Vegan Skin Care.

So it's been a little while since I updated, and I've been planning this post since I first started my blog. Skin care is very important as we all know, and I like to stick to this routine twice a day, once in the morning before work, and once before bed. Because I work in an environment where there is air blasting around, dirt, dander, and fur flying in my face all day, keeping my face cleaned and moisturised is so important to me. My skin has an oily T-Zone then the rest is normal to dry, so my skin is combination.

LUSH - Ocean Salt Face and Body Scrub.

I mentioned this facial scrub in my "Vegan bath favourites" post, and I mentioned how much I love it! I do not use this twice a day. I use this scrub twice or three times weekly. It smells delicious, very nice and fresh. 

There's big rocks of salt to really scrub your face of all the oil and dirt. It leaves you feeling smooth and very awake. I know I will be using this for a very long time, as I'm in no rush to find an alternative. 

- Side note - 

Only the self preserving one is Vegan!!

Organic Virgin Coconut Oil.

If I'm wearing makeup I will always take it off with a wet wipe first, I then go on to cleanse my face with coconut oil. I adore coconut oil for so many things, and cleansing my face is just one of them. As silly as it sounds; coconut oil is good for cleaning the natural dirty oils from your skin. It takes away the access dirt on your face whilst nourishing your skin at the same time. I apply about a 3rd of a teaspoon to my clean hands, let it melt, and rub all over my face. I then get a cotton pad and take away the oil. If I was to just leave it at this step there would be too much oil, and I'd just be a greasy mess, so then I will always use a toner. You can buy coconut oil from most supermarkets, Holland & Barrett, or amazon. It's always best to buy organic, virgin, and raw.

Pure Tea Tree Oil.

Like coconut oil I use tea tree oil for so many things. It is a natural anti-inflammatory, and has antibacterial properties making it perfect for spot prone skin. I don't really suffer with acne or spots fortunately, but it's always better to prevent. I've been using tea tree oil as a toner for around 10 months now and haven't had any problems what so ever. I get a cotton pad, wet it with water, then add two drops to the pad. I use it all over my face being very careful of my eyes. After using this my face feels tight, clean, and so fresh. I know after I've done this step my face is as clean as can be and ready for moisturising. You have to moisturise after this step otherwise it would completely dry out your skin, and make you overproduce oils. I bought this from amazon, but recently found this exact one in Tesco for £1. So much cheaper and better for you than fancy tea tree toners.

LUSH - Enzymion Facial Moisturiser.

So I really wanted to find a new moisturiser, but wasn't sure whether to spend the money as in my opinion this is quite expensive. The fact they squeeze a whole lemon in to this bad boy was king of an arm twister for me. I can't believe I wasn't using this years ago. I chose this as it's for oil prone skin, and leaves a matte finish. I was very sceptical at first because I've never been a face moisturiser person to be fair. It completely changed my opinion, and now I feel like a grown up because I finally use a moisturiser every day haha. It does leave me feeling moisturised, however not really matte, but that's what my primer and foundation are for and it's the perfect base for both. 

Bull Dog - Original Eye Roll On.

Skin care for men? Pfft they're just words! I first started using this after I stole it from my brother because my eye bags in the morning were getting out of hand. So I decided to buy it for myself. I leave this on the windowsill so that the metal ball on the inside is always cold. Apparently the coldness reduces the puffiness of your under eye bags. I haven't really noticed that, but I like the coldness in the morning, it wakes me up a bit. This is quite a runny formula but some how sinks in to the skin like a dream, and also tightens the skin. There's avocado oil, cucumber oil, and Brazilian ginseng extract packed in. This product is vegan, but doesn't state it on the packaging, just on the website. They're also from the UK. You can buy this from their website (www.bulldogskincare.com, or from Boots.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed this post.

☠StarkyBones☠

Vegan Bath Favourites!

So I've decided to post about my favourite go to bath products. I use pretty much all of these every single bath. I've also added a few alternatives.

As you can see, they are all LUSH. The reason behind this is because I have incredibly sensitive skin. Almost everything irritates me, and I find that they're the only brand where I can purchase something and be pretty confident that it's not going to irritate my skin. 

Lets start off with shower gel.

Snow Fairy.

I have no idea why the bottle is all bashed up, but who cares... It's what's on the inside that counts!

Snow Fairy holds a special place in my heart. I have been receiving a bottle every Christmas for at least 7 years from my Nan. She loves buying me this because it's the only pink glittery thing she can buy me. It smells like bubblegum, which is my all time favourite smell. A little goes a very long way, especially if you use a "scrubby" to apply it. It lathers up loads, and I love that in a product. Sometimes I wash my hair with it because I absolutely adore the smell. It's a shame it's only a Christmas product, but that makes it even more special. It comes in three different sizes 100ml, 250ml and 500ml.

Original Source.

My go to shower gel however is the Original Source brand. It's a really great product which is always on offer in super markets, Superdrug, and Boots. You can pretty much find it everywhere, which I think is my favourite thing about it. I only ever buy it when it's of offer for a £1 or so, but when it's not on offer it isn't much more than that. They sell a huge variety of smells, from fruity, minty, and nutty. The mint one is great for washing your face with as it's so refreshing, and really wakes you up in the mornings. I wouldn't recommend using it anywhere else mint, it could get a little burny haha. They are all Vegan of course, do not test on animals, and pack lots of natural ingredients in there.

Facial Scrub.

Ocean Salt.

I ran out of my old facial scrub "Let The Good Times Roll" which is also by LUSH, and I'd recently seen this floating around instagram and youtube, so decided to try it out myself. I've been using it for about 4 months, and love it, I wouldn't go back! I'm going to do an in-depth post about Vegan skin care next, so I'll go in to details then.

Body scrub.

The Rough With The Smooth.

I LOVE this product, and I mean LOVE! Once again because of my sensitive skin I have a hard time shaving my legs. The hairs grow back itchy, my legs are always dry, and they always sting whenever I put moisturiser on them. However after using this ugly looking thing I don't have any problems what so ever, and I am not one to believe in "miracle products" but holy hell I come out the bath feeling confident I will have nice, non irritated, smooth legs, that I can actually moisturise. I'm not the biggest fan of the smell, as I am a fruity smell lover, and this is more of a perfumey earthy smell. After shaving my legs, I dunk the block in to the bath and rub a generous layer of the sugary scrub all over my dry-ish legs, and really rub it in with my hands, making sure I don't miss a spot. I then rinse it off in the bath. I have to be honest I didn't think it was going to last long, but I can see it's going to last ages. It retails at £5.95 and I presume you can buy it in most LUSH stores around the UK, but there's always the trusty internet to go to if you can't find it. 

Bath bomb or bubble bath.

(my video)

Intergalactic.

This intergalactic bath bomb is one of the coolest bath bombs ever. If you don't like to be covered in glitter, then I do not recommend this product to you. However, I love glitter!! As well as glitter, there's popping candy. Does it get any better? Nope! It's very refreshing as there's peppermint oil in there, which is great for your skin. I come out feeling fresh and energised from this bath bomb. It retails for £3.95 which in my eyes is quite expensive, so this isn't an every bath time experience. 

The Comforter.

For the times where I'm not indulging in glitter, I use the Comforter bubble bar. I always go back to this, always. I've tried quite a few bubble bars but this one smells the best, lasts the longest, and I think it's really good value for money. I can get 4-6 baths from this. All other brands of bubble bath make me itch like crazy, even the "sensitive" ones, and I'd given up on bubble baths until this. I always have a bar in the house, and have been using it for about 18 months now. It's fruity as hell, and smells of blackcurrant, mmm! It retails for £4.95.

All the LUSH products can be found at www.uk.lush.com .

These are just my favourite products, I sometimes use other bath bombs, bath oils, and bath melts. Depends what kind of mood I'm in. 

I would never recommend something I didn't really believe in, so I really urge you to try these products out, and if you do, let me know if you loved them too!

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed this post.

☠StarkyBones☠

Burt's Bees Hand Repair Cream.

!NOT A VEGAN POST!

So I've decided to blog about something that is just cruelty free to begin with, but a product I highly rate, and would like to replace with a vegan alternative. 

This is the Burt's Bees Hand Repair Cream.

As well as cruelty free and vegan it's a bonus if a product has a lot of natural ingredients in. This Burt's Bees hand cream like stated above isn't vegan, but it is cruelty free and 100% natural. However Burt's Bees is an american company that they decided to sell. They ended up selling to "Clorox" who have mixed messages about animal testing, so this is something you need to be aware of.

Right, lets get down to the product its self. The packaging is quite unusual, but nice and clear and it has everything you need to know about it on there. I also like the fact you can roll it down from the top like toothpaste, or even cut it open to get every last bit. It smells delicious. I can smell shea butter, lavender, and something else I can't quite put my finger on. The smell lasts for hours as when I wake up, I can still smell it. It's full of botanical oils, and doesn't contain any sulphates, phthalates, petrochemicals or parabens. Woohoo!

It's a very thick formula almost moose like, but sinks in to your skin fast, and a little goes a long way. I can't bare moisturisers that don't sink in fast, so this is great. I use this every night before bed so it has lots of time to work its magic. Being a dog groomer and having my hands in and out of water, using hot/cold air, and using lots of hand sanitiser each day, I really need a heavy duty moisturiser. I do love Burt's Bees, and I own a lot of their stuff, so it's a shame that they do use animal products, but I know that's the whole point ha. I'm running out of this bad boy so if anyone has any vegan moisturisers that are meant for a hard working pair of hands, let me know. This is an item I will be revisiting in the future, as I can imagine I will need to test a few out before I find another gem like this. 

This product comes in two different sizes 50g (£7.99) and 90g (£12.99). You can either order from their UK site here: www.burtsbees.co.uk or from Amazon. You can also pop in to Boots, or Holland & Barrett who also stock a big range of their products. 

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed this post.

☠StarkyBones☠