vegan

20 November 2023

Budget Conscious Ethical Christmas Gift Ideas for Under £12
Please note - Prices & product info correct at time of publication/Not Sponsored/No affiliate links

Shopping List of Gift Ideas for a smaller budget

Bare Kind Bamboo Socks - 10% of profits on every pair are donated to one of 25+ global animal saving charities (£9.95)

Battle Green Lip Balm & Soap Slice Letterbox Gift (£10.95)

Chalke Valley Soaps Love, Peace & Joy Botanical Soap Gift Box (£12.50)

Chococo 5% from every sale of vegan Oat M!lk Turtles is donated to Ocean Giants Programme and Tuandua the Vegan Orangutan supports SOS (Sumatran Orangutan Society) to plant trees in Sumatra

Pure Thoughts Soy Wax Melts Festive Spice/Bergamot & Lemon/Lavender & Rose (£10)

Sow Many Seeds Wildflower Seed Reindeer Poo (£5.50) 

The Little Peace Company Bath Salts 75g sachet (£5.90) and Room & Pillow Mists (£12) various scent options are available in both products

The Silicone Straw Co Single Reusable Straw & Tin (£6.95)

Vent for Change recycled notebooks and sustainable stationery 

19 November 2023

Unscented Body Butter for sensitive skin and those prone to allergies

For dry skin, prone to sensitivity, eczema and essential oil allergies try unscented Body Butter to hydrate all year around but especially during cold, winter weather

Akamuti Cocoa and Almond Body Butter

Conscious Skincare Pure Body Butter

Ezape Naturals Mango and Cocoa Butter or Shea Body Butter

Fushi Wellbeing Shea Butter

Green Woman Green Cream Unscented Body Butter

Heavenly Organics Unscented Body Butter

Hurray for Shea Whipped Body Souffle Fragrance Free

Kutis Skincare Naked Body Butter

Liha Raw Shea Butter Gold

Mrs Frisbee's Jojoba Butter

Naturally TIWA Yara Body Food

Nudge Boutique Fragrance Free Whipped Body Butter

Wild Seed Botanicals Naked Whipped Shea Butter (nut free)


(provided for information only/not sponsored/no affiliate links)

25 June 2023

‘Little Bottle of Italian Magic’ wins 2023 Free From Skincare Awards
As many of you know I decided to retire the blog at the end of last year. So why am I posting again? well I thought it was only right that perhaps the final blog post should go to the one skincare awards that I have supported since 2012. 

I've given my time to the Free From Skincare Awards because they have always encouraged and rewarded manufacturers of skincare products that are ‘free from’ some of the allergens, ingredients, additives and artificial fragrances. I'm the type of consumer that these awards help. Many of you know I have been managing eczema and allergies since childhood.

So this year it's an Italian skincare brand by the name of OliPhenolia that has been crowned overall champion and awarded Best Free From Skincare Product 2023 for their Intensive Serum.

“Became a go-to product,” said one delighted product tester. “It was soothing, comforting, anti-inflammatory, and helped calm areas that were irritated, red and patchy. Kind to the skin and a pleasure to use.”

The hypoallergenic formulation — dubbed “a little bottle of Italian magic” by another tester — is based on polyphenol-rich ingredients produced from olives grown at Fattoria La Vialla, a Demeter-certified biodynamic farm in Tuscany, with added skin-beneficial compounds such as hyaluronic acid and glycerin.
The Best Free From Brand Award was successfully defended by 2022 winners, North Wales’s Rhug Wild Beauty
The Best Free From Brand Award was successfully defended by 2022 winners, North Wales’s Rhug Wild Beauty, who repeated their feat of last year in winning two golds and three silvers in the individual product categories.

Free from fragrance, animal-sourced ingredients and food allergens, OliPhenolia’s winning serum beat stiff competition from other category winners, including products by first-time participants Plantopia and Latvian brand Etide.

“It is rare for a few-ingredient product which is essentially allergen-free to perform quite as strongly as the Intensive Serum did,” said Awards Director, Alex Gazzola. “One of the highest scorers with testers and with some of the strongest ‘free from’ attributes across the entire competition … Judges felt it was the clear champion.”

All winners and medallists can be seen at www.freefromskincareawards.co.uk

26 December 2022

Green Beauty Brands that stood the test of time: A look back at 2011 Blog Posts

As 2022 draws to a close I thought it might be interesting to look back on my first year of blogging. It all began in May 2011 and I was curious to see how many of those early posts had stood the test of time. Sadly there a several brands that no longer exist but there are some products that remain staples in my home.

Whilst the Faith In Nature Cacao Body Wash has long since disappeared I'm still using their products. Currently in my collection I have the Jojoba and Avocado body washes and Dragonfruit hand wash. I've always found Faith in Nature to be a reasonably priced brand and these days you can find on the high street and local refill stores. I had paired up my original body wash review with a post about Nakd raw fruit & nut bars. I'm still a loyal customer and eat them on a daily basis. Current favourite flavours are Bakewell and Peanut.

I don't use Dr Bronner's as often as I once did but you'll still find it in my home as it's the best liquid soap to use for washing out makeup brushes. Over the years I found it a little too drying on my skin so for me, its main purpose is now household cleaning.

I'm still using Naturtint Hazelnut Blonde hair colourant but honestly I'm now contemplating whether it's time to ditch it and embrace the grey; only time will tell.

I can safely say that I'm still bitter that Alpro still haven't launched the Macchiato drink which I had on my trip to Amsterdam.

Konjac Sponges have remained in my life but I now only use the body sponges. Over the years I tried out several brands but we (my husband and I) are currently re-purchasing from Friendly Soap.

I'm still sadden to this day at the loss of Brownearth body butters. They were a favourite for a long time. You can of course find lots of decent green brands offering different variations of shea body butters either with this standalone ingredient or combining with others such as coconut or cocoa butter.

I'm can't quite believe that I first discovered Evolve Organic Beauty back in 2011. I remember the branding was very different back in the day. Evolve is definitely one of those brands that I revisit over and over again, dipping into products as the range has expanded. Currently I'm trying out the Bio-Retinol + C Booster and I've placed an order for the Bio-Retinol Gold Mask in the Boxing Day sales!

I remember using Organic Surge shower gels regularly back in the early years. I thought they were lost forever but recently discovered they re-branded to Organic Works (OW).

Oh my the photo on this post about TK Maxx is terrible but I wanted to say that I still visit stores looking for beauty bargains.

In my first month of blogging I wrote about my struggles with sun cream that was suitable for eczema prone skin. I just wanted to say that through many trials I eventually settled on Green People. This is a brand I had been using long before the blog started. It is very much a staple to this day. I am a fan of their scent free moisturisers and of course facial sun cream.

I hope that you have enjoyed this look back over 2011 and comparing it with 2022. At this time I'm not sure whether I'll continue blogging into 2023 but you can always find me over on social media if you'd like to connect.

Happy New Year to you all!

Sarah x

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