My Latest Cruelty-Free Beauty Buys

I've been of the cheeky sort this month. Sure, I've been thrifty wherever I could, but I had to replace a couple of skincare products because I'd run low on or finished, finally found a foundation that I could use, and a few other things. Not to mention I also picked a day planner for next year, because I cannot stand having my day all jumbled up and missing something because I forgot about it. I don't just write down birthdays and appointments, but reminders, to-do lists, ideas for posts, and checklists for my water consumption, skincare and blogging tasks.

Actually, I never write down birthdays in my diary... I should probably get around to doing that from now on instead of letting Facebook do the job of announcing birthdays on the spot.

Today I've been tidying the place up a little bit, and then I went and attacked a bunch of timber, removing it of nails and a pair of rubber straps that held them together. David and I found them in an area around the corner from my place where dozens of new homes were being built. They were going to be disposed of otherwise, so we took them home. I wanted to make a few new backdrops with them, so I started on the project today. Don't worry, there will be a post on those later, I just need to borrow a few tools from mum first.

eBay Zoeva Rose Gold Dupe Brushes
I saw these on eBay a while ago and was on the fence about buying them because I wasn't sure of the quality. I really love the look of the real Zoeva Rose Gold Brushes, but half of them are made with animal hair, so naturally, I can't buy a set. The ones from eBay were all synthetic so I was greatly tempted. I had these on my watch list for weeks before I decided to get them after reading a couple of reviews. This hasn't arrived yet, though it should have come today - I guess it's late because yesterday was a public holiday.

Sugar Baby Vita + Skin Super Serum
My serum was running low, so I kept an eye out for Priceline's infamous sales, but then I found out that some of the Sugar Baby Vita + Skin range were being discounted, slapped with a "Last Chance" label. I have no idea why that's the case, but I hope it's just a change of design to the packaging because I would hate for the serum to be discontinued. I love it so much, it makes my skin so much softer, smoother and clearer. I did a review on this a couple of months ago, and here's the link if you guys would like to read it.

Sugar Baby Vita + Skin  Creme De La Cream Daily Moisture Cream
This was also discounted for the same reason as the serum, and I was mildly curious about it as my current moisturiser, the Formula 10.0.6 Picture Perfect Stay All Day Moisturiser, was running dangerously low and I wanted to try something new. I wasn't too fond of the Formula 10.0.6 one as it made my skin greasy and didn't really provide any benefits except to protect my skin from being further dehydrated. This one contains grapeseed oil, which would greatly help control oil production, and sodium hyaluronate, the vegan sister to the hyaluronic acid, which is meant to help the skin retain water. I've yet to use this one as I'm finishing up the rest of my current moisturiser.

Grapeseed Oil
I'm going to sound like a broken record by now, but this bears repeating just in case I have new readers - I picked this up at Kevin James Bennet's recommendation after I commiserated to him that foundation kept separating on my face and barely lasted throughout the day. Aside from recommending that I use the Grapeseed oil as a moisturiser/primer, he also recommended using a wax-based foundation, which I'll talk about later on in this post.

Essence Lash Princess False Lash Effect Mascara
My last mascara from Australis turned out to be giving me styes every time I wore it, so I replaced it with this one. So far, I really like the lengthening and volumising effect that this mascara has, but I'm not quite fond of the way that it tends to flake towards the end of the day, especially when I wear my glasses.

Chi Chi Eau De Parfum in Peony
I was having lots of trouble since the beginning of this year to find a new perfume, as the only one in my possession was the Body Shop Eau De Toilette in Japanese Cherry Blossom, gifted to me when I turned 18. It's now almost 7 years old, so I really wanted to find something new. I went for Chi Chi because the lasting power was incredible, especially for the mere price tag of $19.99. Chi Chi is an Australian brand, and it was cruelty-free. I had, at one point, contemplated L'Occitane because they had a scent that I (and Sean) really liked, but they sold their products in China, so I wasn't too keen on the brand.

RCMA KA Series Foundation Palette
Anyone who knows me personally knows that I complain about my oily and dehydrated skin to no end, and how foundation doesn't seem to like my skin, preferring to separate and/or accentuate dry areas. On top of that, I have a neutral-leaning-yellow skin tone, and everything I try is either too pink or too orange, so I gave up. Kevin said I should try either Graftobian or RCMA as they would be perfect for my skin type, and I was likely to find a colour that matched me. This palette is still a tiny bit pink, but I correct that using my Australis Banana Powder to set my base, and it works a charm.

Palette Knife
I bought this on eBay soon after I picked up my RCMA foundation palette. I needed a very sanitary way to scoop product from the palette without contaminating it so that I could warm it up on my hand, and a small palette knife, much like the one dentists use, was the best idea I came across. I got this from within Australia for about $6 because I needed it to arrive quickly, but you can get them for $1 each from China with free shipping.

Hurraw! Lip Balm in Grapefruit
I already had a lip balm from Hurraw in the flavour Vanilla Bean, but I wanted to get another one. I'm an incredibly lazy person, as some of you might already know, and I was getting tired of walking to my handbag to grab my lip balm. I bought this one to go in my vanity drawer for when I do my makeup, when I sit at it to blog, or to apply them to my lips just before I go to sleep. This might not sound so lazy to you, but my handbag generally resides in my room, a mere metre or so away from me. The epitome of laziness right here, ladies and gentlemen!

So, I tried something new with the photos today, and I think I like them - the blanket in the background gives the images some texture and interest. I was getting bored of using the same old marble backdrop for every photograph, so I wanted to add something a bit more interesting but neutral. I really like the whole monochrome scheme, so I might be trying that style in future posts.

I think it's obvious that I'm a teeny bit of a shopaholic... What purchases have you made lately?