Going Cruelty Free

For awhile now I've been toying with the idea of going vegan, but I'd maybe like to just say plant based, to cover any minor slip ups I may have. I stopped drinking milk and have dramatically reduced the amount of dairy I eat in the past few months due to looking into the dairy industry more - lets just say that although I bloody love cheese, for me personally I think it is a much more cruel and vile industry than the meat industry. More on that later if you want, but for now this post is mostly aimed at the beauty industry. 


Its 2018, yet companies still decide that cheap animal torture, sorry testing is an ok way to practice business. Whilst there are those massive brands that claim to not test on animals whilst still selling in China (cough*M.A.C*cough) despite knowing that to sell their products in China animals will need to go through the pain of testing. Neither is right nor ok, yes I get that China is a multi million if not billion pound market, but don't claim your company loves animals and would never hurt them by testing on them but then go and sell in a market that requires it by law! 
Anyway. I'm trying currently, and will continue in 2018 to try to remove any product that test on animals from my collection (aka horde) of beauty products in favour for cruelty free alternatives and hopefully fully vegan products too - don't want no poor animal to have died to give me a beauty product.
Currently I think my go to makeup products are pretty good cruelty free wise, even my shower products I know are both vegan and cruelty free! The main issue I would say with going cruelty free with your beauty products is that sometimes people just assume that most products that are vegan and cruelty free must be expensive, but cruelty free products dont have to be expensive!! There are so many budget brands that don't test on animals: elf; Ecotool; Gosh; MUA; NYX (although owned by L'Oreal which do test) and so many more. 
I'm going to talk through the products I currently use as not every product I use is cruelty free and vegan. 

So when I do my face the first thing I always use is Urban Decay's Deslick Setting Spray, a few sprays of this before any primer and foundation and I swear it helps to keep my foundation from sliding off my face that lil bit more! Next up is primer, I currently switch between two, the first being Kat Von D's Lock It Primer and the second being Arbonne's Makeup Primer. Both of these are amazing primers, Kat Von D's offering is a bit more creamy and good if you've got quite a heavy foundation on as it seems to make your face feel light as if nothings on it, the Arbonne offering is silicone-y in texture and I find its amazing for making lighter coverage foundations preform better, it works well with heavy coverage as well, I've just been using it most with lighter coverage ones - they both help your foundation last ages though, its all just down to which texture you prefer. 

Next we'll move onto concealer, and here I have a winner andI  a loser. My thicker concealer of choice is Seventeen's Phwoarr Paint, this has been a long standing love of mine - with me first talking about it way back in 2013! It can cover the worst spots and hide those horrible dark puffy circles that have crept into my life and settled down on my face. Seventeen (from what I can see online) is a cruelty free brand, WOO! My other favourite concealer is not cruelty free however... The Maybelline Fit Me Concealer is one I actually first tried after getting it in a swap box from my friend Rena who lives in America. The one on Boots I don't think is the same one I have as mine has different packaging but it could just be that its from America my one...I use this for more day to day wear, I find its a good concealer for giving a slight highlight to an area before "baking". Going to have to find a new alternative to this though as no matter how much I may like it, I'm not going to repurchase it. Arbonne, Kat Von D and Too Faced all have ones I'd like to try so maybe one of them will be my new "everyday" concealer.

Since I mentioned baking, the powder I use for it is from Illamasqua, their loose powder is one I've used for an age and still have loads of it left. I use this for both baking and for less extreme makeup days for setting my oily bits. 

For foundation, I find myself switching between three foundations, for a heavy coverage I always go for Too Faced Born This Way Foundation in Ivory, its not cake-y the colour match is pretty good, maybe a wee bit too dark for me but its nothing I can't work with and lasts so long on my redic oily face. Next for a medium to full coverage I always go for the Kat Von D Lock It Foundation, my shade in this is Light 44 and is basically the perfect match for my skin. It gives a really good build able coverage - I've said medium to full as I think depending on the tool you use to apply it, you could easily achieve a lighter coverage if you wanted. And finally the newest member of my cruelty free foundation set is the Arbonne Foundation in the shade Porcelain - again this shade is basically perfect for me, its a lighter coverage than the other two but its still very much build able to a really good medium coverage - you could probably get a fuller coverage with this but I'm honestly just happy with the lighter coverage I'm getting from this at the moment - I say lighter but its not a light coverage foundation by any means, its just lighter in the sense that its not as heavy or thick feeling as the other two can sometimes feel.  

To finish my face off we'll talk contour and highlight. When I say contour I legit mean I put a lil of a matte bronzer on my cheek bones and jaw to give me some bones, as my chubby face aint got no defining features. So for bronzer I use the Kat Von D Shade + Light Contour Palette.  I honest to god don't know why I bought this -  I love it don't get me wrong but I only ever use the first bronzing shade and occasionally the highlighting shade. Highlight wise I have a few different options that I use, two powders and one liquid highlight. These are all quite intense highlights and I'd probably only ever use them for nights out but could maybe get away with lightly using a powder for during the day. Anyway, the three highlights in question are: Cover FX Colour Enhansing Drops in Celestial; Jeffree Star Skin Frost in Ice Cold; and Jouer Cosmetics Powder Highlighter in Ice. All three of these brands are as far as I can see Cruelty Free. Cover FX are also vegan, which is amazing to know! 

So away from the face now and onto the eyes. I'd always start with brows, and my current brow product of choice is Illamasqua Precision Brow Gel, I have the shade Strike in this, when I bought this I honestly didn't think it would last me as long as it has - tbh I should probably bin it as I've no idea how long ago I got it... I apply this as well with a Zoeva 322 Brow Line Brush its almost like these two items were made to go together as they work perfectly with each other! 

When I choose to do eye shadow I tend to grab my Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette blending them in with my ol' trusty Zoeva brushes. For eyeliner I'm always using Kat Von D's Tattoo Liquid Liner, I actually got this as a sample way back when she first launched in the UK and its still going strong all these months later, when I finally buy the full sized version it'll be so worth the money. 

Finally for eyes we have mascara! I have two that I switch between and they are both cruelty free which is amazing cause they are both amazing! First we have the Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara, this one has a massive fluffy brush on it and makes your lashes look super thick and fluttery! The second of the mascaras is from Arbonne, its their Its A Long Story Mascara, this makes your lashes look so dark and long! It doesn't make them look as thick as the Too Faced one but it does make them look longer than the Too Faced one - so when you pair layer them together you get the best looking lashes ever. 

My lipstick drawer will be a mess with I'd assume the majority being from brands that do test on animals - although I do have a couple from Kat Von D and Arbonne that I love. 
All in all though I think having only the one product from my face being not cruelty free is pretty amazing! If only all brands could follow suit, eh? 

I'm going to go completely cruelty free with my makeup, skin care, body care products and bath products this year. Fragrance wise I think I'll struggle keeping that Cruelty free as I'm pretty sure most if not all of the big fragrance brands test on animals - c'mon guys really?

What are your favourite cruelty free brands?