Puppy Power!

Look at my new puppy!!! :D

He's called Ned, he's a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, and he's adorable!! Apart from when he's chewing everything I love.

So cute though! Makes me even sadder to think people are cruel to animals when I imagine anything bad happening to him.

If you click here before March 21st and vote for him, he could win some cruelty free puppy gifts, and I'll be very grateful :)

Happy New Year everyone!!

Thank you for reading my blog, and I hope we can continue in to a cruelty-free and ethical new year.

Remember, it takes a while to learn a new habit, so give yourself time with your resolutions, they're always a work in progress.

Be kind to yourself and each other.

xx

Cruelty free and organic Christmas :)

 I got these lovely nail art pens from my sister, and O.P.I nail varnish from my mum, so I can have cruelty-free nails for 2014! I am obsessed with nail varnish at the moment. These colours are gorgeous, and of course the O.P.I polish looks great on (well, you'd expect it for the price!). The BarryM nail art pens are really easy to use and the corrector pen is great for any little slip-ups. It also comes with two spare sponges, so you don't have to just throw it away if your sponge gets too dirty!

 I've talked about teapigs before, and was excited to have some jasmine tea, because I've found a cafe near me that does it and it's amaaaazing. This was so nice, a hint of green tea with a flowery flavour. I love it. I haven't tried my rooibos yet, but let's face it they all taste the same - delicious! Rooibos is naturally caffeine free so if you want a tea that won't affect your sleeping pattern I'd recommend it :p

 I've tried apicare hand creme, and purchased some for my dad this Christmas, so was happy to receive this soap! They're cruelty free (although some may argue this isn't the case as they contain honey...but the vegans I know eat honey so it's whatever you prefer). This smells soooooo good!! I'm sure it's going to make my bathroom smell lovely, and I look forward to using it.

 I also got a "natural" tea tree cream hand made it Wales. It's definitely cruelty free, but looking at the ingredients I wasn't sure how much of it was actually natural. Still, it smells amazing and it's always handy to have tea tree around the house for cuts and bruises.

I hope everybody had a lovely Christmas! :) Let me know what you got!

I've explained before what animal testing entails, but I feel like I should explain better why I don't believe it's a good thing to test on animals.

Firstly, it's not really a logical idea for me. We're very different from animals. Animals are all different from each other. Why see what a product does to an animal when it could have a much better, or even much worse, effect on people? Most makeup contain the same ingredients anyway, so really there is not a great need to test them anymore on anyone, as the ingredients are already in use. Any new ingredients should, in my opinion, be tested on whoever actually uses them...in this case, people. I also think that if you think a chemical is going to do so much harm that you first try out it's benefits on rodents just in case they die...you probably don't want to use that chemical. Back to the drawing board. Start from scratch. Something safer probably exists!

Secondly, if you're not vegetarian, you should still consider being cruelty free. I am fully aware of the horrific way animals are treated in order for us to eat them, and that's why I'm vegetarian. However, the animals used to test products have no "final purpose" such as becoming food that you can tell yourself justifies the idea. They are solely there to be tortured (literally) until they die.

This is a slightly different post from the usual, but I just wanted to get the point across once again why I believe it's important to at least try becoming cruelty-free.

Our house, is a very very very fine house

Since I've been banging on about my new house and how I'm too busy on account of my new house, BEHOLD:

My dining room, and me reading Wolf Hall in my lounge (incidentally, I'm now on to Bring up the Bodies and am a little in love with Thomas Cromwell) - who says you shouldn't paint your rooms grey?

Speaking of grey, if any one can recommend a lovely, cruelty-free grey nail varnish, please let me know! I can only find sparkly ones.

Sorry!

I know people get bored of blogs when they haven't posted for a while (I know I do - I'm very impatient!) but I've just moved in to a new house and everything's a bit everywhere! I have some stuff I want to review for you, and promise I will do soon! :) Thanks for sticking with me x

Thought we could get to know each-other better. Here's some more about me!

I work as a receptionist. I've been at my job for just over 3 weeks now, and I'm enjoying it so far.

I used to be a research project support officer, but sadly the recession is more real than I thought and I was made redundant. It didn't seem to be the end of the world.  None of my friends really seemed to find it an issue or say much, my boss was away while it happened and she called me in to do one day of work and didn't say anything about it at all, my mum reacted in surprise when I brought it up the other week and said she didn't remember me being made redundant. After about 9 months I got the job I have now, so I'm quite lucky.

One of the best things I've ever owned is my car:

Here is it all covered in snow from last year. It's a Fiat 500. Every time someone sees it they say "it's very you!" One day I'll work up the courage to say "Why? What does that mean?!" But I secretly think it means I'm cute. Or small and orange. I'm fine with both, I suppose.

A bit more about me

I hope you're enjoying my blog. It's getting a few more views than I'd thought it would, which is nice  Feel free to follow me on twitter, too, and to leave a comment on any posts you like. The more feedback I get, the more I know what you like, the more I can put more content you enjoy! :)

Anyway, I thought I'd share a little more about myself. I turned 25 two weeks ago, and I am set to move in to my first house in 2-3 weeks! I've also just got a new job, and start in a couple of weeks as a receptionist/admin. Exciting times. Although it may mean I disappear for a while as I try to sort out the internet e.t.c.

Apart from searching out natural, chemical-free and cruelty-free products, I like to spend time listening to music. My favorites (currently) are David Bowie, and Pompeii by Bastille. That one song, over and over and over.

Two years ago I went as Aladdin Sane for halloween.

Who wore it best?! It was Bowie...

Not everyone appreciated the greatness, but I bumped in to one girl in the toilets who had the poster and told all her friends, so that was my time to shine.

 Introduce yourselves below, why don't you?

When I say I have sensitive skin...

I keep telling you about these products, and going on about how "it even suited my skin!"

I'm having an episode of really bad skin at the moment, because I used some foundation that it didn't like, and then when it was nearly cleared up I used the foundation again like a fool to try to cover it up! So it's back with a vengence:

What a bad angle to close-up on. Who has a birth-mark under their lip? I do! Bah!

This is what happens when my skin disagrees with a product.  It's like a bumpy rash that sometimes goes really red of it's own accord, and even water is irritating it so I have to let it heal on it's own! I asked a chemist, and they said the only thing I could try is hydrocotrisone, but "You shouldn't put it on your face"... helpful indeed, thank you.

If any of you have any suggestions, feel free to comment, PLEASE! Although that's actually looking a lot better to how it was two weeks ago. Hot stuff!

It's my birthday this weekend, so look out for the next post mid-week :) 

I've had one or two people asking me if the things I review actually work, or if I say they do because sometimes I'm given things to review.

I always try to be as honest as possible when doing reviews. I am quite a sensitive person (as is my stupid skin) so if I don't like something it's in my nature to try and say it in a nice way. If I really like something, I will say so. 

I don't over-emphasise how much I like things, and I do get genuinely impressed with the quality of some of the products I review. If you're ever in doubt or have any extra questions on products, then just ask in the comments :)

I guess I should introduce myself...

Hey there.

This blog has only been up a few days, but I've had more hits than I was expecting, so I thought it polite to introduce myself!

Me

I'm aware I'm not very photogenic, so I'll save my face for a later date! I work part-time, and I spend a lot of time reading.  That camera was given to me couple of years ago for my 22nd birthday, we've been on some adventures together. Here is a photo my camera took of Stockholm

Good work, camera

I decided to blog about products I like, that also have a good ethic. Using products that are cruelty-free and organic/natural is important to me, because I think chemicals are more harmful then some people give them credit for.  About a year ago I was reading that a lot of what you put on your skin gets absorbed in to your body. A couple of days later I find myself looking at an ingredients list of letters and numbers with no idea what they stand for, and begin to have a crisis about washing my hair. Of course, not all chemicals are going to be harmful, I thought to myself. They've been tested. I looked at my hamsters playing on their wheel together (before one decided he hated the other so much he had to chew his leg, and now they live separately...), and actually for the first time thought about how products are tested. Dropped in to their eyes, mouth, nose, ears, rubbed in to their skin. Animals weren't made for testing these products, and if I don't want to support this, then I have to be actively against it, I think.

Jeff and Geoff

So that's a brief introduction. Please feel free to introduce yourselves. Social media was once my foe, but now I think it's a great way to interact with new people, share some views on the world, talk about Sherlock (seriously, is it coming back or not?!)...

Refreshments will now be served in the foyer, please let me know if you have any questions, and thank you all for coming.