Well now, did someone go a bit overboard with the oul photoshoppin' when adding the finishing touches to the promo picture for IsaDora's 'Volume Lash Styler' mascara above(?!)...
it was probably unnecessary as this mascara can look amazing when applied to the right lashes.
If you follow my Youtube channel, you may have seen me use this mascara to death in recent videos, and even on my long-enough but kinda thin lashes it looks really decent and does give a nice "fanned out effect", as promised.
For easter just gone, instead of doing a makeup tutorial inspired by Easter colours etc, this year I decided to do a Cruelty Free makeup tutorial featuring products by NYX, ELF, Urban Decay, Wet n Wild, Zoeva, Barry M and SmashBox! Some of the products are Vegan also, and I let ye know throughout the video which products are vegan and what's not!
Hope ye are all having a great week, and happy hump day!! I personally have always liked Wednesdays, I get to look back over what I've already done for the week and decide what needs to be done before the week's end.
Today's tutorial is fun and bright and done using Sleek Makeup's 'Rio Rio' i-divine palette as promised!!
As I mention in todays video, Catrice are discontinuing a load of products to make way for the new season stuff!! (There's a tonne of new fab items coming ^_^)
Find out here exactly what's going.... Some of the bits are well loved by myself and many others so ye may want to pick a few bits up before they are gone!!
Watch the video for my run down of the products going...
W7 Cosmetics are old pro's now at copying well loved high-end makeup items and offering affordable dupes. They have blushers and bronzers just like Benefits, a contour kit the same as the Tom Ford one and of course their 'In the Buff' palette which is a dupe for Urban Decay's 'Naked' 2 palette.
Now they have released a dupe for the 'Naked 3' palette in the shape of 'In the Nude'.
Finally got around to swatching these bad boys for ye.
Sad the Macaron range hasn't yet made it to the Irish shores so I am still without the purple shades #5 Violet and #9 Lavender but I'll get my grubby little mitts on them eventually! ha ha
I bought them directly from the NYX Cosmetics website and used the coupon code WELCOME25 which gave me 25% off. This may only be for new customers though, not 100% sure about that. No harm in trying it out anyhow if any of you do decide to buy from the site.
Problem is that my closest Urban Decay counter is in Limerick (same Inglot problem) and I don't get to get my grubby little paws on their products to play with and buy very often.
I opened up my e-mails this morning as usual to see what's going on and was delighted to see that Sigma have added 2 new brushes to their Sigmax Collection making the entire line up a 10 piece brush collection!
I remember the Body Shop wayyyyyy back when I was in Secondary School (High School) and it was pretty much what all of us students used to satisfy out amateur makeup needs of the day.
Before we had 'Boots' High Street Makeup Brands to choose from and definitely before we could afford to shop in Department Stores it was the go-to shop, only a couple of minutes walk from the school.
Hope ya were all greeted by Santa's lovely pressie's this morning and are saving yeerselves for the Christmas feed coming later this afternoon!!! I know I am ^_^
And what Santa brought me were this beauties from Sigma & Sedona Lace <3
The lovely Faye Hurley of Eden Aromatics recently contacted me about trying out some of her natural skincare products and after checking out her gorgeously kitch website, I was sold! And the products didn't disappoint.
Some of you asked on my most recent video, where I show some skin-care products I bought, about why I use products that are tested on animals if I am a vegetarian, etc.
I 100% do not condone animal testing and do take heed of it and try to research companies if I think they are in question or sometimes just to see their stance on things.
Just to clear up things about the products I showed the the video, here is some information about the companies in question.....
There is confusion in that L'Oreal, for whatever reason, will not sign PETA's form stating that they are cruelty or animal testing free and because of that, PETA have kept them on the "BAD" list just to be safe!
However, as far as Vichy is concerned, they don't test on animals and also say that they do not use ingredients that have been animal tested. They have a bad name due to being under the L'Oreal umbrella.
Also, L'Oreal USA & L'Oreal Paris have different allowances due to regional laws.....
Animal testing has been banned in Europe since 2009 but to date no such ban exists in the US .....
"The European Union established a ban on animal testing implemented in 2004 on finished cosmetics products. In March of 2009 an amendment to the ban outlawed animal testing in seven toxicity tests on any ingredient used in a cosmetic product. These tests are for skin irritancy, sensitivity to light, corrosivity, skin absorption, genetic toxicity, eye irritancy, and acute toxicity. The amendment also bans the import of cosmetics containing ingredients that have been animal tested in this way. Another ban, set for March of 2013, would outlaw eight more tests – these to determine long-term effects, like cancer or birth defects. Currently, the US has no such restrictions on animal testing of cosmetic ingredients or finished cosmetic products." Sourced from http://www.lavera.com
Olay have a similar confusion surrounding them. They are on PETA's "BAD" list also due to the same reason as L'Oreal's (See above)
Olay too claim to be cruelty free. Olay, owned by Procter & Gamble, hold the following stance on animal testing.....
"P&G Beauty & Grooming Animal Testing Principles As for animal testing, P&G Beauty & Grooming's position is clear: We do not test our products on animals, nor do we ask suppliers to test them on our behalf. We do not test ingredients on animals, except in very rare cases when necessary to meet government-mandates or safety obligations. We are committed to continuing our key contributions in research to develop non-animal alternative methods which will ultimately permit the elimination of animal testing. "
As so far as the vegetarian things goes, I don't eat meat but I do eat by-products, dairy, eggs etc. I wear leather and I use makeup and painting brushes made with real hair.
I definitely don't condone or approve of animal testing or cruelty in any form what-so-ever but at the same time I can't claim to know all the companies that do or do not test.
Most companies who do not directly test on animals still use source materials that have at some stage been tested on animals which spreads that gray area ever wider.
Wayne Goss of GossMakeupArtist on Youtube recently did a video touching on this very subject and I share his stance pretty much exactly. He always explains things so easily and clear though so I suggest ye go and check out his video also on the subject as I would just be repeating what her says anyhow!!
Anyhow, hope that answered some of yer questions!!!
