'It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness' Proverb
Showing posts with label Ethical cosmetics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ethical cosmetics. Show all posts

Sunday, 1 October 2017

Project Pan 17 Update #9 and Other Products


This month has definitely been a month where I haven't been wearing makeup as much as I should have been to use it up for a project pan.  I have made some progress, but it's been really slow.



It almost seems pointless showing this photo as there really isn't much obvious change.  There is a dip going on in Toasted probably because I use it every time I do my makeup as an undereye shadow.  Other than that, everything is moving quite slowly as I'm trying to use all the shades equally.  Urban Decay is a cruelty free brand.



This shadow is the one that has gone down the most.  This is the Sable shadow from a duo eye palette by Natural Collection and is a really good shadow for both setting your eye primer and under the eye to set my concealer.  Both of the sides are now gone and the lower section should be used up within a week.  I might actually be able to complete the top section by the end of October, which would be great.  It is beginning to crumble a little bit now that the side sections have gone, but hopefully it won't fall out before I've finished it.  Natural Collection is a cruelty free brand.



I finished the Black Barry M Nail Paint in the first week of September.  Since then I've been working on Bright Red.  I haven't got a far as I had hoped or expected, but I think I'll definitely get it finished by the end of October.  That will leave me with one last nail varnish by Zoya to finish to be nail polish free.  Barry M is cruelty free.



And now for the world of the never ending makeup.  Here are the Barbara Day eye primer, MUA powder foundation in Shade 4, and Bourjois blusher in Ceidre.  All of them are going down, but not fast enough for it to be obvious on the photo.  I'll be very lucky if these are finished by the end of this year.


The last product is not part of my project pan but is something I finished this month and it's The Neal's Yard Organic Eye Make-up Remover.  I really wanted to like this product but unfortunately it didn't really work out.  Because I have watery eyes I regularly wear waterproof mascara.  Despite it saying it's for waterproof mascara and me holding a cotton pad dampened in the product over my eyes before wiping I still had to rub my lashes quite hard to get the makeup off my lashes.  It also made my eyes a little bit soar.  However, I do have sensitive eyes and so it might not be the same for someone who doesn't have this and who doesn't wear waterproof mascara.  It's a shame but that's how it goes.


To see my progress so far:

Sunday, 17 September 2017

My Morning Routine - Beauty


This is going to be an unbelievably quick post as the number of products that I use are very small in number, unlike my nighttime routine.


I thought I'd start first with my toothbrush and toothpaste as these weren't written about in my previous blog.  I use the Monte Bianco toothbrush in Soft.  I like using this as the head of the brush can be removed meaning that you only have to throw away a tiny part of the toothbrush when it's time to change it reducing the amount of waste I produce (the replacement heads are as easy to find as they used to be so I may have to look at getting a different toothbrush).  The toothpaste is the AloeDent Aloe Vera Sensitive (fluoride free) and I've really been loving this toothpaste.  I've had to be careful about using more natural toothpastes as I have sensitive teeth, but this hasn't caused any issues and has in fact really helped with my sensitivity.  I also like that there isn't a really strong mint flavour.


After brushing my teeth I splash luke warm water on my face.  This is instead of washing my face, which I don't feel the need to do in the mornings and which can really dry my skin out.  After that I moisturizer with the Jason Age Renewal Vitamin E 25,000 I.u.  This is a really good, versatile moisturizer and I use it on many parts of my body.  On my face it really helps combat dryness (mainly around my nose) and is the first layer I put on to protect my skin from the outdoors.


The last product I put on is the Jason Facial Sunscreen in SPF 20.  I love this product, have used it for years, and keep buying it.  It is a physical sunblock, doesn't break me out or dry my skin up, and is very effective.  I know I live in Scotland but I still wear this everyday to protect from the UV you still get up here and it helps as an additional protection from the weather.

And that is it.  A very quick but effective morning routine much less complicated than my nighttime routine.  It does exactly what I need it to and there doesn't seem to be any reason why I should complicate it.

So what do you use in your morning routine? Do you keep it simple or are there a number of products you use to help you start your morning? Let me know.

Tuesday, 5 September 2017

Project Pan 17 Update #8


As with around this time last year progress on my project pan has slowed right down.  In fact there are no completed items to report.


I use the eye shadows from the Naked 1 palette every weekend, but as I don't use it everyday there isn't much progress to see.  The Natural Collections shadow in Sable has gone down a little, but I use it for more then just a base shadow.  Both of these companies are cruelty free.


My Barry M nail paint in Black has gone down a fair amount in August and is now beginning to thicken up.  It's not finished yet but I'm expecting it to go at the beginning of September and then I'll move onto the last varnish in my project pan, Barry M nail paint in Red.  This colour is already well used so I'm not expecting it to take too long before it is gone as well.  Barry M is a cruelty free company.


The Barbara Day eye primer and Bourjois blusher in Ceidre 48 are still showing no real signs of progress.  It's unlikely either of these will be finished by the end of the year, but I am still getting use out of them.  The MUA powder foundation in Shade 4 is now finally beginning to show a dip in the middle, yay!  This has made using it a lot more satisfying and the change is probably due to me now using it as one of the colours in my crease when applying my eye makeup.  It's also highly unlikely I will finish this by the end of the year, but if I get pan on it I'll be happy.

Monday, 21 August 2017

My Nighttime Routine - Beauty


I've been having YouTube on whilst I've been doing housework and decluttering and have just been letting it run on autoselect.  A few videos came up in a row showing what people's nighttime and morning routine is, mainly on the beauty side of things.  I thought, as I'm making my beauty routine more simple and natural, it might be interesting to document what I'm doing at the moment.  So, let's start with my nighttime routine as this is the longest.......



If I've been wearing makeup or feel that my face is particularly dirty I will first give my face an oil cleanse using either Coconut oil or Olive oil and a warm flannel.  This always feels like it's really cleaning out my pores but I would recommend using Coconut oil if you are prone to spots.



After that or if I don't need to do an oil cleanse then I wash my face with my Friendly Soap Aloe Vera bar soap.  I love this soap as it doesn't feel like it dries out my skin (either on my face or body) at all.



The next step for me is the toner which is literally just Witch Hazel in a spray bottle.  I've used this for years and I know it can irritate some people's skin, but it works great for me and I find really helps soaths any allergy irritation and cuts and bruises.  

For my moisturizer I use the oil mixture I make up myself and wrote up about in my blog on my natural facial oils (stored in Holland and Barrett container).  This one has a mixture of Jojoba oil, Avocado oil, Rosehip oil, and Frankincense essential oil.  I put this on quite early on in the night to let it sink into the skin and then I'll add more later on to areas that need it.  If I really feel that I need more moisture then I also add on the Jason Age Renewal Vitamin E 25,00 i.u.



I try to remember to do an extra step designed to help with my dry skin, especially as the dry skin stops me getting moisturizer to the lower layers.  I don't really use physical exfoliators anymore but I do use the Juice Beauty Green Apple Peel Sensitive.  This can sting most of the time, but it is really effective at removing dry skin and my face always feels so soft afterwards.  I usually do this step before the toning and moisturising, usually extra moisturising.  I also have some loose clay which can be made into a mask but which  I have fallen out of using.  This is a great mask though and worked really well on my skin so I definitely want to add this back in.

I will write a blog about my morning routine soon - but that will be a very short blog.

Sunday, 6 August 2017

Project Pan 17 Update #7 and Other Products



It's definitely getting a lot harder to use up products now that I'm not wearing makeup every day, but I'm still doing my best to get through all the items and it's much better now that I've decluttered a few items.


I have finally managed to finish off the Jean Paul Gaultier Eau De Parfum.  I've been wearing it everyday, even when working out in the field.  Even so, this perfume does last a very long time to get through, especially as I never had to reapply it during the day.  It is still one of my favourite perfumes and actually my signature scent, but I'm trying to find more natural perfumes and one that I can be certain is cruelty free.


The Barry M nail varnish in Black is also going a long quite quickly.  It's not as opaque as I thought it might be so I've had to put on thicker layers then normal.  This has helped get through it quicker then my previous varnishes.  I'm hoping it'll actually be done by next month and I can move onto the Red colour.  Barry M is a cruelty free brand.


On the eyeshadow front it's difficult to see any changes in the Urban Decay Naked palette, probably because I am only using it on the weekends, but I am still making good progress on the Natural Collections shadow in Sable.  I'm using this product every time I wear makeup as a base eyeshadow over my primer and under my eyes on top of my concealer. Both of these companies are cruelty free.


As always, the Barbara Day eye primer, MUA powder foundation in Shade 4 and the Bourjois blusher in Ceidre 48 are still showing little progress compared to last time.  There is some progress from when I first started using them at the beginning of the year, but I won't get these finished by the end of it.  I am starting to use the foundation through my eye crease as well as to contour my face.  It's hardly going to make a huge difference, but every little counts.

The other products I've finished this month are the Bellapierre Cosmetics lipstick in Cat Walk (a cruelty free company) and the Butter London Hardwear P.D. Quick Topcoat (also cruelty free).  I really enjoyed using this lipstick.  It's not a long lasting lipstick, but it's not bad and comparable to other more mainstream lipsticks, but the texture was great and it smelt amazing.  Apparently the colour really suited me, but it's a little too pink for my liking (I prefer the tea rose colour).  However, I was impressed with the lipstick and might get another colour from them in the future - once I've used up all my other lipsticks.  I really liked the Butter London topcoat.  It was a little pricey at £15 (they don't actually make this anymore but I think you can still get this product in some retail stores) but it really did dry really, really quickly, made my nail polish last a long time, and lasted a lot longer than other topcoats I've tried in the past.  I would actually buy it again if they still had it.  Butter London is a cruelty free company.


Sunday, 26 March 2017

The toiletries that are coming on my trip

My parents are coming up to Scotland and we are going to take a trip on the west coast.  Normally I would take the least amount of toiletries possible, but, as I'm using up and testing different products, I taking quite a bit more than usual.  In the future this should get less and less as I use up my products and start finding more multi use items.

So, starting with the teeth.  I'm bringing my Lush Atomic Tooth Powder to carry on testing while I'm away, which should give me long enough to see if it's going to have any negative impact on my sensitive teeth.  My toothbrush is a Monte Blanco (which I think is now called Yaweco).  I've used this toothbrush for many years and I love the fact that you only need to change the head of the toothbrush and not the whole brush.  You can get natural bristles, but this one is nylon as I'm trying to remove animal products the items I use.  The last item is just common old dental floss.  At the moment I'm just using this up , but will start looking for a more natural products later.

I'm taking the usual sun block with me, especially as I always put an spf on my face.  Jason is one of my favourite companies and I really like this face suncream.  It sinks in well, isn't too white, and not that oily.  The body suncream is the Green People sunblock that I got free with a The Vegan Kind subscription.  I've liked it so far, but have only had the chance to test it a couple of times.  I might get a bit more of a chance to use this this holiday.

Obviously I would normally only bring one deodorant with me, but I want to carry on testing the Native Unearthed natural deodorant (also from The Vegan Kind subscription box) which has been working well so far on an opposite day basis with my normal deodorant.  This holiday I'm going to try and use it a few days in a row to see.

I was going to bring one of my shampoo bars with me, but I'm still getting used to using them along with trying to find the right apple cider vinegar to water ratio for my hair type.  Because of that I decided it would be easier to just bring some testers with me and, as I have enjoyed other products from John Masters Organic, I thought I would try these shampoos.  I only have to wash my hair twice a week so only 2 samples are needed and, as my hair has been doing fine without conditioner, I didn't bother getting any.  I did umm and ahh about taking the Wella product from my project pan with me, but as I'm so close to finishing this I thought I would put it in.  While it is unlikely I could finish this over the holiday, I can put a good dent in it.
I am, of course, taking my usual face products.  These are my home made face oil (I've already written a blog about this here), my toner of witch hazel and nothing else, and my new Jason Vitamin E cream face moisturiser.  You really don't need a lot of the last one so I've just decanted a small amount into a glass jar to take with me.  I won't even use all of this, but the amount is just in case other areas of my body get dry.

For lips I using up my Korres lip butter in Mango, which is nice but not as moisturising as I would like for a night lip treatment (it's also tinted), and a lip balm by Sweet Snuggles which smells of vanilla.  I'd never heard of this brand before, but brought a pack of these from Superdrug when I had really chapped lips and nothing to moisturise them with.  It does the job and smells lovely, there's not much else I can say about it.

I didn't want to bring a big tub of body moisturiser with me on this trip as I already had so much other stuff with me.  So I did a big moisturising section before I set off and, instead, brought just the tiny pot of Lush Charity Pot moisturiser (small but very effective) and the Lavera Intensive Care Hand Cream.  While this cream is labelled for the hands I have found it to also be effective for my elbows, feet, and other dry patches - so a nice all rounder.

The last of the general toiletries are my Travalo containing the Jean Paul Gaultier perfume I am trying to use up, my favourite Aloe Vera soap by Friendly Soap (I have quite literally brought about 10 of these) and a razor.  This is one of the last disposable razors I have and I am looking to either use the No! No! I've had for years but never really used or to buy a safety razor and use this instead.

Lastly, the only cosmetics I am bringing with me is the nail varnish (with the usual required base coat, top coat and nail varnish remover) that I am concentrating on using up in this section of project pan.  The polish is the Max Factor Glossfinity varnish in Raspberry Blush and it's already starting to thicken up so I don't think I'll get many more applications out of it.  The camera on my phone seems to have washed the nail varnish remover out, but it is the Zoya 3 in 1 varnish remover.  Pretty effective, though I have heard that it causes peeling on your nails and I have noticed a little peeling on mine.

Next time I travel I hope to have a lot less than this, but it will all depend, of course, on how much I've been able to go through for my project pans.

Sunday, 26 February 2017

Night Face Moisturiser

Ok, so I know I've said this a 100 times, but I have dry skin and it can be very sensitive to some products.  It has taken me awhile to find products that are more 'natural' than the conventional products, gave my skin enough moisture and didn't cause my skin to itch or go red.  I concentrate on putting moisture back into my skin during the night (my morning routine is pretty simple) and use oil and then a cream.  I'll do another blog on the oils I use, but here are the face moisturisers I've been trying.
After doing some reading about ingredients that are good for dry skin I decided to go for something which contained Vitamin E, known for it's moisturising properties.  I had a nosey in my local Holland and Barrett and found the Dr Organic Vitamin E Cream.  This was a lovely product, sunk into the skin really well, and I liked that, while I mainly used it on my face, I could use it anywhere I had dry patches.  It's also vegan, cruelty free, and paraben and fragrance free.  The fact that it's in a glass jar is also a plus when it comes to reducing waste.  Definitely worth having a look at and I will probably buy it again in the future.
Next I tried the Barefoot SOS Face & Body Rescue Cream that I had a sample of.  Designed specifically for dry and sensitive skin, this seemed like the perfect solution.  This product is also vegan and cruelty free, as well as being free from a whole load of synthetic products including parabens and sulphates.  Though it does contain essential oils it didn't irritate my skin at all and did leave my face feeling very soft and nourished.  The only problem I had was that I could still feel it sitting on my face after a couple of hours and I don't like that feeling.  I might think about getting this as a hand and dry patches moisturiser, but not as a face moisturiser.
Another product that I first got as a tester, but then brought as the full product, was the Green People Fruitful Nights Night Cream.  I love this stuff.  It smells amazing and did really feel like it was moisturising my face, though maybe not as well as the first two products.  Vegan, cruelty free and free from a number of synthetic products, it also donates some of it's profits to charity.  Green People is a great company and I don't think I've not enjoyed a product I've bought from them.  I am very tempting to buy this again and probably will in the future, but as I'm trying to streamline my beauty products right now I wanted to see if I could find something that could be multiply purpose, like Dr Organic Vitamin E Cream and Barefoot SOS Face & Body Rescue Cream.  This product is also on the slightly pricey side.
The last product that I got (and am still using) is the Jason Revitalizing Vitamin E 5,000 i.u.  I decided to go for another Vitamin E product as I felt it did so well before and this has been very effect.  Jason is another environmentally friendly company and all their products are vegetarian (though I believe this one is vegan), cruelty free, and free from the usual synthetic ingredients.  They also support Care, a charity that helps girls go to school.  As a product it has done a good job at moisturising and has been something that I could use on other areas of my body where there has been dry patches.  During my time using this I had also used up my last eye moisturiser and have just been using this instead of buying a new eye moisturiser.  It has done a very good job in this role as well and hasn't irritated my sensitive eyes at all.  You also get a lot of product for not a lot of money so is well worth getting.  The only downside for this product is that it comes in a plastic container, but seeing as it lasts for such a long time I don't feel as bad using it.  I've almost finished this one, my second pot, and am going to buy it again.  However, this time I'm thinking of going for the 25,000 i.u. as my skin has been unusually dry recently so I want something stronger.

So that's all the moisturisers I have tried so far and it may not seem like a lot, but all of these products take a long time to use.  I love the fact that I have found a multi-tasker which I can use on my face, eyes, and body.  Definitely makes life a lot easier.

If you have a moisturiser that you like let me know.

Sunday, 29 January 2017

Scrubs and Masks

I am a very dry skinned person and often have difficulty with itching and flakiness as well as eczema in the past.  My main fight against this has been to find products that don't irritate my skin and improve my general health, but while this has been happening I've been needing products to help pull off the dead skin from my face and body (so lovely).  Obviously I wanted products which more on the natural and definitely that had none of those little, plastic microbeads.

Body scrubs.
It took me a while to find a 'natural' scrub I liked the look of to even think about buying.  I wanted something that was simple and natural enough that there would be a possibility for me to replicate the product later on down the line.
So, the scrub I ended up buying was the Naturally Thinking Body Polish Salt Scrub with Uplifting Bergamot and Circulation Reviving Orange.  This product smells gorgeous and the oils really helped moisturised my skin and put some moisture back in, but the salt granules which are meant to be the exfoliant are a little bit too large for me and I didn't really feel that they did a particularly good job at removing the dead skin on my body.  It also made the bottom of my shower very slippery and definitely stung if I had any cuts or scratches.  However, if you like oil based scrubs, definitely look at what Naturally Thinking has to offer as they have other scents and also have a scrubs that uses ground olives instead of salt.  I am intrigued by their body exfoliate lotion though - so maybe in the future.........
I had started to look for another natural scrub and was also reading about possible scrubs I could make at home when I came across an article about using a body brush to not only remove dead skin, but also help circulation and remove toxins from the body.  So I thought I would give it a go and brought one.  It's quite nice to just spend those few minutes before a shower to brush your body, you don't have to be harsh (it shouldn't hurt), and it has been very effective as removing the dead skin.  In fact, it's been so effective and simple I've stopped looking for anything else.  I then just moisturise after the shower - so thank you Japan for another great idea!

Face scrubs.
Face scrubs are always much harder for me than body scrubs as the skin on my face is more sensitive and can't take as much abrasion.  I had been using the Soap and Glory Scrub Your Nose In It for many years and it's been very effective in removing the dry patches on my face as well as cleaning my pores - in fact I would really recommend it.  But, as with the body, I wanted to find something more 'natural'.  
As I was looking for a body scrub at Naturally Thinking I decided to look at their face scrubs and picked up the Orange, Lemon, & Vitamin C exfoliating face polish.  Though I wasn't keen on the body scrub I do really like this face polish.  The granules are nice and small (made from pumice) and really do a good job of removing the dry patches on my face.  The coconut oil was also very moisturising and my skin felt so soft afterwards.  This is another product I would definitely recommend.
In my research on natural exfoliants I had repeatedly read that if you have dry skin on your face it's not good to use physical exfoliants as they can cause small scratches on the skin.  So I started to looking for something similar to a chemical exfoliant and came across a sample of the Juice Beauty Green Apple Peel Sensitive and loved it so much I brought the full pot.  This can sting a little on your skin when you first put it on and does cause me to flush this a little (apparently that's normal), but it goes away and once you've washed it off your skin is so soft.  It is pretty pricey at around £42, but it lasts for such a long time and is so effective I definitely think it's worth the price.  I also like that this product is in a glass jar, which is much easier to recycle.  I usually try and get this done once a week, and it is really helping keep my skin flake free as well as helping to even out my skin tone.  I did think about getting the full strength peel rather than the sensitive, but this is effective enough for me and I'm not sure my skin would be able to take the stronger strength.
The next product isn't really a face scrub (though it does have some scrubbing action when you remove it), but it has been part of the fight against dryness.  It's the Kae natural clay from Morocco.  Kae does a range of difference clay based on what your needs are and I thought this would be the most suitable for my skin.  It comes dry and I usually either mix it with water or with my face oil.  I definitely notice a difference in my skin with this and the best bit is that it seems to be lasting forever.

So, that's my very short journey to finding scrubs that suit me.  None of it is sponsored by if you're interested the websites I've got these from (other than Boots) are www.naturallythinking.com and www.naturisimo.com .

Monday, 2 January 2017

Project Pan Update #12 and Other Products

Well that's 2016 over and done with, and the end of the year has been quite busy and I haven't had a lot of free time.  Our adopted dog is lovely, but does have some issues which we've been working a lot on so that we have a healthier, happier dog.
And now for my last project pan update of 2016 (and I will apologies now for the quality of the photos - it's so dark at the moment and I had trouble getting the lighting right).  I had put in a number of products in 2016 projects that I knew I probably couldn't get through, but I wanted to push myself to try and get through as much as possible.  Out of the 35 products I picked I managed to use up 26 - yay me 😁.  
So, let's start with the eyeshadow.  One of the eye shadows, the Sephora dark brown, just fell out of the pan.  I'm not entirely sure how as I don't remember dropping my z-palette, but I opened palette and the pan was empty.  As that was no longer available I started using the Maybelline dark grey shadow as a crease colour.  I'm not sure if it's just the age of the shadow, but this hasn't been particularly easy to work with and I'm happy to just get rid of it without reaching pan as I don't want to keep anything that I have to put work into using.  I have been working through the other eyeshadows at the same rate as always and I'm happy to let go of all of them apart from the pink / purple shadow from the H&M eyeshadow palette.  I haven't reached enough of a pan of this to be happy to throw it away and so I'm going to add it to my next project pan, along with the other eyeshadows I didn't even get to start on.  I won't be buying any of these again as none of the products are cruelty free.
I've finally got through the purple Elf eyeliner.  I thought I wasn't going to finish this by the end of the year, but I started using it as a lip liner as well to add some darkness to my lip colours. I thought I had one more use to get out of it, but it's gotten stuck in the lid and I can't get it out anymore.  I don't think you can get this colour anymore from Elf and I think I will stick with black or brown eyeliners from now on.  However, Elf is cruelty free and I will have a look at the website again once I need to get a new liner.
The Mac Cremesheen lipstick in Creme Cup is also finished.  The colour didn't really suit me, but I liked the texture and scent of this lipstick.  However, I didn't like them enough to justify the price of these lipsticks, and Mac no longer has it's cruelty free status so I won't be buying anymore of these product even with a range of colour selections they have.
The Sinful Colors nail varnish in Rich in Heart was also another product that I thought I wasn't going to get to finish by the end of the year.  But I actually put on the last coat on New Year's Eve.  There is a little bit left, but I'm counting this as finished as it's become too gloopy to use.  While I like the colour, Sinful Colors is not a cruelty free company and I won't be buying from them again.  The other nail varnish colours that were in my 2016 project pan will be added into this year's project pan along with the Tesco's brought Barbara eye primer.
The last project pan product is the Wella Polish Cream.  This hasn't moved very much during this year, but, to be honest, I kept forgetting to use it.  I did think about getting rid of it, but have decided to move it into this year's project pan and use it up completely.  If I remember to use it at least twice a week I should be able to do that.
The last products I've used up this year are the Bourjois 150th Anniversary powder, the Natural Collection lip liner in Mulberry, and the Urban Decay / Gwen Stefani lipstick tester in 714.  The Bourjois powder is a good powder to use for the price of it and smelt lovely, but not overpowering.  It was easy to work into my skin and Bourjois is cruelty free, but I'm not much of a fan of loose powder and the colour was a little bit too pink for me.  I'm a big fan of Natural Collection and Barry M lip liners as the colours are great and good quality.  This Mulberry colour was a lovely colour and the pigment was good enough to change the colour of the lipsticks I was wearing.  I don't need a lipliner at the moment, but I will look at Natural Collection again when I next do.  The Urban Decay lipstick tester in 714 is a lovely matte red  which reminds me of a vintage lipstick in colour, and I really enjoyed wearing it.  It does dry your lips a little, but nothing a bit of exfoliation and moisturising doesn't fix.  I actually have this in the full size.  Urban Decay is a cruelty free company.

To see my previous project pan updates click below: