cruelty free

Vegan hair & skin products i use | Beauty products

Being vegan isn’t just about the food, even if that is a big part of making a change towards veganism. It is about your whole lifestyle and that you try to cut out animal exploitation or animal products as much as possible.

I don’t usually show what products i use or have at home, but i thought i would start doing that!

I have been vegan 2 years, but i still have/use things which aren’t vegan. Example perfume which i was given before i went vegan. Also things like tattoo care and moisturizer which i still use previous ones from 2 years ago… (this shows just how sporadically i use those things, hahaha. But next tattoo i get, i will have to buy a vegan aftercare as the one i used for my previous tattoo [and wasn’t vegan] is all gone now!)

Otherwise most of the beauty products i have are vegan and the ones that aren’t, when i need to buy a new version i will check that it is cruelty free and vegan!

Also i don’t really have or use any make up so not sure i am the best person to recommend brands or products, haha.

I don’t have so many household cleaning items, but i can share which dishwashing soap, hand soap etc that i use.

However, what brands that are available to you will vary depending on where you live. But it can be good to share more of these types of posts and recommendations as well, as it isn’t just the food and eating a plant based diet that matters.

Hair:

Liz Earle shampoo and conditioner & hair oil (previously used Maria Nila which was really good as well)

Maria Nila silver shampoo/hair mask (This mask has lasted me 1,5 years! Though i don’t use it on a weekly basis… so i think it only lasts a few months if you use it every week.)

Thermal heating spray from ABBA

Face & body:

Liz Earle beauty products (You can read more about Liz Earle products HERE and a review of the products HERE : However i can say that they have been amazing for my skin!) ** Note, not all of Liz Earle products are vegan.

Lypsyl for my lips

Ida Warg self tan & St Tropez* (I might write a post about these! I don’t use them so often, but i do like using them from time to time!) (*St tropez are cruelty free, but not all they’re products are vegan. However this package is from before i went vegan… yup, more than 2 years ago i bought 2 packages while they were on sale, and i still have half of this one left).

Make up:
Make up wipes & mascara from Make Up store

Lipstick from Make Up store

Concealer from Body Store

Deodorant:

I have previously used Urtekram, but didn’t think it worked so well for me.

And now i am using ACO which works well for me.

Teeth:

Eldorado toothpaste (Also used Humble toothpaste before)

In the past i also used a Humble Toothbrush (which is both eco friendly and vegan!)

Image result for humble brush and toothpaste

These are just some of the products i use. Remember though to check the ingredients/do your own research before you buy the products if you want them to be cruelty free and vegan. Sometimes the ingredients can change over time and a product that was vegan can suddenly have beeswax or other animal products, and they don’t have to write and say anything.

Learning what products are vegan or not is definitely hard and i prefer to go for products that have a vegan marking so that i don’t have to read all the ingredients, but i have noticed that unfortunately some products marked with the vegan label include beeswax or honey… which isn’t vegan. So kind of false marketing. However it is not a huge dealbreaker if i accidently buy a product that has a vegan label but includes beeswax or honey, though that is just a personal opinion, and instead i just go for another brand the next time.

If you have any tips on vegan products you use, comment down below! Also if you have any good vegan perfumes, as i will need to buy new perfume some time in the future and don’t really know which brands to look for/try!

Also note, cruelty free doesn’t automatically mean the product is vegan, HOWEVER vegan product automatically means it is cruelty free as well…. hope that makes sense. And you can see some CF/non CF brands HERE) There is a list with vegan brands HERE which you can look at!

Also a post with a bunch of vegan brands of cosmetics, skin care, hair dye, tattoo care, sun care, dental care, nail polish, pads, razors etc CLICK HERE. (Alot of useful advice, tips, brands and information for all types of products for cosmetics, skin etc)

June 20, 2018June 17, 2018

Its a healthy lifestyle5 Comments

Review of Liz Earle hair and skin products (Vegan and cruelty free)

Good morning everyone!

It has been a month since i got and began using Liz Earle hair and skin products which are cruelty free, and almost all vegan (2 of them had beeswax).

When i made the first post about the products, HERE, i had not begun using them but wanted to show them anyway because i had never heard of the brand before. But now it has gone a month where i have used the skin products almost daily and washed my hair with the shampoo and conditioner 1-2 times a week, so i thought i would share my opinion!

They were bought as a christmas present so this of course isn’t sponsored – but even if it was it would be my genuine review!

The first thing i can say is that almost all the spots i had before christmas are gone…. apart from a few hormonal spots i haven’t had any spots, whereas before Christmas i had them all over my chin, forehead and even on my neck. I actually think that the skin products i was using was giving me spots…. because i wasn’t so stressed and i haven’t changed my eating and still touch my face just as often as before christmas. If anything i am sleeping worse now which should be giving me more spots, but nope… clear skin!

Also the moisturizer is amazing – makes your skin so smooth!

I am no skin expert and i just follow the instructions that came along with the kit but it works for me and my skin anyway – unfortunately i can’t even tell you what type of skin i have i.e whether it is dry or oily etc because i really don’t know. My skin feels so much fresher and cleaner and i have to say… in the past i just washed my face and used skin products every now and then but because i think they gave me spots i almost felt worse after using them. But now i love washing my face with the cleanser and using the moisturizer every morning!!

What about the shampoo and conditioner? Well, they make your hair really soft! So if you are planning to style your hair the next day i would either wait to wash your hair or use another conditioner. But my hair feels really good, and in combination with the hair oil which i only use maybe once a week as i keep forgetting to use it, but i think it is making my hair stronger/better. Though if i am honest, i don’t treat my hair so well so would need some lessons on how to properly care for my hair! But i do think it is alot less frayed/dry compared to before! Before i used Maria Nila hair products and they are amazing as well, so would also recommend them if they are available to you 🙂 I currently still use the “purple-anti-yellow hair mask once a week – though not sure if it makes a difference as i don’t leave it in so long!

Final thoughts – i loved all of the products and i think they have made a difference for my skin and hair. The only product i didn’t like was the body cream, i thought it smelt a little weird and was too loose for my liking – i before when the body cream is a little thicker, but that is just personal opinion!

So there you have my review and thoughts and i would definitely recommend them! I wouldn’t say they are the cheapest brand, but i do think they are worth the money (i got mine as a gift though.) But maybe if you see a good deal someday you might want to try!!

January 26, 2018

Its a healthy lifestyle2 Comments

Liz Earle Beauty and hair products – Cruelty free and Vegan

When it comes to Christmas presents i am not much for sharing what i got – i may have done it in the past years. But sometimes i feel like it’s just a way for people to show off what they got and to boast about all the fancy gifts they have received. This however leads to comparison among people and all i can think about is the people who don’t celebrate Christmas, the people who don’t have families to celebrate with or those who can barely afford food on Christmas nonetheless gifts. Not to mention that i find it all extremely commercialised… so even if i like giving gifts because it is something i have thought about specifically for the person and i like seeing how happy it makes them. I am not much for receiving gifts myself… not on days like Christmas or my birthday anyway. Instead i would much rather receive random gifts of any given day haha. One of those gifts which usually is bought because the person saw something they knew i would like or needed and there was no “reason” or expectation to give gifts.

However for Christmas my mum got me this huge set of Liz Earle beauty and hair products – which i had not expected. I had asked for one or two beauty products and a concealer as it’s soemthing i need but don’t buy myself. So it was amazing to recieve such a huge gift box. Also my mum knows that it is important for me that the products i use are vegan and Cruelty free and that is exactly what these products are… or well, 2 of the products contian beeswax and are therefore not vegan. However i am going to keep them… mostly because i don’t feel like selling them and i know i will use them. Of course if you are militant and extreme with your veganism you may not think that is right, but for me the little beeswax really isn’t that big deal and in the future i will buy a replacement which is both cruelty free and completely vegan, but for now it is ok!

We all make our choices!

The cleanse and polish and the face exfoliater in the blue box contain beeswax.

I have yet to try any of the products, so i guess i will write about them in a few weeks time when i have gotten the chance to test them and see how they work!!

December 25, 2017December 25, 2017

Its a healthy lifestyle11 Comments

Animal testing – Cruelty free products & medicines

Hey Izzy,
you’ve mentioned laboratories with animal testing: how do you feel about that when it comes to medical testing and science. I’m asking that because I’m sure you oppose animal testing in the cosmetic industry but I wanted to know your opinion on this other field.

Hello and thank you for your comment!

Yes i definitely dislike animal testing when it comes to cosmetics and even household items and other items where animals have gone through tests and torture just so that the product can be deemed safe. I can understand that products need to be tested, but i don’t understand why they have to torture animals and kill animals to do the tests. I mean most of those tests aren’t done on humans because they are deemed as unsafe and unhumane, so why do it on lab rats then? Not to mention beagles are usually the animals used to test on when it comes to cosmetics, and that breaks my heart because i have a beagle myself… but even knowing about the lab rats breaks my heart.

Below are some facts taken from Crueltyfreeinternational.org

The latest figures show that in 2011, almost 11.5 million animals were used in experiments across Europe, only a slight decrease on 2008.
France, Germany and the UK were the top 3 users of animals in experiments, in that order.
The countries of the EU in 2011 reported that they used 17,896 dogs, 3,713 cats, 358,213 rabbits, 6,686 horses, 6,095 monkeys, 675,065 birds, 77,280 pigs, 28,892 sheep, 30,914 cattle, over 1,000,000 fish and over 8,500,000 rodents.

Examples of animal tests include forcing mice and rats to inhale toxic fumes, force-feeding dogs pesticides, and dripping corrosive chemicals into rabbits’ sensitive eyes. Even if a product harms animals, it can still be marketed to consumers. Conversely, just because a product was shown to be safe in animals does not guarantee that it will be safe to use in humans. (source: Peta.org)

If you want to buy cruelty free cosmetics THIS site (cruelty free kitty ) has all the facts! And she even has a whole lot of facts about the topic and what you can do to help and what to think about when you shop, so check that page out HERE.

Make sure to stay updated though because sometimes products have their ingredients changed and they are suddenly no longer vegan or the company starts to test on animals again.

So…. onto lab testing and medicine.

According to RSPCA: ” National and international regulations currently require that new medicines are tested on animals before being licensed for use. Around 5 million animals including mice, rats, fish, chickens, rabbits, dogs and primates are used across the EU for this purpose each year. ”

When it comes to medicines they need to be tested so that they don’t have any negative consequences on the person who takes them, or that the scientists can atleast be aware of the consequences and have them listed.

I would much prefer if medicines weren’t tested on animals and hope that in the future they won’t be, but for now i think it’s law that medicine is tested before it is allowed to be sold.

Because i have a chronic illness it means i take alot of medication daily and unfortunatly, not all the medication i take is vegan (I have tried to find alternatives to the ones that have gelatin as the capsule and have successfully found alternatives to most of them but not all)…. infact, if i think about the fact that some of it is tested on animals then very little of that medication is vegan. Not even painkillers are vegan as they have been tested on animals.

My thoughts are that it is better to be a healthy vegan who can make a difference in other ways than to be a sick vegan who can’t make much else of a difference because they refuse to take medicine. And before anyone asks about vaccines, i have not done enough research to know whether i am for or against vaccine… but considering that vaccine does have it’s benefits and keeps not just the individual but also society and the group safe, i am for vaccine…. but not so much the animal testing.

So to conclude, if medicine is needed… take it. Of course you don’t need to take painkillers for every little headache or take medicine for everything if it isn’t necessary. But the medicines that are necessary, take them… it’s better you are healthy and can make a difference in other ways than to be sick and not be able to make as much of a difference 🙂

Veganism is about doing the best you can and you can’t be perfect (if you think about it, just driving a car or out walking can kill bugs and/or other animals, but you still need to be able to live a normal life and function properly!), we live in a society where medicine is tested on animals and all we can do is help to find alternatives so that in the future that will no longer be required 🙂

You can read more on TheVeganSociety

June 30, 2017June 30, 2017

Its a healthy lifestyle6 Comments