Cruelty Free Items you can buy right now.

Trigger Warning for all the perfect cruelty free and vegan people reading wHo HaVe AlWaYs BeEn AlL tHeIr LiVeS. HERE is a low key rant from Fairly Local Vegan. Being destructive makes no one a better person. I'm doing the best I can.

Buying cruelty free cosmetics and personal care items have been at the top of my list the past 2 years. My question to myself was always: Why must an animal suffer/die because I just want to clean my hands with soap/ put on lip balm/ wash my hair/ blend eye shadow. There are no standardized laws about how to keep these animals. They don't play in the field after a day of work or even a safe space to sleep at night. You might think they test only on rats and rabbits.

Nope.

They test on dogs too.

I didn't finish reading and articles or linking because it's graphic a.f. and I just can't. I just typed in “why do they use Beagles for testing”

Digressing . . . vegan items are a bonus and it also seems to be the way the industry is slowly moving towards.

Side note:

🐰Cruelty Free ~ Not Tested on Animals

🌱 Vegan ~ No animal derived ingredients (Carmine, Bees Wax, Honey, Silk ect.) also not tested on animals

Anyways, here are some of my fave products that you can go out and buy today. Not spons, not an ad. Just stuff that I enjoy:

The Good Stuff co.

🐰🌱🆉🅰

Being broad with them because they have a massive range. Cruelty free and most of their range has vegan options(the Bee Natural Range has Honey but it's best to refer to their website to be sure but the packaging is clearly marked). I first enjoyed their hand creams because they absorbed super quickly and after that everything else. I love the shampoo, conditioner, day and night cream, serum, hand wash. I know I can pick up any of their products and they will be great. The exxtra Care and repair shampoo was the BEST shampoo EVER for my bleached hair. I could comb through it the just the shampoo. 10/10 I recommend. 

Available at Dischem and Pick n Pay but the bigger range is at Dischem.

Oh So Heavenly! ~ Clicks

🐰🌱🆉🅰

I think by now we all know the batch gift sets of cream and shower gel you get when the person didn't know what to get you for Christmas/ your birthday. Get ready to fall in love with that sh!t. My love actually started with their lip balm. I was looking for a balm that was cruelty free. I still have good old 'name brand' and popular 'name brand' balms and for the sake of not being waste full I will use them until they are finished but their lip balms are heavy good. The Vanilla Cupcake Bubble balm and the more traditional stick balm in Moisture Burst is always on my repurchase list.

 

As with Good Stuff, not everything is vegan but it's clearly marked. HERE is the link to the full list of options.

They are exclusive to Clicks. The range has hair care, skin care and personal hygiene items as well as fun stuff like air fresheners, Candles and the Positively Pink range where they donate to assist women with Breast Cancer. (Bonus points for that.)

Pick N Pay Green:

🐰🌱🆉🅰

[No Picture because I deleted it. Good Job Michellé]

Here is where cruelty free costs a bit more than our mass produced tested faves. Cleaning products. They are considerably more expensive. Here is my experience with each product:

Dish washing Liquid: I'm sorry. I use this but it is not as effective as old Sunlight liquid. I buy two 500 ml bottles a month because it's so sh!tty. I am hoping buy buying this that they will improve the formulation. Trying to be frugal and spending close R50 on dish washing liquid for my conscience. You do that existential math.

Oven Cleaner: Meh. It's okay. It's a repeat buy, nothing worse or better than competitors.

Toilet Cleaner: At a few Rands more expensive than competitors, I don't feel like it cleans any worse. This is also a monthly buy. I've bought it for the last . . . since it came out. I went to Harpic in November 2018 because of Mrs. Hinch but bought it again. I don't know what that says. Mrs. Hinch is an actual influencer. Boss.

Window Cleaner: This is a top, 5 star product. I will never go back to any other. I don't know what they did with this product but I hope this will eventually be the whole range. Effective and easy to use. It is a jam.

They use to also have an All Purpose Cleaner, Kitchen, Bathroom and Floor cleaner but I don't find them on the website nor have I bought them. Except for the All purpose cleaner that I do buy every two months and it's good. I bought from another brand that you dilute a concentrate so I am still working to use it up. What I can remember is that they were generally good. Hope they are “Window Cleaner”ing them.

Pick n Pay Green in PnP by Pick 'n' Pay.

The Simple Truth

🐰🌱🆉🅰

Come through Checkers. Yaaaaaas. The range is small at 5 products but I am here for it. All Purpose Cleaner cream, Multi purpose Cleaner spray , Dishwashing Liquid, Fabric softener and Liquid Laundry Detergent. I will probably be buying the rest of the range and trying them out. I'm hype for the fabric softener because Mrs. Hinch (here she is again) uses it everywhere. The clean walls to freshen sofas and pillows.

The Multi Purpose Spray I used when deep cleaned 2 bathrooms, the main bedroom and hallway. I used it the clean the top of the closets, walls and tiles in the bathrooms. It worked pretty well. The dish washing liquid is the same as the PnP Green. It, like all of us, it can be better.

Cosnova Brand

Essence Cosmetics, Catrice and L.O.V

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Here is where I feel you need to make a call for yourself. The aren't Leaping Bunny or Beauty without Cruelty approved but HERE is their story

How Cosnova works is; Essence range is age 16 to 25, Catrice is 25 to 35 and L.O.V is 35 and up. Looking at their products and ranges, is that they test formulas and trends in the Essence range, then it gets refined at Catrice and the final version of the same item ends up at L.O.V.

 Fight me.

As a early 30s 'adult' I still love Essence and buy Catrice (just as they planned). Essence eyeshadows are like a will they won't they romantic comedy. Some are patchy and powdery and some are the best shadow ever in the world. Close Too Face like

Pure Nude Single - Coffee Bean ~ Patchy A.F.

Wood you love me Palette - Darkest brown ~ Better

Melted Chrome Single - 02 Ironic ~ Best glittery eye shadow ever!

Too Faced Then and Now Palette - NSFW

Catrice's long pallets are questionable but there new singles are WOW

I love both's face powders (I don't care about ”flashback”, I care about being not shiny irl. I don't plan on exposing my life on Snapchat or stories like some beauty guru) and Catrice has great primers. A few items are also vegan. Though they don't really state it, some of their powders are reformulated to be paraben-free.

I own nothing from L.O.V . I'm too cheap.

I also don't buy any complexion products because range. I can't recommend and my readers can't go in and try anything. Let's be real, this is South AFRICA and the melanin is rich and the time for 3~5 shades are over. Rather buy a nail polish. It's cheaper and they have nudes for all there.

Not manufactured in ZA but they are brought in and managed by South African team, Cosmetix

Essence Cosmetics is available at Dischem, Clicks, Foschini, Edgars and selected Pick 'n Pays.

Catrice and L.O.V at Dischem.

Also all on Takealot.com

L.A. Girl

🐰

This brand is from the USA. Half of my everyday make up is comprised of their products. They have the best range of complexion products that range from BB Creams to full coverage matte foundation. The big Beauty Brick palettes are questionable (please note I still own all 4 and use them regularly) but I like the formula of the smaller Eye Lux 4 pan. I don't want to talk too much about this because this post is already long. That pic has all the items I own and are all well used.

Available only at Dischem.

Wet 'n' Wild

🐰 mostly🌱

The best liquid eyeliner. The best highlighter. One of the best liquid lipsticks. Most affordable brushes. There are a few items even your Gucci of YouTubers love and never replace. LaMer, Sisley and Wet n Wild all live in harmony on one face. They also have a large amount of vegan items, HERE is their list.

I have not once been disappointed with the quality of any of the products (accept again I could not recommend their Photo Focus Foundation. Especially since the first 3 shades launched were not even close to even my colour. I had to use bronzer. Clicks did extend with a few shades, but there is a bigger range shown on the Wnw website.)

Exclusive to Clicks as well as online.

These are my recommendations for a start. If you are deciding to make a change, don't dump your currents. Finish 👏 your 👏 products 👏 .

Don't get discouraged. There will be a time, I feel especially with the cleaning products, where you might not find an item or you get gifted a non cruelty free item. Also don't let the 'perfect' cruelty free crusaders (usually on the internet or a Peta extremist) influence you into thinking what you are doing is not good enough. also get educated by the people will to give advise.

Doing something like reconsidering a brand or item or replacing make up products is 100% better than conscientiously not caring at all. This can go way deeper with “Parent brands” but I feel if you do your research and see the bunny on the packaging you are good to go.

Here are my resources for making choices:

Cruelty Free Kitty

Beauty Without Cruelty Humane Guide for ZA

Vegan SA product Guide

There are many other brands and products but these are the most common and make it easy for a start. Please also know that as I was suppose to be editing the pictures of this post, I was looking for CF hair bleach. Pro-Active or Pro-crastenation?

Michellé

March 2017 Favourites

 

Hey! Here are my favourite things of the 3^rd month:

LA Girl Strobe Lite in 120 Watt:

This is their brightest, most sparkly one. I bought it just to test and I can't stop using it. It can be a mute splendour or you could add more and more to go full glazed doughnut. Yasss *in Jeffree Star Voice* 

Left: Applied once. Center: Like 3 coats Right: Phone photo

Garnier Ultimate Blends Bee Propolis Serum:

My hair has been screaming for hydration. So after I pat my hair dry I apply this. It cuts drying time of my hair in half and makes it more manageable.

Monochrome Fashion:

Because of my bright pink hair a.t.m. there is such a thing as too mush colour. When I had normal coloured hair, especially blonde, I'd wear pastels or jewel tones. Lately I've been loving grey with black accent pieces like a bag or a shoe.

Sunny Anderson's Dry Dredged Chicken wing Recipe:

On any day I LOVE Sunny Anderson. She is one of my KWEENS! She works hard, has an awesome dream car, has rescue cats and dogs and is an all round BAWSE on HER terms. She has a lot of 1-2-3 and nunya business recipes. This one is no exception.

Here is the recipe I like the dredge in. Instead of adding multiple spices I add some of those premix spices like chicken spice or BBQ spice. It's not the mess that happens when you make a coating with egg or buttermilk and you need bread crumbs.

For the real (wink wink) Buffalo wing experience, melt butter/ marge and add an equal part hot sauce. Tabasco is what I have. I also love this with the Chipolte Tabasco which is more spicy than hot. Toss the wings in that. Eat forever.

Follow Sunny on Instagram.

Fitbit:

Wow really Michellé? Only now.

Yes. I really started using the whole Fitbit and app to it's full this last month just as the Charge is starting to come apart (And is now off the market). I've been getting my active minutes up, as well as using the food log (though they don't have a South African Food Database I select the UK because it has more options for meals I cook at home).

Can't do the wearable fitness watch. Samsung Health is an app that counts steps as well as log similar data to Fitbit. The app is preloaded on most Samsungs also available in the Google App Store FREE!

Instagram:

No lies this app costs a lot of data but I cannot stop. I need the 'gram. I need to see a cat thatcosplays with food and The Dogist. I need to stalk Badkid Bebe and the Girl Gang. I need to watch Michelle Phan's stories. I need to see Nayeon serve new looks and dog stories (Stalker level: I know she foster failed a Staffordshire Bull Terrier Mix, Gooby Potato). I'm following 507 accounts on my personal. I have a problem. They have a new function to their bookmarks that you can make like Pinterest boards. Bookmark all mermaid hair.

Monday has become my New Year:

Imagine having 52 new starts to the year. Some only pushes reset once a year and most fail immediately. Imagine to be able to reset more than once. Monday has become my reset. If motivation fades by like Thursday there is a Monday to start again. Monday I make sure I drink enough water, work out a little and eat different with Meatless Monday.

Better late than never

é

10 Commandments for Coloured Hair Care

I have had every kind of coloured hair. Box, Salon, Powdered fruit drink. Pink, red, brown, black, ombré, opal, platinum, two tone blond and brown, two tone purple and blue and galaxy. Many people wonder how I still have hair on my head.

Me, for now.

My recent hair experiment lead me to type up this blog. I am a mixture of Jeffree Star and Kandee Johnson.

Here are my 10 commandments for keeping hair on fleek:

Thou shall take pre and post hair colour care.

Don't wash your hair 24 hours before bleaching and 48 hours after colouring. What? You heard me. Not washing before colouring makes sure that the hair gets less damaged. It's protected by it's oils. Not washing afterwards make sure the hair colour bonds to the hair. Yes even though it's dried and you already carried on with your life, there is still sciencey things happening. Even if you just bleached your hair you must wait.

É note: If you are planing to get fashion colour hair. Be prepared to spend a while in a salon/ bathroom. My galaxy hair took me 5 hours by myself and the Barbie inspired hair took me 2.5 hours in the salon. It may take longer as my hair was already like a Level 7/ 8 on the bleach scale.

5 hours of questioning every decision I've ever made

2 and a half hours of thinking of the final scene of Barbie in Rock 'n Royals

Thou shall cleanse hair sparingly. . .

I had to “train” to get my hair to need a wash twice a week. Mondays and Thursdays. See I can even tell you the days. The more you wash the more the colour fades. Over washing also causes damage to hair. For days I just want to shower, I bought a more robust showercap from Dischem. Other days dry shampoo is your friend.

é Note: If you are going the lighter or full on blonde route, purple shampoo is a must. It tones out yellow and lessens brassiness. I also suggest to only use it after the second/ third wash because depending how pigmented it is it can tint your hair purple. Not ideal.

. . . and with grace

Here is where you have to read labels. Not all shampoos are the same. Sulphites causes colours to wash out faster. I use Tresemmé Naturals. It has a low SLS (Sodium Lauryl Sulfate) content. It's a basic foaming agent you get in anything that bubbles. Toothpaste, Floor wash, face wash, dish soap, if it makes bubbles, it's in it. (Queue those Facebook posts and e-mails with factoids telling us how bad it is.)

Then when you wash, ONLY wash your scalp and condition ends. You don’t need to shampoo your whole head. As you rise it rinses over the length of your hair, which cleans it. Also the condition only the ends and the length.

Thou shall not do excessive mechanical or heat damage.

Don't rub your hair dry with a towel. I squeeze out most of the water and just wrap my head in a towel. Let the towel do the work by sucking up the moisture. (Also make sure to use a towel that you wouldn't care to get stained. Though it would be a conversation starter if your guests ask you why the towels are tie dyed pink.)

If you have long hair I think that the Invisibobble type hair bands are the best. I don't get as many tangles or breakage with them as with normal or rubber bands.

I also stopped using a hair brush and opted for a wide tooth comb. I'm less likely to rip out my hair with it. It's also the best for combing out wet hair.

I also stared embracing heat free styling. I let my hair mostly air dry. If I have to, I make sure to spray it with heat protection before styling it. Here is an educational film by Guy Tang.

I also switched up my cotton pillow case for a satin one. Here is mine from MrP Home. I also found them to be better for my skin. They also don't make those weird sleep marks on your face.

Thou shall maketh time for conditioning . . .

Once a week I super deep condition my hair. Bleaching is damaging and if it's not treated it will feel like hay.

B*tch stole my look!

I switch up between natural and commercial. Sometimes I smear on some coconut oil. This I leave on from a half an hour to unlimited. When I clean house I leave it on for 8 hours. I also like castor oil.

Commercial stuff I like Garnier's Honey Treasures mask. Or just normal conditioner. I leave it is for 30 minutes and my hair feels great. Also try Palmer's Coconut mask. That stuff changes chemically damaged hair like a boss.

. . . And useth finishing oils

It was a trend so most oils were phased out. Luckily in ZA most women have ethnic hair and ethnic hair love the moisture oil gives.

I usually use oil after I washed my hair. It makes the drying process faster and makes my type A1 hair more manageable. Sometimes, especially more in winter, my ends feel gross and dry so I just work in some oil on the ends of my hair.

Thou shall nourish thyself for hair in future

Now not all of us get those free blue gummy sweets for our Instagram. #Spon #ad. But there are things you can buy for a fraction of the price. If you have a good Multi-vite you are already good to go but because I know I put my hair through a special kind of torture: Bleach

I like Vital's Hair, Skin and Nails gel capsules. They are literally available every where. Dischem, Clicks, Checkers, PnP and even on Takealot.com . If you want to take the vegan route try Natura'sCombin Assist tissue salts Hair and nails. They are also available every where online at Faithful to Nature.

Looks may be easy to come, yet decide on how thy display

I started a hash tag to group all my hair selfies. #Kyknoudiehare. It was two old ladies who obviously didn't think I could understand Afrikaans: Look at the hair. Like I'm not a person. I had people physically stop and stare at me with their mouths open. (For me weird hair feels like normal hair as my Instagram feed normalizes this for me. I follow A LOT of fashion coloured hair women. When I see other unicorns, mermaids, mermicorns I always compliment them.)

Because my hair to so bright, I tend to lean more towards more “natural” coloured neutral make up. I'm not really going for pastel Goth, club kid, Harajuku, cos-player look that is normally associated with fashion colours. Fashion hair with other excessive colours (make-up and clothes) can quickly look like a costume. Even my eye brows are still their normal colour.

If you are not doing the fashion colours and you do a change like from brown to red/ blond or blond to dark you still need to change make-up. When I dyed my hair dark brown after being blonde for seven years I felt like I looked weird until I got a darker brow pencil and got darker lip stick.

Love they hair as is discolours or fades . . .

And it will fade. But not all colours fade equally. Blue and green become muddy but purple and pink become a cool pastel colour but then the roots come out. * eye roll *

Here I usually enlist the help of Platinum/ purple shampoo. Recently, since I coloured my hair with it, I would mix some of Renew's Perfect Colour with it's in-box conditioner with a few drops of the colouring. That is then tones out some of the weirdness.

. . . and know the one that will who will assist when if fails

Let's say it's been 10 weeks, by then your hair is going to be looking pretty real. You need someone to make you come right. I tend to mess with my hair on my own because I understand the basics of hair and hair type science but we can't all be our own Guy Tang.

Come though for us Guy

Now and then it's best to get in a chair of a professional. Look for someone who suits your needs. I had the worst experience at a more high end salon where I spent a lot of money and just got treated like someone they wanted out of their seat for the next one. The next time I went I got second rate service from the stylist because she double booked me with a bride so I got stuck with a junior stylist who couldn't stop complaining about how the other juniors should be helping her.

At the moment I'm at a more old school stylist wit a two chair salon where we judge people who think they can colour their hair blonde in one sitting with a home kit. We also laugh at people who mess up their hair at home and she has to fix it.

If you aren't confident colouring at home, buy the colour and most stylist will assist you with application. They are trained and have the knowledge and the right tools for the application.

That is my commandments for healthy coloured hair. Amen to healthy hair.

é

Mall of the South: Not really a Haul haul.

Yeah more like a “Wanted to get BB cream but got carried away looking for a lipstick” thing.

Arm swatches so you know I'm real.

Yardley London got me all: They are not the same. They are similar.

 

Okay, these are the same.

All was done at Mall of the South. Here are the details:

Clicks:

This is a big Clicks so it's got the full roll out of all their stocked brands like OPI, Essie, WnW and Essence.

Wet 'n Wild MegaLast Lip Color in Cherry Bomb: My one sister and I are riding the 90's vampy dark lip trend. After doing some heavy internet swatch research I decided this was the one. And they only had that. One. And no testers. I have previously bought 'Bare it all' as a MAC 'Velvet Teddy' dupe and I loved it. They also didn't have 'Vamp it up' in stock but I did swatch it and it is good. I will have YOU, 'VAMP IT UP'

R44.95

(See later in the post I did purchase another Cherry Bomb and a Vamp it up at my local Clicks.)

Clicks Baby wipes: My arm was getting full of lipstick so I bought some wet wipes. R8.95 for 10

Oh So Heavenly Vanilla Cup Cake Bubble Balm: First saw it on PinkPeonies and bought it the next day. Here is my previous one:

Cool packaging without the EOS price @ R29.95 (If I went last week it was 3 for 2 but who's checking that)

Wet 'n Wild Wildshine Nail Color in Kaleidoscope: Recently I have found out what the term is of the feelings I feel because I am attracted to rainbow holographic things: I AM HOLOSEXUAL.That is the only reason I bought this. Great price at R24.95

Cardies:

"We don't like your big camera so we'll stare at you from down here"

SPCA support beaded Bracelets: I bought one a while ago and wanted the pink, white and blue one. And for a while I saw bracelets for the Red Paw Project. Because of uneducated people and my two dogs being at harm. this is a charity that is getting my money. The Lilo & Stitch is R55 and the steel beads of the Red Paw Project is R150

Dischem:

They had a stock taking during the week so there where people with open boxes every where. I got offered a free skin analysis but I wasn't sure if they would be able to see my skin through the contour, hard layer of concealer and powder.

SkinStrategy Sheet mask loose draws: That's how you know it's getting close to month end. Loose draw sheet masks. Face and neck Boto Mask and serum R14.95 and Soothing and calming Face Mask R12.95.

McNabs SuperCharge Energy Drink in Sparkling Rasberry: How do you thing this post is getting written? Magic? No way son. Anything I can read the ingredients of and understand what they mean, is good in my book. (also Vegan and made with No Genetically Modified ingredients because that is who I am now.) R19.25

Catrice All Round Mascara in Ultra black: Uhg! Yes! I bought it again! At R52.95 try to find a better one.

LA Girl Endless Semi Permanent Auto lipliner in Dark Plum: I bought this liner in True Red and it is true boss. This is the liner I want to pair with the WnW Cherry Bomb.

H&M

Just a slouchy beanie and wool hat. Walking with that bag makes you look like a bad bi*ch. This is the photo I sent my sisters telling them to get on my level:

And that is it.

é

Here are some bonus swatches:

LA Girl Endless Auto Lip liner in Dark Plum

Wet 'n Wild MegaLast in Cherry Bomb over LA Girl Endless Auto Lip liner in Dark Plum. I got this combo for my sister and called it the #Noempielipkit in IDGAF

Wet 'n Wild MegaLast in Cherry Bomb

Wet 'n Wild MegaLast in Vamp it Up

More swatches:

Wet 'n Wild in Kaleidoscope

K bye now.