Exploring Cruelty-Free #4 - Scents

I still feel a bit weird with these posts. I feel weird reviewing things when I haven’t used every possible variation available (which I’m never going to do). And, as I’ve mentioned before, I’m super basic when it comes to beauty/household products. I’m not very brand-loyal, I won’t spend a load of money on one thing. I guess I am reviewing them but the point that I really want to get across is just how easy it is to choose cruelty-free stuff; how many options there are, how easy they are to find and to identify. It is no compromise or effort! Anyway, this time I’m going to share with you a few fragrance finds I’ve been trying out! I found this one super easy, there were tonnes of choices once I did a little reading.

Ditched: I never had a consistent perfume I used and actually haven’t had any at all for a while whilst I got around to choosing something that was cruelty-free. 

The Search: First, I stumbled on a Coconut body spritzer whilst queuing in Superdrug (I can't find it anywhere online!?) it was 99p! I grabbed it as I knew I would love it. It’s a casual, every-day fragrance that I am obsessed with. My Mum gave me Furze (by Lush) for Christmas, I hadn’t smelt it before but from the descriptions I had read online I knew it was the one for me, and oh man! I HATE chemically/musky/heavy smells and this is the exact opposite; It is light, floral and vanillary! The last one I found super recently is Grace Coles Coconut & Lime body spritz, it smells like the most beautiful holiday cocktail. I saw it in a shop and was SO happy to see an 'Against Animal Testing' stamp on the back. 

Now using: ALL THREE. I'm super happy to have found three different coconut smells. I use the Coconut & Lime one every morning, carry the BodyShop spritz in my bag and use Furze for special occasions! If I had to choose an absolute favourite it would definitely be Furze. 

________________________

Exploring Cruelty-Free #3

Choosing cruelty-free cleaning products gave me the perfect opportunity to choose things that are nice to the planet too. I had to read a lot to get my head around this one. Some companies seem to market themselves as cruelty-free and eco-friendly but looking a bit deeper they aren't. Or they aren't vegan. I tried to pick things in recyclable packaging. EthicalSuperstore.com helped me out loads with this one, their reviews and key-coding are amazing. 

Ditched: My kitchen cupboard was full of Proctor & Gamble! And a couple of Unilever things too. Really not good.

The Search: I was so surprised at just how easy this one was, or more so, how much choice I had! Asda has a little range of eco-friendly cleaners that aren't tested on animals. All of The Co-Operatives home branded things are cruelty free. As are Marks & Spencers, as are Morrisons, Tesco & Sainsbury's! Totally spoilt for choice, which is perfect for me because I'm definitely not the kind of person that has preferred brands when it comes to cleaning stuff. Being able to pick this stuff up in my supermarket is a huge bonus. I decided to try some non-home branded things for my first try so I nipped into my friendly local Out of this World and got a few things in Tesco too! Tesco stock the Ecover range which I was a bit confused about; loads of websites say they lost their certificates but BUAV tweeted me saying they're 100% leaping bunny approved. Thats good enough for me! 

Now Using: 
      - BioD - Laundry Liquid - I always go for non-bio and this was is super allergen free, which is amazing, but that mean it hardly has any smell at all so it needs to be teamed with something else to make your clothes smell clean. 
      - Earth Friendly Products - Parsley Plus - Dixon hates the way this smells. It smells like parsley, obviously! But, I love that it doesn't have that chemically smell. It works super well 
      - Ecover - Washing-Up Liquid - I got the Pomegranate & Lime one, and oh my god! It smells so  so good. Like, I wish it was a juice. Bubbles up and works really well.
      - Ecover - Fabric Softener - Again, smells super good. Works super well with the BioD Laundry Liquid. Its really well priced too.

_________________

As always, I don’t care what other eat/drink/do. I have shared my experiences to help guide others who have the same way of thinking as me and give them the tools to make it easier. If you have any useful references yourself, let me know!

Exploring Cruelty-Free #2

I decided to go for make-up this time; I have been sort of dreading this. I have a very limited make up bag. I use foundation, mascara, an eye-brown pencil and gel-eyeliner. If I am feeling particularly fancy I'll use a blusher and/or lipstick. BUT, I sort of hate spending that much on make-up. I think my mascara is £7 and I die every time I need to get a new one. It's one of those things that go into the 'There are better things for me to spend my money on' category, along with professional hair-cuts and socks. I had a feeling this one was going to cost me a fair bit of money, but it definitely wasn't as bad as I expected.

Ditched: Rimmel (Owned by Coty Inc) & Maybelline (Owned by L'Oreal) - I'm ashamed to discover L'Oreal make something that I use daily, they aren't a great company at all. I have trailed the internet trying to find something set in stone about Coty Inc but they seem to be one be ambiguous on if they do or don't test on animals; which isn't good enough.

The Search: I picked up some bits by 'B.', a brand I found in Superdrug. It is more expensive than I would have hoped (£10ish for a foundation). And after spending almost £30 on mascara and foundation I wasn't planning on trying out anything else too soon. But, to my annoyance, I hated the liquid foundation. It sucked. Its super sticky, and somehow thick and thin at the same time... AND, I have used a full bottle already, my foundations usually last over a month, this made it a couple of weeks. The pressed powder foundation, on the other hand, is wonderful. I love it. The 'B. All' mascara also has a lot of plusses; the brush doesn't fall to bits, there are no clumps, it comes off really easily and doesn't smudge. I went back and picked up an 'Eyebrow Kit' the next day, I guess you can't really go wrong with an eyebrow pencil? The colour is good and the waxed end works well too. After the liquid foundation failure I decided to order a couple of things from Barry M, they have a little page on their website about why they are cruelty free. I did play with the idea of using something by Lush too, but holy hell is that stuff expensive. Thankfully, I loved the Barry M foundation. Its the first time I've gone for anything more colourful then 'ivory; but with Barry M I went for a 'nude' and it matches really well!

Now using: B. All mascara, B. Groomed eyebrow kit, B. Set pressed powder & Matte Finish Oil Free Foundation by Barry M. I'm yet to run out of my gel eyeliner; so haven't  looked into this yet!

If you want to look into how your own things stack up, I found that Leaping Bunny, Not Tested and Go Cruelty Free were extremely useful. You can see part 1 of my Cruelty-Free search here.

 ________________________

As always, I don’t care what other eat/drink/do. I have shared my experiences to help guide others who have the same way of thinking as me and give them the tools to make it easier. If you have any useful references yourself, let me know!

Exploring Cruelty-Free #1

I had been vegetarian for a few years before I decided to go vegan. I started to think of myself as on the fence so I decided to cut all animal-products out of my diet. For my studies I have been reading a lot about animal welfare and now I'm starting to realise that I am on the fence again by supporting companies that test on animals. I have always been partially aware of companies who routinely test on animals (GlaxoSmithKline, Proctor & Gamble etc) but since my teenage-animal-activist years I haven’t read up too much about it or stayed up to date with who does and who doesn't. Soooo, I’m doing some reading and making some changes. I'll be trying out a load of new things, so I thought I would share my discoveries with you. First, I decided to go for shampoo. I was pretty worried that I wouldn't find something that I loved, but it was actually so so easy... you just need to know where to look.

Ditched: Tresemme (Owned by Unilever) - Unilever openly test on animals.

The Search: Whilst on my search someone on twitter pointed out that Superdrugs own brand is Leaping Bunny approved. I really didn't want to be shopping online/spending loads so this made me very happy. I've used Superdrugs Coconut & Almond shampoo before and loved it, I decided to pick up one specifically for coloured hair (and it was only £1!). It smells so good. I also turned to the old faithful, Lush. I decided to try out one of their shampoo bars, which I've never used before; A coconut-y one which is apparently for curly hair... but it smelt too good not to buy. (I got a cute badger bath-bomb too!)

Now using: Trichomania from Lush - I absolutely love this shampoo bar! I can't resist anything with coconut in it. Plus, it makes me hair cleaner than it has ever been (I mean, super squeaky clean), and smells amazing. Although pretty expense, it seems as thought it is going to last ages; I can actually leave my hair unwashed a day longer than I used to be able too.

If you want to do a bit of research yourself, I found that Leaping Bunny, Not Tested and Go Cruelty Free were extremely useful.

 _________________

As always, I don’t care what other eat/drink/do. I have shared my experiences to help guide others who have the same way of thinking as me and give them the tools to make it easier. If you have any useful references yourself, let me know!