Cruelty Free Me

Solait Gradual Tan Lotion Summers coming which means the legs are out. Which also means I don't want to blind people with my shockingly pale skin. Don't get me wrong I don't want to look like a satsuma, I just like to give my leg's a glow as they never catch the sun.  I'm always wary of using tanning products as I don't want to look orange, I hate the upkeep,  I don't want streaky lines and also I don't really mind being pale. However gradual tan always seemed appealing to me as it sounded easy to maintain and do quickly.  If you have read some of my blogs you already know I love Superdrug and their products so I decided to give their gradual tan lotion a whirl. I picked the medium tan option which I've been using for a few weeks now and the results have been amazing! The colour isn't too dark, it doesn't leave any streaky marks and it's so easy to use! I use this every morning or evening on my legs depending on what I'm

I'm back! Liquid Peel I know it's been a while but Uni took over my life a tad so unfortunately I just couldn't find the time to fit in any blogs. But I'm back with one of my favourite Body Shop Products! Drops of Youth Liquid Peel Exfoliating has always felt like a pointless chore to me, especially when it comes to my face as I can rarely see the benefit straight away. This was until I tried the Drops of Youth Liquid Peel. It's amazing to see a product work straight away so when I first tried it I was surprised and kinda grossed out. The liquid peel is part of The Body Shop's anti-pollution range and is made with 3 plant stem cells, Edelweiss, Sea Holly, and Criste Marine.  The peel gently traps and peels off impurities, pollutants, and dead skin cells which reveals healthier looking skin straightaway. I have been using this product for over a year and I wouldn't consider any other exfoliator! The product is completely  vegan and cruelty-

Himalayan Charcoal Mask - The Body Shop  Face masks are always a nice way to treat yourself after a stressful week, especially between essay writing and stressing about exams. I'm always slightly cautious with masks in case they cause my skin to react therefore I always recommend testing a mask prior to the first use. The Himalayan Charcoal mask from The Body Shop is an amazing addition to your weekly skincare regime particularly if you suffer from oily or spot prone skin. Containing Tea tree, Green Tea and Charcoal this mask leaves you feeling detoxified with a healthy youthful glow. I adore this mask because it has the most gorgeous smell and works really well to stop my skin from getting so oily! Because the Bamboo Charcoal used in this product is Red Pandas food The Body Shop help to replant it and keep this endangered species from going extinct.  I use this product weekly in the evening after removing my makeup but before anything else in my skincare ro

Superdrug's B. Pure Micellar Water  A lot of people make the assumption that buying cruelty-free products is a lot more expensive and that can be the case especially with brands such as Burts Bee's , Lush etc. However, a lot of affordable brands have made their own products cruelty-free such as Waitrose , Marks and Spencer and my personal favourite SUPERDRUG ! I love Superdrug with all my heart (apart from their loyalty cards, literally what do I get out of that thing?) their products are ridiculously affordable and are actually good! All Superdrugs own products have the leaping bunny logo and often are vegetarian and vegan.   For a year or two, I have been using the Garnier Micellar water for sensitive skin. Unfortunately, Garnier is owned by L'oreal who do test on animals, therefore, it was time for me to find an alternative. It's a shame because when you find a product that really works for you it becomes a staple part of your skin routine but I had to sti

Grapefruit and Orange Shampoo and Conditioner - Faith in Nature I'm always drawn to Holland and Barrett whenever they are having a penny sale, this involves buying one product and getting another for 1p! Holland and Barrett itself are excellent for cruelty-free products and generally display decent brands who care about the environment, animals, etc. I have come across the brand Faith in Nature a few times in TK Maxx but it wasn't till recently that I discovered them in Holland and Barrett. Faith in Nature produce products from hair care to pet care and they are cruelty-free, Organic and Vegan!  I've been using these two products for a few weeks now and have already noticed a huge difference! I tend to wash my hair every other day as it gets oily very fast. I would like to not have to wash my hair as often but I don't feel confident in myself if I'm out and about and I think it looks oily. Therefore I decided to pick the shampoo and conditioner for normal

Hemp Body Butter - The Body Shop One of The Body Shop's most popular ranges is their Hemp products. It is renowned for its intense moisturisatio n powers, which led to the company selling a Hemp hand cream every 8 seconds last year. The community trade Hemp seed oil inside the Hemp products has been sourced from France since 2015. Interestingly The Body Shop has to keep this location top secret as the crops could be mistaken for other purposes.  It took me a long time personally to get over the initial smell of the Hemp product's as they are particularly strong but it's amazing performance as a moisturiser simply outweighs any other cons. With the bipolar weather at the moment, I find that my skin can get quite dry especially as I shower a lot (twice a day don't judge) and shave my legs a lot. The result of this is extremely dry annoyingly itchy legs! I needed a product that I could apply once in the evening that was going to deeply nourish my skin.  Afte

Uniglow Highlighting Palette - Beauty Concepts  I have never owned a highlighter palette before so when I came across this little gem in TK Maxx I had to get it. When it comes to the actual brand I had never really heard of Beauty Concepts , I have tried searching for them online but all I've found is a Beauty Concepts International website which doesn't share the same logo as Beauty Concepts.   On the back of the palette, it say's that they do not test on animals however the product does contain beeswax, therefore, it isn't vegan. The 6 colours inside are Dreamer, Glow, Sparkle, Fantasy, Shimmer, and Mystical . Personally, my favourite shade is Dreamer ( top left ) as it goes with pretty much any look, whereas the others have a specific colour to them.  Overall I think the palette is really fun and I'm looking forward to using more of the colours in the summer for festivals and holidays. They aren't the best highlighters for standing

Sukin Oil Balancing facial moisturiser - Holland and Barrett It's always felt as though I've had an ongoing battle with finding the right facial moisturiser. Whether they are going to cause a breakout or not mean's I often stick with what I know has worked in the past. However recently I've felt slightly more daring and on my quest to discover a new facial moisturiser I discovered the Sukin range in Holland and Barrett. I've probably mentioned before that I suffer from combination spot prone skin, therefore trying to figure out the right routine that works for me takes time, effort and money! I will add that I do take medication for my skin which is called Doxycycline; so this tends to keep my skin from getting too bad however I still get 1 or 2 spots every day. Any sort of skin medication is most likely going to cause your skin to be a lot drier which mean's it's a good idea to use a cream that helps combat that.   At first, I wasn't sure abou

Banana Hair Mask - The Body Shop I was requested by one of my lovely readers last week to do a review of the Banana Hair Mask from The Body Shop . This is a fairly new product from The Body Shop, however, the actual Banana hair range has been around for many years. Specifically designed for normal to dry hair this nourishing hair mask is designed to be a once a week treatment to help your hair reach a healthy state.  For years I had always suffered from slightly oily hair so anything like this I would have stayed away from. However, after many years of bleaching my hair, it became damaged and dry, so after deciding to let my natural colour come through I needed something to help the extremely dry ends of my hair.  I use this product about once a week on one of the days I am washing my hair. After shampooing and conditioning, I use a hazelnut size of the mask and massage it into the ends of my hair (I don't use it at the root's as I get greasy hair there but i

W7 Cosmetics - Very Vegan Lipstick  Those of you who know me understand my love for TK Maxx, I can never enter this shop without making a random purchase. If you aren't familiar with TK Maxx it is an ever-changing store that sells anything from homeware to makeup brands. You can often find designer labels such a Calvin Klein if you search hard enough.  Whilst I was having a little browse earlier this week a ' Very Vegan' lipstick caught my eye. The brand is W7 ,  the colour is Beautiful Blossom and it only cost me £2.99! W7 is a cruelty-free  makeup brand which was created in 2002. They have never tested their products on animals and as a brand, they support many animal welfare charities such as the Blue Cross. Not all of the products are vegan but they do have a vegan range on their website.  I find when I'm wearing lipsticks for a long time my lips get very dry particularly if it's a dark colour. However what struck me about the W7 lipstick is

The Body Shop - Drops of Youth Concentrate Working in the beauty industry has really inspired me to actually look after my skin. I have always been a bit lazy when it comes to having skincare routines, however, I really began to notice benefits after using products I'd never considered before. Mild acne is an ongoing battle I have struggled with for years, it can really affect your self-esteem and even your mental health! (for those of you who have perfect skin I envy you) Anyway, after finally getting rid of some spots I am often left with awful slightly purple scarring around the sides of my face. I didn't really believe anything apart from going to the doctors was going to help with this until I found the Drops of Youth Concentrate! I'm not even saying this because I work there but I SWEAR BY THIS PRODUCT! Obviously, with any sort of serum or oil it's not going to work straight away, but after a couple of week's of using the Youth Concentrate, I reall

Lush's No Drought Dry Shampoo Review No Drought has always been one of my most favorite Lush products. As you can see from the condition of my bottle I've had this product for a very long time but that's fine because of the product being self-preserving! This vegan grapefruit and lime oil absorbing powder are perfect if you need a quick way of getting ready in the morning.  I personally use this product by flipping my hair forward and putting the powder into the palm of my hands and rubbing it into the oily parts of my hair which tend to be my fringe and the hair around my face. After rubbing the product in your hair simply brush it through and style as usual. There may be some fallout onto the floor or your clothes but you can simply brush it off.  I personally have found that ordinary dry shampoos such as Batiste products didn't sufficiently stop my hair from looking oily therefore I was delighted to find a cruelty-free product that actually worked

Welcome to my blog!  I have always wanted to write a blog of some sort however, the topic was something I was unsure of. Because of working at The Body Shop UK I have now got a huge passion for supporting cruelty-free brands and only using cruelty-free products. Lot's of companies claim to be cruelty-free but to be safe I tend to only buy products which display the leaping bunny logo that cruelty-free international introduced. I personally feel that animal testing for cosmetic products and cleaning products is unjustifiable and shouldn't be necessary. Animal experiments include: injecting or force-feeding animals with potentially harmful substances  exposing animals to radiation surgically removing animals'organs or tissues to deliberately cause damage forcing animals to inhale toxic gases subjecting animals to frightening situations to create anxiety and depression. The silly thing about animal testing is that alternatives not involving animals are ofte