Life update!

So its been a while. 

I always read blog post where bloggers apologise for not blogging for a while and feel like they shouldn't need to, sometimes life gets in the way and that's okay. But, well, its been a fair few months so I felt like I needed a little explanation (and apology!). My third year of uni has taken over my life a little bit, I'm still making sure that I give myself breaks and a work like balance, but when I've spent the day staring at a screen, I tend to turn to knitting over blogging. 

Saying that, I have missed it! So I'm trying to get my blogging game back on and get some posts scheduled. I cant promise posts every week, but I can promise that they'll be more regular, and then the end of May will role along, and I'll be free, and Lucadonta wont know whats hit it ;) 

I have some cruelty free and ethical living posts lined up for you, but to ease myself back into the blogging world, and catch up with you all I thought I'd start of with a little life update. If you fancy knowing what I've been getting up to when I haven't been immersing myself in books about life in Stalinist Russia then this is the post for you...

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.

A Week in Devon

I've got a love hate meh relationship with Devon. Devon itself is pretty great. Its a place I've visited year after year for family holidays while I've been growing up. These holidays have adapted and changed with us as we've grown older, and they have a special place in my heart. We started off with some short walks and a lot of crabbing, dabbled with a bit of sailing in the middle, and now I've gone back to cliff top walking, with a few extra miles thrown in.

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. :)

Book Review: Go Set A Watchman (Spoiler free)

Go Set A Watchman has been very very well publicised, not that that's really a surprise when it can be branded as a To Kill A Mockingbird Sequel.

Vegan Snacks: Nakd Bars

I'd love to be the healthy friend, the one that prepares snacks for the week ahead on a Sunday and rules the tupperwares (or mason jars if their particularly trendy). But well, I'm not. Every now and again I surprise myself, but it never really lasts. If I have time Sunday is a walking/reading/blogging/family kind of day, and I like that.

I also like healthy snacks. So I have a tiny bit of a dilemma. But this dilemma has been eased by Nakd Bars.

D.I.Y: Two ideas for blackboard paint

Blackboard paint is a great way to easily revamp home accessories and change up a space. It brings another texture to a room, and adds small amounts of bold mat colour which can look great. Being able to draw on it also makes it really useful, and gives you the ability to constantly revamp the item.

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.

Ethical shopping: All Good Drinks (Karma Cola and Lemony Lemonade)

Buying cruelty free isn't the only way to shop conscientiously. You don't have to be perfect (I'm definitely not!) but there are lots of small, minimal effort decisions, that we can all make from time to time, and they can have big positive effects. Buying fairtrade and/or oraganic are examples, and perhaps some of the easiest ways to think about ethics when food shopping.

The Company
All Good Drinks are a fantastic fairtrade and organic fizzy drinks company. It was formed to 'connect drinkers with the people who grow the ingredients and benefit from the sale of each bottle' and it's gone on to win the international fairtrade award. Its doing some pretty damn good things.

Fairtrade gives workers security and the ability to invest in their communities. It also ensures that strong environmental standards have been met, and these are reinforced when the organic Soil Association standard is followed. With this company people and the environment are being looked after. They may still be fizzy drinks, but they're perhaps as good for you as fizzy drinks are going to get.

It's also vegetarian, vegan, and gluten free, and they have the best labels. Fact.

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 :)

The Visited Shelf: One Tree Books

This installment of the 'visited shelf', the mini series where I talk about great independent bookshops, is brought to you from One Tree Books, Petersfeild.

One Tree Book has everything you need from a bookshop and a few extras thrown in too. They have this really cool scheme called the 'Book Doctor', where a personally selected book is sent to you once a month based on your interests and likes. The owner also writes a great book blog and if you're local you can join the book club. 

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?

Baby Kale Salad with Balsamic Dressing (Vegan)

Salads are one of my favorite meals to make. They're quick and easy, look bright and colorful and there are so so many possibilities. I'll eat variations all year round, but if salads have a season it has to be spring and summer. Whenever the sun comes out I feel like doubling my fruit and veg intake, somehow it just feels right.

Exeter Eats: Tea on the Green

It's been a while, but I've had these pesky things called uni exams. Blogging is 100% better, and while I still have one more exam to battle through, by the time that this has been posted I should have made it to the other side. *Edit: I have! Wohoo!* Regular posts should now be returning. :) 

In the past few weeks Exeter has very much become the place where I do I exams. This is accurate, but also a bit unfair to an otherwise pretty nice city. It's not Exeter's fault that I haven't been able to appreciate it, but before I start personifying a place too much, lets quickly move on to food. Exeter is home to some good food. So yay, go Exeter.

I've previously mention Boston Tea Party, which is oh so yummy, and today I want to introduce you to Tea on The Green. Tea on the Green is in the heart of the city center on, yep you've guessed it, the Cathedral Green. If the weathers nice you can sit outside, and soak in the Gothic beauty, although you also get pretty good views from the top floor if nature happens to be against you.

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 :)

Blog Recommendations I (ft. the 'Beautiful Bloggers' award)

I'd been wanting to share some of my favorite blogs with you for a while, and then the lovely Mica Day nominated me for the 'Beautiful Bloggers Award' and she's given me the perfect opportunity to do just that. Thank you Mica!

The general gist is that I share seven random facts about myself, and nominate seven other awesome beauty bloggers. It's a nice little way to share the blog love, and I'm always keen to promote the cruelty free niche. It's great to see it getting more popular, and its definitely holding its own within the beauty community. Yay!

Recently Watched Films

I miss writing book blog posts but I feel horrible guilty if I read anything that's not related to my uni modules during the academic year. My friend described it as 'cheating on my degree' and I think this pretty much sums it up. I still read lots and lots, but you're probably not too interested in my review of a journal article on Mao or a book on Capetian France, so I let the book posts dry up. I'll be getting back into them after exams, but I thought that film reviews may be a nice way to fill the void. Let's give the books' pixely friends some loving too, they sure do deserve it. 

I've watched some good films recently, and you've probably already seen all of them, because I've been super rubbish at keeping up with new releases, and excuses, excuses, excuses. But I'm slowly catching up, and these films were good. If a few of them have slipped you by too then I recommend giving them a go :) I can't be the only person that hadn't already seen these... 

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.

Veggie Recipes: Healthy Egg Salad with a Sweet Dressing

Eggs are a great food to keep you filled up, they're full of protein and so versatile. Cholesterol and eggs have had a bit of bad press, but its really not a big issue as eggs are so low in saturated fat - they're full of good stuff.

I'm not cool with any animal exploitation but if you buy from small local farmers and make sure they're free range then everyone, chickens included, are winners. If you check for the British Lion Quality mark then the eggs have met the highest food standards too, yay!

I feel like a bit of a cheat calling this a recipe as its so so easy and really versatile. It's more of a framework that you can build upon, and swap around different ingredients to suit your taste and cupboard supplies. Go wild!

'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.

International Women's Day

This a slightly different post to normal, but today is International Women's day! International Women's day shouldn't need to be a thing, and it doesn't mean that we shouldn't care about men, quite the opposite, but it's great to have a day to bring everything home and keep gender equality on the radar. I think it can be quite easy for some people to get complacent, especially if they're happy with their own situation, so reminders are always good. 

Veggie Recipes: Carrot 'Pancakes'

Pancake day may have been and gone, but it would be silly to restrict something so tasty to one day of the year. I'm also using 'pancakes' very loosely in this recipe. I'm not really sure what to call this little burger shaped balls of tastiness, but pancake is as good as any. (or burgers) The flour and eggs are there, but so are some other ingredients which turn it into the perfect main. If you have an egg substitute its very easy to make vegan too.

The carrot makes it slightly sweet, but not too sweet, and overall its a very quick and easy savory meal that can be whipped up in about 15 mins.  

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!

Exeter Eats: Boston Tea Party

Boston Tea Party is small family run cafe group in the South West of England, and one of Exeter's worst kept secrets. All of their ingredients are ethically sourced, with some good vegetarian options, a few vegan, and some gluten free gems on the menu too. All of the food is made on site, which is great! 

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.

Winter Book Haul

Winter is the perfect time to cosy up with a good book. At the moment 100% of my reading time is spent on History books for uni, but that hasn't stopped me from acquiring a few others and clinging on to my romantic notions of winter reading.

Most of these were Christmas presents, but I'm far too late for the 'Christmas Book Haul' club, so I've thrown in one of my own purchases for good measure. Writing this post a few weeks after Christmas also brings all the initial excitement back, and reminds me of the gems I've got waiting for me in my 'to read pile'. The perfect way to battle those January blues.

Wearing: Ankle Boots from Vegetarian Shoes

I'd been looking for a good, non-leather, pair of boots for ages. You can find lots of leather free shoes on the high street, but they're often cheap alternatives that disintegrate when they face a tiny bit of bad weather. I wanted to find something that had leather's durability, but none of its cruelty. With Vegetarian Shoes' 'Jeanette Boots' I found it.

Visited Shelf: Wheeler's Bookshop

Welcome to installment number three of the 'Visited Shelf'! (read other 'Visited Shelf' posts;here) This post features the wonderful Wheeler's Bookshop in Midhurst, West Sussex.

Midhurst isn't far from me, but it's also not particularly close. It's somewhere I've always known about, but never really explored. Googling 'local' bookshops threw up this gem, and gave me a real reason to venture into the small town.

Life Ramblings, 2015 and Arty things

I like to set myself goals all the time so I'm not a massive fan of the 'new year, new me' stuff, but the 'out with the old' talk does make me more reflective. I'm not setting myself specific resolutions but there are some general things that I want to try and do more of, and while I've been trying to work on these already, 2015 seems like as good a time as any to give my attempts a little more oomph.