all to their synthetic fibres, check product descriptions) https://www.cultbeauty.co.uk/sigma-beauty
Tarte (check individual product page for the vegan symbol, as not all are vegan) http://tartecosmetics.com/tarte-shop-makeup-brushes-tools
Zoeva http://www.beautybay.com/zoeva


Some resources for browsing vegan makeup brushes:


Hope this is useful! This list is by no means exhaustive, so if I've missed your fave brand, leave me a comment and I'll add them.

Sal xXx

If you want to see that video, I will link it below when it's up :)

Last updated: 10 August 2017


Friday 6 January 2017

Vegan Food at Bill's

Well happy new year everyone! It's still early enough to say that, right?

Yesterday evening was my first weigh-in back on Slimming World* so as a last meal out before the wedding panic begins, Simon and I went to Bill's for some lunch.

I'd always avoided Bill's as when I'd checked the menu before, there was literally only olives on the menu that were vegan! But I was sure I'd seen some buzz about them in the facebook groups and so we decided to check out the menu. And guess what - they have clearly labelled vegan options on the menu! Whoop. (No desserts listed! But they do say they sell sorbet, so if I'd had room for dessert I'd have asked if one of those were vegan - also I've emailed Bill's to check this.)

So anyway, for starters I had the Mushroom Soup. I loved the presentation of this, with the soup in a little jug that you pour over the mushrooms (warning though - don't do what I did and touch that soup bowl and burn your friggin hand - that sucker is hot!!). The soup was delicious. Simon and I both had this for our starter and loved it.



For my main I had the roasted aubergine dahl. This was SO good. At first I was a bit disappointed it didn't come with rice but you know what, it didn't need it! The bread it came with was awesome and it was very filling. I'm not sure what the green sauce on the top was but it was amazing. It was spicy but not crazy spicy, just had a nice kick.



I also had a Fentiman's ginger beer.


Simon and I both agreed that the food was great and kinda wished we hadn't walked past so many times and gone elsewhere! So yes, I'd 100% go back.

I'm going to add this info to my Eating at Chain Restaurants page, but have contacted Bill's for confirmation about desserts and if the breakfast menu can be veganised, so look out for the update there for that, if you're interested.

(*If you want to to know more about my SW journey, I have a blog for that: HERE.)

Have an awesome weekend!
Sal xXx