The Cruelty-Free Tag

I came across this tag on Anita's blog recently and felt like I should get around to completing it. I've been filling this out while watching Gilmore Girls. My sister has been bugging me into watching it for months. I keep marvelling at how adorable Jared Padalecki looks at his infant stage. See, he's a toddler at the start of Supernatural and grew into an overgrown child by the end of Season 11, so it's nice to see him in his first years of life *giggles*. He's such a baby!!!

What's your favourite cruelty-free face product?
This is a hard question because I'm not loving many of my face products these days, but if I had to choose a favourite, I would say that it's theBalm's Mary-Lou Manizer. It's such a lovely highlight and I just fall in love with it every time I use it. I love Milani Cosmetics' Foundation in Body Glow as it is a nice creamy highlight that can be used in so many ways, but the Manizer is the one I reach for the most as it's easiest and quickest to apply. My laziness is my downfall.

What is your favourite cruelty-free eye product?
I briefly thought of the Too Faced Peanut Butter and Jelly Eyeshadow palette, but that's a wrong answer. My favourite eye product is the ModelCo VolumEyes mascara, it is super black, doesn't flake or rub onto my brow bone, lasts all day, slightly lengthens my lashes and volumises them nicely without clumping them. I've got to replace this one, as mine has expired, but it is the best one that I've found yet. I don't know how well it holds a curl because my eyelashes are stubbornly curly, much to my chagrin (applying false lashes or tightlining is a right pain in the arse).

What is your favourite cruelty-free lip product?
Well, if you're talking aesthetics, Milani Cosmetics' Amore Matte Lip Cremes are my favourite liquid lipsticks to date; they're highly pigmented, they apply beautifully, are kiss-proof, and don't feel drying at all. I've currently only got two shades so far, but I'm getting some more soon because I just love the formula. As for lip care, Hurraw! Lip Balms are the way to go, they don't contain any harmful/useless ingredients, are vegan and come in a range of flavours. A lot of lip balms on the market contain ingredients that intentionally dry your lips out so that you keep reapplying the product for short-lived moisture, which is why I love the Hurraw! range.

What's your favourite cruelty-free skincare product?
I've been working on my skincare routine these past few months, and there is one product that I find I love the most and that is the Nip + Fab Glycolic Scrub. This has finer grains than most exfoliating scrubs that I've come across, which actually gives me a much nicer exfoliating process. It makes my skin smooth without drying it out, and my skin feels quite soft the next couple of days as a result. I actually went back to Priceline during their 40% Off Skincare sale just to stock up on this, especially because I found a voucher in the mail earlier that day that pretty much took care of most of the cost. Love it!

What is your favourite cruelty-free body care product?
Um... I'm gonna come right out and say that, aside from a body wash from Nature's Organics, I don't use any other body care products. I know, I know, I'm horrible.

What is your favourite cruelty-free perfume?
As some of you may already know, I have little to no sense of smell, so I rarely ever wear perfume. I have this perfume from The Body Shop that was gifted to me for my 18th birthday. I use it for most special occasions, and my partner quite likes it when I wear it, because apparently I smell pretty. I was very interested in getting L'Occitane's Néroli & Orchidée Eau de Toilette, because from what I can smell, it smells quite nice and Sean also likes the scent. However, L'Occitane sells their products within China with claims to get the country to change their laws on animal testing. I do like that they're open about their policies and stuff, but this sort of thing requires very careful consideration.

What is your favourite cruelty-free nail polish?
I rarely ever wear nail polish because I'm too lazy to be bothered with the upkeep, but I do quite like this shade of nail polish from Australis. It's not quite chocolate, but it very closely resembles hot chocolate and makes my nails look delectable. It requires at least two coats because it isn't very opaque, but it's still a nice shade. I've only got a few shades left in my box because I tossed everything non-cruelty-free out last year, and out went 20+ polishes. I haven't gotten around to restocking them because I don't see the point when I rarely wear nail polish and my nails keep chipping like there's no tomorrow.

I had fun doing this tag, and I want to thank Anita for doing it in the first place, it's a nice way to expose a few cruelty-free brands out there in the blogosphere. There are a lot more cruelty-free brands like these, of varying affordability and quality, and these are just some of my favourites at the moment.

On a somewhat related note, I've been working on the dividers for my vanity drawer, and I'm seriously loving how it looks so far! It's a lot of work and really time consuming, and more often than not I'm going "Oh shit, they don't match up!" and I then turn the divider around "Oh, wait, they're fine. Whoops!" I haven't been able to do much cleaning around the house for the past week as I pulled my back out after lifting my suitcase too quickly. There's been other setbacks as well, especially because IKEA turned out to not have the parts I needed for my couch, so the lounge room is barely livable! Instead of having everything done by now, everything is all over the place.

Will you guys be doing this tag? Please leave a link in the comments so I can go over to your blog and check it out :)