Makeup: B. Cruelty Free and Vegan Lipstick

I've been blogging for a few years now, but I'm pretty sure that this is my first ever make up post! On a day to day basis I'm not a massive make-up wearer, but I do like to have fun with it on special occasions, and every now and then when it takes my fancy. I have a good basic cruelty free collection, so I will try and do a few more makeup posts, but I do tend to stick to my favorites and not branch out too much! This is the first item from B. that I've tried, and I've heard pretty mixed reviews, but I was really pleasantly surprised with this little purchase. 

Ethical Living: Bamboo Toothbrushes

I had a post uni clear out a few weeks ago and the amount of rubbish one person can accumulate really made me stop and think. I've always tried to be conscious about my environmental footprint, but this has really encouraged me to put more effort into making ethical decisions. Reducing the amount of waste you produce however, doesn't have to be hard work, and this little bamboo toothbrush is a super easy way to do just that.

One person will typically get through over 300 toothbrushes during the course of their life, and that's one big landfill pile. The plastic wont break down during our lifetime, but bamboo toothbrushes are both biodegradable and environmentally sustainable.

Sea Inspired Nails

Autumn is probably my favorite season, I love jumpers, big scarfs and orange and red. But at the moment we're in an awkward in-between stage. Its September, summer is coming to an end, but we're also still getting a few sunny days, and Autumn, though round the corner, isn't quite here. I haven't been able to fully embrace Autumn yet, and I'm still morning the end of the holidays, so I'm going to cling on to them for a little while longer with some sea inspired nail art. 

Favorite CF Brands: Faith in Nature

I love finding new cosmetics to try, but there's nothing better than finding a whole, or big chunk of a company that you love. Having companies that you can trust, and know work for you make shopping for cruelty free products so much easier and gives you some great 'safe options' that you know you can fall back on.

I thought I'd start a mini series to share some of my favorite brands with you. Some of them will be old favorites, and others will be newly discovered gems. I'm planning to make this a regular thing, so let me know if you have any suggestions, or constructive criticism! :)

But anyway, back to the important stuff - Faith in Nature.

Sunday Stamping: Floral Nails

Nail art is one of my favorite hobbies. I love having something to do while I watch a TV show and I can happily paint my nails without getting distracted. Having something to watch also stops me from getting too impatient and smudging them before they dry! All in all, its a perfect combination :) Having to remove nail varnish for work is the worst part about my job, and the only downside to summer time nail painting.

This summer I've been loving stamped floral designs, and I've experimented with a few different colour combinations and patterns. I thought I'd share two of these with you in this post.

Cruelty Free Cosmetics: Evening Skincare Routine

 

To follow on from my morning skincare routine post, I'm going to share the other half of my daily skincare. Well, I say half, this bit is definitely shorter. In the evening I want to get into bed, and there's no time for dilly dallying. Depending on the condition of my skin, some of these products can be skipped, but I'll talk about that in more detail below. I just want to make sure that my skins clean, and there's no product build up so I can sleep easy and wake up feeling refreshed in the morning.

Cruelty Free Cosmetics: Morning Skincare Routine

I never used to be much of a 'skincare routine' kinda gal. I had products that I used regularly, but it was far too chop and changey to be a routine. Recently I've found products that really make a positive difference to my skin, and I've been motivated to use them daily. I even have a nice little routine for the evening too, and this will feature in next weeks post. :)

Cruelty Free Skincare: Fair Squared Facial Sun Cream, SPF 15

A few weeks ago I wrote this post which listed a few different cruelty free facial SPF's that are currently on the market. This Fair Squared facial sun cream was on the list, and it turned out to be the winner! Well, in the sense that is made its way into my shopping basket. I don't have enough cash to trial all of them for you (or come to think of it, enough faces), but I do have a few opinions on this one to share, and they're all rather positive.

Cruelty Free Cosmetics: The Hand Cream Edition

I always thought that I'd found myself a winner with Lush's 'Helping Hands' hand cream. I'm still a massive fan, but I've also tried a few others recently, and one is definitely giving it a fair bit of competition. I thought I'd write a quick post comparing three different cruelty free hand creams, because who knows, maybe one is the one for you :)

Cruelty Free Cosmetics: Six SPF's

I'm on the hunt for a good face SPF. Thanks to M&S I've got my cruelty free sun cream down, but I want something that I can use on my face every day, and regular sun cream is just that bit too heavy. It's okay if it's a super sunny day, but ideally I'd like to be wearing a SPF regardless of the weather. It doesn't have to be really hot to be doing damage to your skin. So what am I looking for?

Cruelty Free Cosmetics: Empty Products I

I switch between products so it often takes me a while to totally run out of something and building up a collection of empties has been a long time in the making! At the moment I'm only alternating between three separate shower gels and I'm pretty damn proud of myself. It may not be my greatest life achievement, but the little things count too right?

Sorry for the tatty packaging photo, some of these were very well loved! I've provided links for everything so you can see them in their new glossy state too :)

Cruelty Free Nail Stamping with Barry M

I'm a long long way away from being a nail art Jedi, but its something that I like to have fun with. Makeup on the whole is pretty creative, but nail art takes it to a whole new level. You can try out much bolder designs and it lasts for longer that a day. Stamping gives you a really professional finish without too much hassle. 

Cruelty Free Skin Care: Abbey Essentials Eye Cream

I get pretty paranoid about trying to give myself enough sleep (with mixed success) and I haven't quite got to the wrinkley stage yet. I mainly use eye cream to try and prevent all of these things, rather than eradicate them. Obviously its quite hard to tell if that's really happening, but essentially I'm looking for something that gives a delicate area of skin a bit of extra moisture.

'Raspberry & Cranberry' Shampoo & Conditioner by Faith in Nature

Faith in Nature are very rapidly becoming a firm favorite of mine. I first discovered the brand in my local Oxfam charity shop and loved the idea of being able to support cruelty free cosmetics and global humanitarian relief at the same time - what's not to love? 

They're also stocked in lots of other high street shops (you can find your nearest here), or order from them online (where the service is very quick!) They're very very easy to get your hands on :)

Everything is natural, vegan, cruelty free, and lots of the ingredients are organic too. Everything is made in Britain, so if your UK based they'll help you lower your carbon footprint too.

Shampoo and Conditioner 

£5.50 each (400ml)

Blog for Bunnies: Tips for going cruelty free

'Blog for Bunnies' is part of Humane Society International's #BeCrueltyFree campaign for a global end to cosmetic animal testing. I'm not an official Blog for Bunnies Blogger, but if you've spent anytime on my blog you'll know that it's something that I care about a lot and I want to do anything I can do to spread the message a bit further. :)

I've put together a few tips to help anyone who's thinking about going cruelty free. It may seem a bit daunting at first, but you'll be surprised at how quickly it become second nature. You'll still have lots of choice, and there's no need to break the bank.

Cruelty Free Toiletries: Toothy Tabs

It took me a while to get my head around these Toothy Tabs from Lush, but I'm definitely converted. What are they? Essentially a solid version of toothpaste. But more importantly, vegan, cruelty free,  and Eco-friendly.

Cruelty Free Toiletries: The Deodorant Edition

 Finding cruelty free toiletries can be a little harder than other cosmetics or makeup items. These are products that you really do use everyday, and sort of take for granted. When you start making the switch, they're often the thing that you think of last, or at least they definitely were for me. 

Requests for good deodorants make a frequent appearance on the twitter CF bloggers chat, so I'm going to recommend a few of my favorites. It turns out that you don't need to spend loads, travel miles, order from far far away internet companies, or give up and embrace the sweaty life. There's actually a lot of good options!

The Battle of the Balms (Cruelty Free Lip Balm Reviews)

Winter, also known as the season of chapped dry lips, is a thing at the moment. A good lip balm is your best friend, and while I've been know to say that you can never have too many, some are definitely better than others.

I've gathered together a small selection of cruelty free lip balms to let you know which ones I think work best.

All of them are vegetarian, and all but the Dr Organic Balm, which contains beeswax, are vegan.

Lord of the Rings/Hobbit Nail Art

It's that time of year again. The time of year when I get far too excited about the new Hobbit film, and have to share this with the world via my nails.

Christmas Cosmetics: Snow Fairy Shower Gel

My love of Lush is no secret, and neither is my love of Christmas, so it probably doesn't surprise you in the slightest to hear that I'm a fan of Lush's Christmas range. Snow Fairy Shower Gel is my absolute favorite. It's bright pink and slightly sparkly but don't rule it off a girly product - it's the shower gel my boyfriend steals the most. Lets have gender equality in the cosmetics world people.
(and the rest of the world too please)