Two Pleasant Surprises at The Mall

Today while shopping at one of my local malls, I was walking by a store called The Body Shop when several things in their window caught my eye and I was pleasantly surprised to see the following:

Yes, a mainstream store that is proudly proclaiming the fact that they are against animal testing and 100% vegetarian! I stopped in the store, where I found three lip gloss tubes for $10 (and they were made in the UK, not China!). At the register, they had a paper where you could put your name and e-mail address to receive information about efforts to end animal testing around the world. Naturally, I put my name down and they gave me a coupon as a thank you for doing so. When I got home, I looked at their website and found that the proceeds from some of their products are donated to charities dedicated to stopping child sex trafficking, domestic violence, and HIV awareness. Pretty awesome, isn't it?



A little while after I bought my lip glosses, I came across another store called LUSH. I saw on their sign that they sold handmade soaps and bath products. I love handmade soap, so I decided to take a look and see if any vegan soaps were available. As soon as I walked into the store, I saw several product signs with stickers that said "vegan" on them. In fact, about 98% of the products in the store were vegan (according to the store clerk, the few non-vegan items contained lanolin and honey). I was in heaven! I bought a bath bomb called "Phoenix Rising" ( purple color, apple cinnamon scent). I haven't tried it yet, but it smells wonderful. Another awesome thing about LUSH is that they take a VERY strong stand against animal testing and make every effort to ensure that their suppliers treat employees fairly. Here are two quotes from their website:

". For LUSH where we buy our ingredients from is the first opportunity we have for influence. One of our first priorities is to ensure the material and the company doesn't test on animals, a policy we've run for over a decade. We always try to deal direct with a producer if we can to get as close to growing or making it as possible. We are also fortunate in what we don't buy, for instance unnecessary packaging. By selling naked products you can afford products with the best quality ingredients and we save the garbage men a job. Really, it's about mutual respect. Respect for you and your wishes to buy great products with ethical and sustainable natural ingredients. It's respect for our suppliers, who have a right to earn a decent wage and it's respect for the environment that can provide the ingredients. It's not always an easy path and we have had plenty of hurdles but it is ultimately greatly rewarding and led us on some great adventures, too!" (https://www.lushusa.com/Ethical-Buying/about-buying-intro,en_US,pg.html)

and

"LUSH is firmly committed to a policy that not only inhibits testing our products and ingredients on animals, or engaging with third-party suppliers to do so on our behalf, but that also prohibits buying any ingredient from any supplier that tests any materials on any animals for any purpose. This policy is unique in the cosmetics world and is pioneering a new way to stop animal tests for cosmetics. LUSH runs a Supplier Specific Boycott Policy. By doing this, we give an economic incentive to suppliers and have convinced two companies to switch to cruelty free practices as a result. If a company will alter their practices, we will buy their goods." (https://www.lushusa.com/Against-animal-testing/about-animal-introduction,en_US,pg.html)

LUSH is headquartered in Canada, and their products are made in North America as well.

So if your looking for a alternative to the traitors known as Urban Decay (who recently had their "leaping bunny" certification REVOKED due to the fact that they are now selling in China, which requires them to test their products on animals. Check out this care2.com article for more info.) , you'll definitely want to give the Body Shop and LUSH a try. It's always feels good to know that you're supporting companies that are friendly to both people and animals.

Here are the companies websites:

The Body Shop:
http://www.thebodyshop-usa.com/

LUSH
http://www.lushusa.com/

Product Review: HerbanLuxe Vegan Mascara

Hi, I'm back with another vegan product review! Recently, I have been looking for 100% vegan eye makeup that is also safe for sensitive eyes. As you know from previous reviews, I found a great vegan mineral eye shadow on Etsy (from a seller called MadisonStreetBeauty ). Since then, I'd been looking for a vegan mascara. I looked at the offerings from the mainstream brands that don't test on animals, but all of them contained non-vegan ingredients. So I decided to check Etsy and was happy to fins a seller called HerbanLuxe who makes vegan mascara in both black and brown. She had a sample size of brown mascara for a total of $8.50 including shipping, so I decided to give it a try and bought it. The mascara arrived this afternoon and I tried it on immediately.

I LOVE this mascara. I wore it for about 5 hours (mostly indoors, except for walking the dog) and even spent 20 minutes jogging (again indoors) while wearing it. There were no smudges or clumps and it did not irritate my eyes. It should be noted that this mascara is NOT waterproof, so I wouldn't recommend wearing it if you know it will rain or there's a high chance you'll cry. But if your looking for a high quality, affordable vegan mascara, I recommend that you give one of the ones below a try. I for one will definitely be buying the full size version when my mini one runs out!

The mascara comes in both black and brown, with mini and full size versions of both available. The full size costs $12.50 including shipping.

Brown Mini Mascara $8.50 including shipping. Get it here: Brown Mini Mascara




Brown Full Size Mascara $12.50 including shipping. Get it here: Brown full size mascara



Black Full Size Mascara $12.50 including shipping. Get it here: Black Full Size Mascara



That's all for now. Bye!

Vegan Makeup!

I'm not the kind of woman who wears makeup everyday. Unless I'm doing something really special, I usually go makeup-less. That being said, every once in awhile I get in the mood to wear it again. I hadn't purchased any makeup since I became a vegan, so I wanted to make sure the make-up that I bought was cruelty free. I also have the added issue of being allergic to the ingredients in many mainstream make up items, so I also had to make sure they were hypo-allergenic. Here are my reviews of a couple of the items that I purchased.

1) Mineral eyeshadow from Madison Street Beauty at http://www.etsy.com/shop/MadisonStreetBeauty

Reg. Price: $5

 I LOVE eyeshadow, but since my eyes are very sensitive, there are only a few types of eyeshadow that I can wear without my eyes watering. I had heard that mineral eye shadows were supposed to be great for people with allergies because the ingredients are more natural, so I decided to give them a whirl. Thankfully, I found a wonderful Etsy shop that sells handmade mineral makeup called Madison Street Beauty. I LOVE this shop because of their very wide selection of vegan items, and the fact that all of their items are all-natural, talc free, hypoallergenic, and of course are never tested on animals. They were having a great 60% sale when I bought my eyeshadow, so I was able to get two of them for about the same price that you would pay for one in a regular store. The colors that I bought are "Heliotrope" (the dark purple) and "California Sun". So far, I have worn the California shade. I wore it for about 4.5 hours indoors and I really like it. It didn't bother my eyes at all and there was no visible creasing. The store is currently listed as "on vacation", so you can't purchase anything right now, but I'd advise you to sign up to be notified when they re-open. I know that I will definitely be a repeat customer!

California Sun

Heliotrope

2) Physician's Formula

  Another makeup brand that I like is Physicians Formula. There foundations are wonderful for sensitive skin, available at mainstream stores, not tested on animals, and they make some of their products in North America. Unfortunately, you have to be careful because some of their brushes are made with animal hair (yes, I know, yuck). However, I can recommend one of their foundations which I have used that is 100% vegan: Mineral Wear Talc-Free Liquid Foundation. It is easy to apply and doesn't bother my skin. I like the fact that it has a built in applicator. You can find a list of Physician's Formula's vegan products here: http://veggiebeauty.com

There are many other cruelty free cosmetics companies out there. A great resource to help you find them is PETA's Cruelty Free Companies list. It is a list of companies that have certified to be cruelty free. The list even tells you whether or not the company is vegan. On the flip side, they also have a list of companies to avoid. You can find those lists at PETA's cruelty free companies list .

Until next time, have fun with being beautiful inside and out!

Vegan Acne Fighters.

According to acne.org, over 1/2 of adult women suffer from acne. I am one of them. Thankfully, my acne is mild but it can still be a problem. Up until a few weeks ago, I was using the typical over the counter drug store acne fighting pads that I had stockpiled before I became a vegan. When I noticed that I was running out of the pads, I took a look at the ingredients and realized that they probably weren't vegan. So I went to Wal-Greens to see if I could find any vegan acne products that didn't cost an arm and a leg. While I was there, I saw a bottle of witch hazel astringent. I decided to go home and do some research before I bought it. I looked it up and saw that many people had found that witch hazel worked very well on their acne. I found a store brand for about $2 and decided to give it a try. Here is what I like about it:

1) It has only two ingredients: witch hazel and alcohol.
2) It has worked well for me. I usually have flare ups right before my period where I get several large white heads/pimples. This month my flare up was much less severe. I only had 2 very small white heads develop.

If you're looking for an inexpensive, natural vegan acne treatment, I highly suggest witch hazel. If you look for it in the store, keep in mind that it is used to treat cuts and scrapes.  Therefore, look in the first aid section if it's not with the skincare products.

In addition to the witch hazel, I also clean my skin by alternating between a facial mask and a cleanser. For the mask I use Freeman Feeling Beautiful Avocado and Oatmeal Mask. It's a good pore cleanser and best of all, the company is vegan! You can get Freeman products at most major grocery stores.


For the cleanser, I use Aubrey Organics Natural Herbal Facial Cleanser for Oily Skin. It leaves my skin fresh and I like the fact that it is made by a company that is both vegan and made in the state of Florida. You can find this cleanser at local health food stores and online at www.aubrey-organics.com

That's all for now!