My Essentials

The links lead to where I purchased these products.

Shampoo: Naturally Thinking SLS Free Shampoo.

Conditioner: Superdrug Extracts Conditioner Coconut & Almond.

Makeup remover: Good Oil Hemp Oil.

Face wash: Sheabutter Cottage African Liquid Black Soap with Neem. 

Facial exfoliation: Superdrug Konjac Sponge.

Toner: Naturally Thinking Rose Water.

Toothpaste: Jason Tooth Gel with Fluoride 

Mouthwash: Superdrug Pro Care Sensitive Mouthwash

Dental Floss: Superdrug Pro Care Sensitive Floss

Lip Balm: Cioccolatina Rose Lip Balm

Body Soap: Sheabutter Cottage African Black Soap Chunks 

Body Lotion: First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream

Manicure Monday - "Astro Hot" by China Glaze

I purchased this nail polish at the end of November from Nail Polish Direct, the cheapest place I know of to buy China Glaze in the UK. Today was the first time I wore it.
I'd describe the colour as a shimmering lilac-pink with a subtle holographic effect . I think it's very pretty and I don't have anything else in my nail polish collection quite like it. I found the formula to be quite thin and sheer and needed three coats to achieve opacity. However it was easy to work with and required very little clean up after painting.

December Empties

 Superdrug Coconut Oil -  I used this as a body moisturiser. It works quite well, but I think I'll be sticking to virgin coconut oil in future, as it melts more readily making it easier to apply. This was so hard that digging my hand into the pot caused my nail polish to chip off.

 Superdrug Extracts Raspberry and Macadamia Nut Conditioner - This is a pretty good conditioner in my opinion, especially for the price. However I find the Coconut and Almond conditioner from the same range to be slightly more moisturising, so I'll be buying that in future.

Superdrug Nourishing Nail Polish Remover - I've already bought two bottles to replace this one. I think it's a good, basic acetone-free nail polish remover. I get through huge quantities of nail polish remover, so I want one that's inexpensive and gentle.

 Steenbergs Organic Rose Water - I've bought a different brand of rose water to replace this. I discovered Naturally Thinking sell a 1 litre bottle of rose water for £10, which is amazing value. I mix a little vitamin c powder with it and use it as a toner.

Sarakan Toothpaste - I started using this sulphate-free toothpaste after I discovered the SLES in my toothpaste was causing my mouth ulcers. It served me well, but after finally discovering an SLES-free toothpaste that also contains fluoride (Jason) I've decided to switch.

Sainsbury's Sensitive Mouthwash - I've got several bottles of this stashed away. It's an alcohol-free fluoride mouthwash, so it doesn't dry out my mouth.

Cioccolatina Karite Soap (not pictured) -  This is a bar soap made from over 70% shea butter. I found it to be very gentle and moisturising. I'll probably order another bar when I do my next Sheabutter Cottage order.

Manicure Monday - Models Own Deep Sea and Absinthe

I'm currently working my way through the enormous nail polish haul I purchased in the Models Own half-price Black Friday sale. Today I decided to try the Deep Sea Hypergel and Absinthe from the Velvet Goth collection. I found the Hypergel formula a bit difficult to work with at first as it's very thick and I found it impossible to apply a thin, even coat of it.  However, once I accepted I was going to have to apply thick coats I found it much easier to apply evenly. I was worried that since I'd applied it so thickly it would takes ages to dry properly, but I was pleased to discovered this was not the case. It took two coats to achieve an opaque finish, although with more even brushwork this would probably be achievable in one coat.

The Absinthe nail polish comes in a bottle with a velvet-covered cap, which I loved. For the accent nail I applied one coat over one coat of Deep Sea. You can use it on its own, but I'd already painted my ring fingernail by the time I remembered I'd planned to do an accent, d'oh. I dabbed rather than painted the polish on, to ensure the glitter was distributed evenly, then added topcoat for a smooth finish. It dried to a beautiful, shimmering emerald green finish and now I want to try others from the Velvet Goth collection.

House of Uni

These are the five House of Uni lipsticks I ordered from the USA.  The lipsticks are priced at $9 each or you can buy 3 for $20 or 5 for $35. House of Uni also make liquid lipstick, priced at $12 each or 4 for $40. Not all House of Uni products are vegan, but their web shop has a vegan section and non-vegan products are clearly marked.

As you can see I went for bold colours, but there are some more subtle shades available if that's your thing. I'd been looking for black and green vegan lipsticks for a while, so I was pleased to discover these. I would describe Star Apple as matte with a glitter shimmer and the the other four shades as matte. The lipsticks are highly pigmented with a rich, creamy texture. They have pretty good staying power too, although attempting to eat a "buttered" crumpet while wearing "Wicked" was definitely a mistake.

Cover FX Total Cover Cream Foundation

I bought this foundation in the Black Friday Beauty Bay sale. The Cover FX website states that all products, with the exception of  MintTint FX and MintGlaze FX are vegan.
It ticks all my boxes for the perfect foundation: vegan, light enough for my pale skin, full coverage and SPF30. It comes packaged in a compact and includes an applicator sponge. I got it in the shade N0, which is the lighest shade offered. It comes in many different shades, including colours for darker skin tones. N shades are for skin with neutral undertones, G shades are for golden undertones and P shades are for pink undertones. My skin has pink undertones, but I decided to go for N0 as the lightest shade in the P range is P10. I'm pleased to report it matched my skin perfectly and didn't look too yellow.
The coverage is buildable, so I applied a thin layer all over my face, then applied extra as a concealer over blemishes. I didn't need to use an additional concealer with this even though I had an active pimple on my chin. Although it offers great coverage when applied thickly, the thin layer applied to the rest of my face didn't look too heavy or mask-like.
I love that it is SPF30 as sun protection is extremely important to me, but finding high SPF sunscreens that wear well under make up is challenging. The only downside is the price, the normal retail price is £35 and I paid £28, but it's definitely worth the investment as I haven't come across anything cheaper that works anywhere near as well.

Here are a couple of pictures of me wearing it and a picture of the foundation swatched on my arm. Apologies for the terrible photo quality, I only have a crappy camera phone at the moment. Hopefully I'll get a better camera soon.

Feelunique Black Friday Haul

The first of my Black Friday parcels has arrived. This one is from feelunique.com.

First up we have three huge 946ml bottles of Dr Bronner's liquid castille soap in tea tree, green tea and rose scents. I've tried the rose and tea tree soaps before. I decided to try the green tea one as it was super-cheap, £6.99 when a bottle half the size usually costs about £8.50. I love this soap and use it to clean almost everything. As a body wash in the bath and shower, as hand soap, to wash flannels, lingerie, and make up brushes, to clean hard surfaces, even to wash around my guinea pigs' grease glands. As my guinea pigs live in my bedroom I don't want to use any cleaning products that give off strong fumes. Instead I use soap and water (sometimes with a little bicarbonate of soda added to give extra cleaning power), then wipe off any soap scum with diluted apple cider vinegar.

I adore roses and I'm constantly on the look out for rose-scented perfumes, bath and body products. I like tea tea tree soap because it's anti-bacterial, meaning it's good for washing my flannels and make-up brushes.

Next up we have four tubes of JASON SLES-free toothpaste with flouride. I struggle finding toothpaste as I can't use any that contain sodium laureth sulphate, as they cause me to develop mouth ulcers. I struggled with constant mouth ulcers for years before I decided to switch to an SLES-free toothpaste to see if it would help. I've previously found it impossible to find a vegan SLES-free toothpaste that also contains fluoride and have been making do with fluoride-free Sarakan toothpaste followed with an alcohol-free fluoride mouth wash from either Superdrug or Sainsbury's.

Finally we have a bar of Pacifica Tahitian Gardenia soap and a Kent comb. Pacifica are a completely vegan company. I have two bottles of Pacifica perfume in French Lilac and Persian Rose and I've wanted to try the soaps for a while, but thought the normal retail price of £6.95 was too much to pay for a bar of soap. This one was reduced to £4.65, which is still fairly pricey. I haven't used it yet, but it smells wonderful. Try it if you like strong, floral scents. It's a natural floral scent, not an artificial cheap room-freshener smell. 

The Kent comb is hand-carved and seamless. Most plastic combs are made in moulds, which leave seams between the teeth that can snag and damage hair. I can really feel the difference when I use a Kent comb. It glides through my hair smoothly and doesn't rip and tear at any tangles.