I've Been Away

Hey everyone, you may have all have forgotten about this blog now as it's been so long since I posted (over a year I think).
Life has been tough the last year or so, blogging took a back seat even, though I've still been reading your blogs :)

After recent events I've decided my lifestyle is going to change (hopefully for the better).

First off I'll mention I've been a vegetarian since I was 12years old, I'm now 30, so I guess you could say I take the vegetarian thing quite seriously.
I firstly began my vegetarianism due to my love of animals and discovering the tough reality of what happens to animals to feed us, which was oddly through a Welsh lesson in school.
Before I turned veggie I was a big meat eater, and after that Welsh lesson I just stopped eating meat and began to become more serious about what I ate.
Anyway to my point, everyone knows my other love besides animals is makeup and beauty products. I have to admit I have been pretty ignorant concerning all the animal testing laws lately.  I thought if a product was made in the EU that it wouldn't be tested on animals, but I then learned of the law in China where products must be tested on animals before being sold in their country. So after most brands being cruelty free for years they have now decided money is more important than animal welfare.
So that has led me to decide I shall only be using products Not Tested on Animals from now on. I thought at first it would be easy as many brands have claimed to be Cruelty Free for years, but after looking into things more closely I've realised how deceitful some claims can be.

Okay, I'll get to my main point. I've decided my blog now will be mainly organic, cruelty free products.
It's going to be tough, ignorance was bliss (well for me not for the animals) before I decided this.

Anyway thank you for reading, and I hope to be back very soon with some great cruelty free buys :)

Some more reasons why I Love TKMaxx

I just wanted to show some fantastic bargains and items I have recently purchased at my local TKMaxx.

TKMaxx seems to be delivering in the beauty department lately, as well as the usual clothing and homeware.

When I enter my local TKmaxx I always shoot towards the beauty section (which is downstairs at my store) and I’m not sure if it’s a good or bad thing as it just feeds my want for beauty products.

One of my latest finds is this Korres Vanilla Cinnamon showergel for £3.99. I have often wanted to buy Korres showergels, however since I live in a fairly rural area nowhere stocks Korres products and I never fancied spending £8 on a product that I may hate the smell of. But this shower gel is gorgeous, it’s a warm non gourmet vanilla with warming cinnamon. I love it.

Ok, this next item is my most exciting buy.  Frederic Fekkai’s Glossing cream for only £5 and it usually retails at £20. Amazing.

I didn’t really have high hopes for this product as it was selling at £5 I thought it must be bad or something, I was very wrong. A little bit of this product goes a long way, and it really defines and glosses hair. I’m going to go back for some more.

I’ve never heard of the next brand Intra, but the fact that it 98% natural ingredients with a vanilla scent sold me. I’d been looking for a different body lotion due to my usual Palmer cocoa butter making me feel hungry all the time. So as this was only £3 I gave it a go, and really love it. It’s a pretty, subtle vanilla scent and it sinks straight into skin.

Something else I like to stock up on at TKMaxx is Lierac products. I use to buy all my Lierac products from Feel Unique, however they seem to have stopped stocking them and Look Fantastic have also limited products, so when I go to TKMaxx I buy a Lierac product in case I never see these products again.
Lierac skincare has to be one of my favourite brands, and if it is to stop selling in the UK it will make me so sad.
I bought this Hydra-Chrono lotion for normal/combination skin for £9.99, which is a bargain as I’ve spent around £25 on it in the past.

Thank you for reading. x

Little Lush Lovelies

I’ve started a bit of a Lush obsession again.

I now and again feel the need for comfort, which at the moment I think is due to the fact that winter is drawing closer, and the days shorter and nights cold, dark and lonely. To make things easier I like comfort, cosy, nice smelling things that lift my spirits.

 

I decided to buy something I’ve wanted to try for a while, Lemony Flutter which is a really moisturising cuticle butter. I don’t usually like citrus scents but lemony flutter is delicious and may have changed my opinion of citrus scents. At the moment I have cuticles that are pretty dry, and I have a bad habit of picking at them when they do this (I know, bad). So Lemony Flutter is blessing for my dry, ragged cuticles, and also dry skin of knees and elbows this winter.

 

I also bought Vanilla Puff. I have to say I haven’t worn a talc since I was little, but something in me urged me to buy this (probably the vanilla scent).

This dusting powder smells exactly like Lush’s Vanillary Perfume, a fragrance that I did not get on with at all for some reason, however the dusting powder isn’t as concentrated (as you’d expect , as it’s not a perfume ) and so I get along with this just fine. This can be used in drawers to scent your clothes, can be used as a dry shampoo and their are other uses too, but at the moment I just like sprinkling it on after a nice bath.

Bargain Essie Polishes

I told myself not too long ago that I would cut down on my nail polish purchases and it hasn’t happened and you know why?! TkMaxx, that’s why :)

When I have been at my local TkMaxx lately I have been coming across Essie Nail Polishes at very cheap prices, and as a nail polish addict this is hard to resist.

The two Trios that you can see on the left were bought for £5 per trio, yes £5 for 3 polishes.

The only problem though is half of them didn’t have shade names on them.

The Bright pink one here had a label on it which is True Love, however when searching online and looking at swatches it doesn’t look like it.

The other two colours I have no idea what they are.

The only one labelled here is the white polish which is labelled and I believe to be Below the Belt.  The other polish is Labelled Lovie Dovie. The red polish isn’t labelled so I have no idea what it is.

As you may know from a past post I absolutely love Essie’s Demure Vixen polish. While picking some hair things up in Tkmaxx I saw in the corner of my eye a shade that looked familiar to me, and so I looked closer and yes I was right it was Demure Vixen in a pack along with Essie’s protein base coat for £7.99. Bargain.

Not a Tkmaxx purchase but it’s still an Essie Bargain.

I sometimes like to browse a store called the Factory Shop and well I found this little gem, Essie’s Sugar Daddy for just £3 :)

Thanks for reading. x

Hair Supplementation

I've been meaning to write about these supplements for a while now, better late than never hey?! :)

As you may know if you've read my blog over the years I did have some hair loss a while back, ever since then I have been on a mission to grow healthy hair. 

My hair did recover from the loss and I did have a bout or two of loss again, but now thank god it seems to be normal again :)

Anyway just over a year ago I had my hair cut to a medium length which I immediately regretted and vowed to grow back as quickly as I could, with regular trims to keep it healthy, shiny and split-end free.

I owe many thanks to Natures Best for my quick and healthy hair growth.

I have taken silica supplements regularly since the whole hair loss scenario, however I read that the Horsetail form of silica could deplete your thiamine (vitamin B1) levels (you'd have to do more research on this matter as I'm not at all scientific, but as I'm a vegetarian my B-vitamins are usually low anyway). So I looked into other forms of Silica and the most promising sounding form was the Bamboo one, as it is the richest form of silica.

Bamboo Silica is said to be good for arteries, tendons, skin, bones, cartilage and of course hair and nails :)

If you google bamboo silica you will find out so much information, much more than I can give.

The Silica I use is by Natures Best and can be found here for the excellent price of £5.40. 

These supplements are also Vegetarian, so you don't have to worry about geletine shells and also you receive 90 capsules, and you take only one a day, so you have 3 months supply, which I think is great for the price as I've paid double that for less than a months supply with other brands.

Bamboo Silica

I also take the Maxi Hair one a day supplements also by Natures Best. These contain most (if not all) the B vitamins, zinc, vitamin c, copper (see below for more)  and a decent amount of Iron which is essential for hair growth.

I take these instead of a multivitamin as I find they contain most things I would need from a multi-vit.

Nature's Health Maxi hair tablets can be found here

They cost £10.50 for 60 tablets.

 Maxi Hair Product info.

So along with these supplements, healthy eating and exercise I have found that mu hair has grown quite well.

And below are some pictures of my hair one being from last summer (on the left) and one from the present :) Excuse the silly pics :)

Thank you for reading :)

Alterna Bamboo Kendi Oil

Hi everyone, I'd like to share my review on Alterna's Bamboo Kendi Treatment oil.

I bought this a couple of months ago from the Gorgeous Shop website, my hair at the time was very dry, over coloured and in need of a trim (which it had now had) and after reading comments about this product on various sites I decided I would give it a go.

Ok to the review.

Claims: Alterna say's 'Cultivate stronger, smoother, healthier hair. Instantly absorbing Kendi Oil with strengthening Organic Bamboo banishes frizz, imparts intense shine & protects color while providing vital nutrients. Best for use on medium to thick hair.'

Who's it for: As the claims above Alterna says it's best suited to medium to thick hair. I do have fine hair but lots of it, and it's curly and wavy in parts :s My hair has a split personality.

Texture: I find the texture quite runny, and not particularly thick or greasy, so it does absorb easily into hair without leaving any residue on your strands.

Scent: Delicate, sweet scent.

How to use: Taken from back of bottle Alterna says;

' As a styling aid, apply a small amount throughout damp hair and style as usual. 

As an oil treatment, 1-2 times per week apply liberally to dry hair, leave for 10 minutes and wash as usual'.

Packaging: Ok to the packaging, it's not at all like your pump bottle oils, this one actually had a little dropper (see below). Which for me being clumsy can be a bit fiddly and it creates more work, so that's one of the points I really dislike about it.

Price: I paid £15.80 at GorgeousShop which I think for the amount of product you receive (50ml) is quite a steep price, but it is Alterna you're buying.

Product size/ amount: 50ml

Pros:

 Eco-certified ingredients, Grown responsibly and Traded Ethically.

Free of: Parbens, Phthalates, Synthetic Colour, Mineral Oill & Petrolatum. 

Absorbing.

Light.

Cons: 

Quite Expensive for the amount.

Hard to find.

Contains Cyclopentasiloxane, Dimethicone (silicones).

Would I buy again:

I'd like to say I would, but I probably won't be buying again sadly. 

This is due to price, the oil being too light for my hair and I can't say I noticed a huge difference in my hair. I also had to use a lot of product each time to tame my tresses.

I really did want this product to work for me, all I can say is it's not bad and may work for some, but for me it wasn't moisturising enough.

I hope you find this post useful.

Little Treats

Hello everyone, I hope you're all great :) 

Sorry I'm always quiet with the blogging, I have lately stopped buying as much makeup as I use to, I think I use to buy too much makeup and never use it and so it was a waste of money and I felt guilty. So lately I have been making sure to pick products that I know I'm going to use. Also with life being crazy with too much to do I find myself too tired to blog sometimes. I will try to blog more though, even if they're just short posts.

Anyway today I treated myself to a few little bits and bobs, and I'd like to share what I bought with you.

So with further ado here are some pictures.

I have been eyeing a Ted Baker makeup bag that I'd seen in Boots for a few weeks, and today I bought it :D Yippe.

I've been looking for a makeup bag that's pretty, with a luxury feel, not too big yet big enough and something that reflects me a little, so the wild birds are perfect :) I love wild birds.

It can be bought here Boots

A compact cute bag

I love that the inside has clear compartments, so not so much rummaging around in the mornings, stressing where things are.

And of course I love the bird prints, they are gorgeous :)

On to TKMaxx I found this little frown pen for only £4.99, it was an impulse buy due to me looking in the mirror and seeing more bloody laughter lines, the buggers. 

It claims to target wrinkles, crows feet and laugh lines with ingredients such as amino acids, purslane  and centella.

I don't know if it will work for me but we'll see how it goes, I just checked some reviews on the Boots website and the reviews weren't glowing. 

Next is Garnier's Olia permanent hair colour. Which is said to be ammonia free and 60% oils. 

I have refrained from dying my hair so often and have been trying to go back to my natural colour ( dark/medium mousy blonde), however after dying my hair red for years a red tinge still comes through so I use ash and beige tones now and then to tone the red down.

This colour was purchased from Superdrug for £5.99 however usually sells for £6.99.

I have to admit I dyed my hair the next day after buying. 

The application process was slightly different to other dyes as the applicator container didn't contain the developer, as the developer comes in a tube otherwise it's the same process as usual. The applicator bottle was quite funky, reminded me of something sixties with it's black nozzle and curvy bottle, I'm sorry I didn't take pictures.

In all the dye while on my head didn't irritate my sensitive scalp, there was hardly any to no smell, only a light fragrance which was pleasant and not at all overpowering or sickly.

The dye washed out reasonably easily and the post dye conditioner was quite nice.

If the colour is long lasting and doesn't washout within a week or two I will certainly buy again, as the colour is spot on and my hair is soft and doesn't feel like it's been coloured.

I don't think I know anyone that doesn't enjoy a nice, hot, long, relaxing bath at the end of a hard day, though I could be wrong.

I received my usual Lush catalogue in the post the other day and soon noticed Twilight.

 It caught my attention as it is a mixture of lavender, benzoin and ylang ylang which are some of my favourite scents. 

Twilight is quite a gentle, calming, soothing scent that is also creamy (thanks to the benzoin). It also contains silver luster.

I just wish it wasn't limited edition for Halloween :(

Sorry for the rubbish unfocused picture above, you can see what the product is though. Just! 

This is my first BareMinerals product :D I so can't wait to try it.

I have started to come to the end of my Dior forever foundation :( and thought a change would be a good thing.

As you can see I went for Fairly Medium c20 as I have pink undertones.

I shall come back to this product when I have played around and applied it :)

Thanks for reading.

Christina x