Vegan Beauty

I never do beauty posts because honestly it's not a big focus in my life but I have collated a nice little collection of photos and thought it may provide some value for someone out there! I think (hope!) everything is vegan - I try and do as much research as I can before I buy something but something could have slipped through the cracks so please give me a heaps up if you know!

First up from the brite organix brand, some pastel purple hair dye.  I have tried a handful of their dyes and this was the only one that did nothing! You can see in the first photo a slight purple tinge but other than that it was a let down. Full disclosure I did put it over some pastel blue (also from Brite Organix) but even in the parts that were almost completely washed out it gave a minimal effect, plus it didn't dye my hands/bench which has happened with their other colours!  As for the brand on a whole, love love love!!! For whatever reason the purple just didn't appear or last for me so whilst I wouldn't get this colour again I would 100% buy any of their other colours!

I'm in a vegan Australian/New Zealand beauty group on facebook which you can find here which provids lots of helpful information. Did you know you can search inside a group on fb? That's such a handy feature!  

I basically needed a bunch of new beauty products so for every product I devoted some time reading through everyone's recommendations.  This cheapo brand BYS came up as a recommended waterproof mascara.  I did try Designer Brands first (big let down for me!) but this BYS mascara has been great.  Not as great as the Max Factor I had previously been using but I wanted to change all my makeup to vegan (and not go completely broke in the process!) and this totally fit the bill! The next mascara I want to try is that magical tubing stuff from Blinc - lots of great reviews!

Apart from a concealer I have never (ever!) bought a foundation let alone a primer (SAY WHAT!) 

I told you beauty wasn't really my thing but I do get hormonal acne each month and I thought it would be nice to have the option to just cover my entire face up when that happens :) The ELF brand only has a few shades of foundation and honestly the porcelain shade could have been a little lighter for me but if I blend right down into my neck I don't think anyone notices :)  If you've never used a primer, I don't know what the heck this magic is but it makes your skin feel so soft! I have no idea if either of these products are great (nothing to compare them to!) but they seem to do their job (sorry worst review ever!).  Also I bought the "acne fighting foundation" and the "poreless face primer" and I have to say my acne definitely seems better after plastering my face with these two products which seems counter intuitive from everything I've heard/read ("let your face breath") but *shrugs* I'm going with it!

I'm also a 'use my fingers to apply everything' kind of girl so when I was watching makeup tutorials on youtube and saw everyone use some kind of beauty blender/sponge I thought it was worthy of a try.  I cannot imagine applying foundation with anything but this bad boy.  Again nothing to compare it to but yeah it's really easy to use!

Extreme close up of my foundation straight from my phone so you can see all my pores!  

Plus the mascara, eyeliner and blush that I'll talk about in this post!

Continuing with my face, here are some products I've been using to try and help with the acne.  

This cupcake mask from lush is so lush! Oh my goodness it's such a treat to use BUT I didn't notice any great results from it.  I'd still probably treat myself again to a lush product but more for the fun/luxury element than expecting miracles!

I'm back to rosehip again because I'd ran out of a face oil and rosehip was readily available at my local shops.  Before this I was using Tamanu Oil which is still my fav option!

I've only tried the sukin range of cleansers so I don't have much of a reference point here but both have instantly made my skin feel lovely.  I use a few pumps in the shower and wash it off before I jump out. When I'm out that's when I apply the oil to my face and neck!

On the bottom is my beloved Australis brand blush which I've had for yonks but unfortunately they don't make anymore so I bought the ELF as a replacement.  The ELF blush, unfortunately, just doesn't go onto the brush or my cheeks as nicely as the Australis version *sad face*. I suspect that if I did one cheek in each type and asked Ben if he could see a difference he (and the rest of the world) wouldn't be able to tell. Next time I'll be keen to read more reviews and try out a different blush.

This hydrating mist toner (total indulgent product) does nothing but smell like roses (for two seconds) and feel lovely to spray onto your face. I'd only recommend buying this if you're having the week from hell and need a pick me up and you won't feel bad about spending 10 dollars.

I've been meaning to buy kester black nail polish but the price always pushes me away and in the end I spend my money on something less frivolous.  I know I know, this whole post is frivolous but these buys have been spaced over many months which hopefully makes them a little less ridiculous!  So, Kester Black was on my mind when I saw this benecos nail polish in a store which had a much lower price point (but still vegan) so I decided to give it a try.  I appreciate that it's in a small bottle because I'd never get close to finishing those standard size bottles but overall I wouldn't repurchase.  

It's not bad, it's just average :)

In the 'oh my gosh these are great' category (or at least one of them!) that Essence brand, Super Last Waterproof eyeliner, is the bomb! Previously I was using a Maybelline brush which was great but trying to go vegan and cheap I found out about this Essence version.  Out of an eyeliner, I want two things; easy to apply and won't smudge! Tick tick!  Also I pretty much sucked at doing a wing eyeliner but after devoting a few hours to watching youtube videos I significantly upped my game! So if you also suck at doing a cat eye, just watch one video a night and in a week, hey presto, you won't suck so much! Oh yeah and that black pencil, also by essence, is good, does what it should do :P

Now we're up to my scalp which is super dandruff prone and oily (great combo - not!) I tried that natural instinct shampoo first, not that great, I wouldn't repurchase.

Someone in the vegan group recommended this sebitar treatment for dandruff and it's the bomb! Although looking up the ingredients on the bottle and online the company seem to be holding back in what's actually in it.  If it's just what they say, then this is my holy grail but I suspect it's full of junk! Also it's a soap free, scalp treatment *confused look* I dunno, it acts like shampoo to me, taking away the oil and my dandruff! tick tick!

I'm not 100% sure this is vegan but it's perfection for getting rid of oily hair! I alternate this during the week with the sebitar stuff (because I'm still a little scared of using that full time as my shampoo) plus the My Organic Brand has a nice looking container - which is a lame but the truth :P If someone out there knows what the hell this sebitar stuff is and can reassure me I'm not covering my head in chemicals than I'll use that full time and sacrifice the beauty that is this container!

and finishing up with some brite organix, this time in the turqouise shade and look below; proof of this brand's awesomeness!

 Oh and I cut a fringe because I was having a mid life crisis or something or other!