Tag: cruelty free

OMG IT’S VEGAN

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I’m sure we’re all very familiar with Facebook and Instagram ads, but I came across an interesting one a few weeks ago for vegan sweets! As we’re in lockdown, I thought I would treat myself to my favourite fizzy sweets so thank goodness for OMG IT’S VEGAN.

I highly recommend a visit to their website to see their full range of sweets which is spectacular with so many different sweets in so many different sizes on offer.

I am a huge fan of fizzy sweets in particular so I treated myself to a 1kg bag of mixed fizzy sweets, a jar of apple sour belts and a jar of strawberry fizzy pencils.

The jars are so lovely. They’re a good size and currently on my home office desk for me to snack on during conference calls! I’ve barely made a dent in them so far.

The kilo bag of mixed sweets is incredible and I am so happy with the mix in them. They make for a great insta photo too.

My only criticism, of myself, is that I should have ordered the bigger bag!! There’s still plenty in the bag but I’m dreading how upset I’ll be when the bag runs out.

The service was great from start to finish. I got updated when my order was dispatched and very shortly after, it arrived! Regardless of this, with COVID19 still amongst us, we have to remember to be more understanding with our delivery services as they are doing their best.

Anyway, I’m so pleased with my OMG IT’S VEGAN order and I heartily recommend that you visit their website for some delicious treats.

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Bad Brownie

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My amazing best friend, Alicia, moved to Mexico last year, but she most certainly didn’t forget my birthday!

The day before my birthday, I received an unexpected package which was addressed to her. I messaged her and she, of course, told me it was my birthday gift. I waited till my actual birthday to open it and it was very exciting.

She had treated me to an incredible box of delicious vegan and gluten free brownies from Bad Brownie.

The box was filled with a tray of brownies in different colours and flavours. I love a good snack so I was ecstatic. I couldn’t wait to try them and Tom was eyeing them up too. He was lucky there was plenty to go around!

There were so many to choose from, it was difficult to know where to even begin. Fortunately, it came with a card that listed all the flavours with pictures!

The first flavour that stood out to me was Peanut Butter & Jelly so that was the first one I tried. To be completely honest with you, I was a little disappointed. I thought it was lacking in the key peanut butter and jam flavours. The brownie itself was nice but the flavours weren’t there.

The next one I went for was Cookie Dough. Again, I was a little disappointed with this one. I don’t know whether the descriptions had hyped me up a little and set my expectations higher, but the cookie dough flavour was really plain.

The saviours of the box however were Salted Caramel and Passionfruit & Coconut which were the 2 I thought I’d enjoy the least.

I alway find Salted Caramel to be a gimmick but the Salted Caramel brownie was really lovely. It wasn’t too rich and it had all the flavours I was actually expecting which is more than I can say for other Salted Caramel treats.

My absolute favourite was the Passionfruit & Coconut. I do love a good fruity flavour and I love passionfruit and coconut so this was great. The part I didn’t think I’d like was the jellied top (similar to that of a Jaffa Cake), but I actually really loved it. It’s so different and makes it so much more interesting.

I’m 50/50 on this box. They weren’t the best brownies that I’ve ever had, but they weren’t bad either. Some flavours were disappointing but the good ones really did make up for it. Overall, a balanced gift which I’m still very grateful for!

True Skincare Facial Oil

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As I mentioned in an earlier post, my sister @vgnnatalie treated me to a lovely dinner at Suncraft in Bristol for my birthday at the beginning of this month.

She also treated me to a bottle of True Skincare‘s Safflower & Basil Facial Oil! She has been using their rosehip oil and absolutely raved about it. She was impressed by the quality of the product and results she was seeing, and she wanted me to experience it too.

I wrote a blog a few months ago about the oils that I had been using and how helpful they had been. You can read that blog post here.

I can safely say that this True Skincare oil blows everything else out of the water. The packaging is well presented and really good quality. It sits nicely on the dressing table and would look great with any aesthetic.

Let’s talk about the actual oil. It smells amazing. It’s an actual pleasure to have added to my routine and massage into my face in the evenings. The oil is amazing quality. It’s hard to describe but it’s a thicker oil as it’s a waterless formula and I personally think this makes it more absorbent. The other oils I use feel much more slippery and sit on the skin for much longer.

I’ve been using True for about 2 weeks now and I wish I had taken before and after photos. My skin appears brighter and less oily than it’s ever been. I also think it’s reduced the redness in my skin which isn’t something I was looking to do but it is most certainly welcomed.

I only have good things to say about this product. I completely understand why it’s award winning and I would 100% recommend this to help alleviate any skin woes.

UpCircle Skincare: A Summary

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Tom treated me to the amazing UpCircle “Let’s Face It” bundle which is filled with so many skincare products. So where do we start; the set is a little pricey, but you get a lot for your money! I was lucky to have Tom to buy it for me!

The following products are included:

  • Your choice of Coffee Face Scrub (Floral, Citrus or Herbal)
  • Organic Face Serum
  • Face Mask
  • Face Moisturiser
  • Cleansing Face Balm

The little note included in the box which is pictured above tells me who packed my box. Barbs was the lovely person who did and I was also left a little note to say that the serum will be on it’s way soon!

To soften the blow of not having the serum yet, I got a tube roller instead which I was pretty ecstatic about! The purpose of the tube roller is to get the most out of your face scrub tube by squeezing all the product out from the very top!

A week later, the serum arrived on my doorstep!

The whole set is great and it’ll take me a while to make my way through the products as I’m still making my way through some existing scrubs, cleansers and moisturisers but I wanted you guys to see the set in all it’s glory.

I can’t wait to try the products. I gave everything a good sniff and it all smells amazing. The face scrub and serum are made from repurposed coffee grounds and you can smell it in the serum. It’s not strong or potent but it is there.

The reviews are great so I’m really looking forward to using it all. It’s been featured by Vegan Beauty Girl, both on her blog and on her Instagram. I’m particularly excited about using the face mask, but I’m still making my way through the Sand & Sky one.

As soon as I use these products, I’ll be writing separate blog posts to give a full break down and review of each thing so you guys get an in-depth description of the individual products.

The Cruelty Free Beauty Box Deluxe [February 2020]

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We’ve had to wait a little while longer for our February boxes as The Cruelty Free Beauty Box were waiting on a supplier to complete the boxes. These issues can’t be helped, but the box was most certainly not disappointing!

Here is a summary of my first impressions!

This box contains the following:

  • Balade En Provence Solid Night Cream (RRP £19.95)
  • The Salt Parlour Bath & Body Oil (RRP £16.95)
  • PITT BALM Deodorant Balm (RRP £5)
  • Ben & Anna Toothpaste White (RRP £8.95)
  • Lue by Jean Seo Fade (RRP 14.95)
  • London Copyright Eyeshadow (RRP £4.50)
  • Moo Free Cinder Toffee (RRP £3)
  • Good4u Veggie Protein Shots (RRP £1)
  • Bamboo Desire Massage Hairbrush (RRP £12.95)

The value of the box adds up to a nice £87.25. It’s not their best value box to date but I am so excited to try so many of these products!

Pictured above is the Ben & Anna toothpaste. I’ve used Ben & Anna products before. I bought a deodorant stick in Amsterdam last year when I had forgotten to pack my own and I absolutely loved it. The only thing I didn’t love was the price point!

I haven’t yet tried the toothpaste as I haven’t finished my existing tube, but I love the minty smell and it looks nice and easy to use. And with the added bonus of being in a recyclable glass jar, this looks like a promising swap!

Another 2 products I’m excited to use is the PITT BALM deodorant balm and the Balade En Provence night cream block.

I love a good deodorant spray swap and I’ve found balms really nice and easy to use, as well as really refreshing. The PITT BALM comes in a handy sized tin which can be carried in your handbag for those pit emergencies! I recommend checking out their website for their full range of products.

The Balade En Provence night cream block looks great. With lots of companies moving towards less packaging and naked products, this looks like a great swap. In the previous box, I received a gorgeous smelling hand cream which is incredible so I have high hopes for the night cream.

You’ll likely be seeing a few more blog posts in future with the details of these products when I finally get round to trying them.

Delhicious Hello Beau-Tea-Ful Body Scrub

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For regular readers of my blog, you will already be aware of my conscious effort to take better care of my skin. Earlier this week, I posted about Sknfed’s Cleansing and Exfoliating Cubes.

In the same Cruelty Free Beauty Box I received in December, there was a bag of Delhicious Body’s Hello Beau-Tea-Ful Body Scrub.

The packaging is very enticing and all the gold foil is beautiful. I’m not going to lie, it’s not the most practical of packaging. When I’m having a shower, the last thing I want to do is try to open a bag with wet hands.

Once you finally get the bag open, you’re greeted with the gorgeous smell of tea leaves. If tea is not to your liking, I don’t really recommend these scrubs as the smell is quite pungent, but as a tea lover… It’s a completely different story!

Like most of other scrubs, you apply to to wet skin and rub all over. This scrub was much messier than the Sknfed cubes, but did a great job. It did the job and I felt well scrubbed afterwards. I didn’t feel as soft and moisturised as I did after using the Sknfed cubes, but this is still a great scrub.

If you’re looking for a good exfoliating scrub for a good price and tea is right up your street, then this product is definitely for you. It smells great and the product does a great job of exfoliating your skin. I may not be rushing to buy it again, but I wouldn’t turn my nose up at it!

If you’re anything like me and you’d prefer a more indulgent product and with more convenient packaging, read my post about the Sknfed Cleansing and Exfoliating Cubes!

Sknfed Cleansing and Exfoliating Cubes

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I’m trying to get into more regular good skin habits which includes exfoliating and moisturising my skin more regularly. In the last Cruelty Free Beauty Box I received, there were Sknfed Cleansing and Exfoliating Cubes.

They came in a cute little cardboard pot with a lid, and when I opened them, the smell that came out was absolutely divine. They smelt delicious, but I can’t imagine that eating them would be safe!

I finally got round to use them last week and they were so easy to use. It is recommended to use 1 – 2 cubes over your body and I ended up using 2.

It was really easy to crumble and scrub all over my skin, and the smell was absolutely gorgeous. It had a delicious chocolate and coffee smell to it, and what I really loved about the cubes is that they were so easy to wash off, but it left my skin feeling moisturised and soft.

The cubes didn’t last particularly well in transit as you can see from the image above as a few of them have broken and crumbled. It’s not a problem as they crumble when you use them anyway!

Sknfed are a completely vegan brand, creating natural, cruelty free skincare products. You can read about them on their website here.

I cannot recommend these exfoliating cubes enough. They are so easy to use and smell so good. They feel like an incredible treat for your body with the benefit of cleansed and soft skin at the end of it. Honestly, I love them and I’ll definitely be buying them again!

Valentine’s Day: The Vegan Bakes

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Boy did good this year. Instead of buying me flowers, he came up with the baked goods.

I received a missed parcel note from Royal Mail last week, and unusually they left it with a neighbour instead of taking it back to the depot. I had no idea what the parcel was as I hadn’t done any online shopping recently! I knocked next door and they handed me a parcel addressed to me labelled perishable…

I opened the parcel and was greeted with a red tissue wrapped box with a ‘The Vegan Bakes’ sticker on top. Contained inside underneath more red tissue paper was a cheesy note from Tom and the goods themselves!

It was filled with beautifully presented baked goods which included chocolate brownies, cake pops and cookies. In this Valentine’s box, everything came in pairs which was ideal for sharing! I’m not normally a sharer but under these circumstances I thought I should.

We started with the cake pops which looked amazing. They were absolutely gorgeous and dusted with gold. It was a red velvet cake covered in white chocolate and was absolutely divine. The cake was moist and the chocolate wasn’t too thick which made it nice and easy to eat.

We then had the cookies for breakfast, and again, they were delicious. Not hard or soft with the perfect crunch on the outside of the cookie. They were filled with so many chocolate chunks and the actual cookie was the size of my hand.

At the time of me writing this blog post, we have not yet tried the brownies, but based on how incredible the cake pops and cookies were, I’m sure we will not be disappointed.

Visit The Vegan Bakes website to see their full range of products because there is so much available. They do gift boxes as well as bespoke cakes, and of course, they are all vegan. So have a browse and try them out!

Self Care Sundays: Issue 9

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I was too lazy to run myself a bath so I had a nice shower with a shower bomb and had a very interesting experience with

Lush Not Sleepy Shower Bomb

The Not Sleepy shower bomb made such a nice change to the lengthy baths and bubble bars I use.

It filled the shower with gorgeous citrus smells and I used it over my body as a scrub. It was refreshing and calming at the same time and I finished my shower feeling invigorated.

As with most Lush products, I love this shower bomb. It’s a different option for people which is nice and does the job perfectly.

Spacemasks

In the evening, I decided to relax with the Spacemask that I received in my Cruelty Free Beauty Box in December.

To describe it as an interesting experience would be accurate. The mask itself was great. Soft and comfortably hooked behind my ears.

Waiting for the mask to get hot felt weird, and the actual heating feeling felt super strange and to be completely honest, a little uncomfortable. I started to feel a little woozy from the heat so I took it off after about 10 minutes.

As soon as the mask was off, I actually felt great. The steamy feeling hit and it was super soothing and refreshing.

Although the after experience was lovely, the actual experience ruined it for me and I don’t think I will be buying these or using them again. It definitely wasn’t for me.

Self Care Sundays: Issue 8

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Another Sunday has come around, and another pampering and relaxation session.

I’m still making my way through my Christmas Lush haul and the Pixi FortifEYE patches which you can read about here.

Here is what I used this week…

Lush Snowman Dreaming Bath Bomb

This was a lovely simple bath bomb with gorgeous smells and colours. Lush described it the scents as lavender and cedarwood oil. I smelt lavender and the smell wasn’t over-powering and overwhelming.

It was an incredibly relaxing smell and it was nice to soak into. A lovely post-Christmas treat!

Lush Candy Cane Bubble Bar

As much as I love a bath bomb, I really love bubbles. I think I’m going to have to start giving up on bath bombs and only buying bubble bars.

When I topped up the bath with some more hot water, I decided to fill the bath with my beloved bubbles so I used the Candy Cane reusable bubble bar.

You simply run it under water and let it produce all the bubbles you want. It leaves you with a lovely, bubbly and red bath smelling of lemon and bergamot.

I would definitely recommend a bubble bar. It’s so nice to have bubbles and it makes it feel like a real bath! Lush have a huge range of bubble bars so have a browse online.