Everything you need to know about going Cruelty-free/// Why I went Cruelty-free.

Hello all, I hope everyone is doing well. Today’s post is going to be on why I decided to go cruelty-free in my beauty routine. This has been a post I’ve been wanting to do for quite some time, in regards to explain why I am now cruelty-free and refuse to use beauty products tested on animals.

I started my cruelty-free journey back in late 2016, I started to become more aware of which brands were marked as cruelty-free, I began checking the ingredients of products, and researching into brands that did not have any sign of being cruelty-free. Thankfully, there are a good amount of beauty brands that are dedicated to being cruelty-free, however through my research I had also found that many brands I would have thought would be cruelty-free were not. Also I came to the realization that there are still many brands that test on animals.

Not going to lie, for some of my favorite products that were from brands that tested on animals, it was difficult finding a replacement, however I was dedicated to doing my research and finding a better product that was 100% cruelty-free even if it took some time.

I am strongly passionate and committed to being cruelty-free, making the switch is not very difficult, and I hope more people can come to the realization of the harm committed on these innocent animals when you support brands that test on animals. As a disclaimer, in no way am I trying to persuade people to stop buying from these brands, I just wanted to share my reasons as to why I choose to switch to only cruelty-free products.

Reasons why I decided to go Cruelty-free:

  1. No animal should have cosmetics or any type of product tested on them.
  2. It makes me suspicious as to what are companies hiding in their products, that they feel the need to test them on animals first, and then humans. (Are there chemicals in these products, that may react differently on an animal than human?)
  3. Typically CF brands are more dedicated to more natural, eco-friendly, organic, or sometimes even vegan products.
  4. CF brands often use cleaner ingredients, in regards to unknown chemicals.
  5. Support ethical beauty brands.
  6. These laboratory animals, are innocent creatures that deserve better.
  7. Animal testing is cruel and inhumane.
  8. There is no need to test products on animals, it’s unnecessary and there are alternative ways.
  9. Going CF is better for the environment.
  10. In the long run it is ethically, morally, and healthier to make the switch to a cruelty-free lifestyle.

How do you know is a product is cruelty-free?

Typically when a product is CF it will be certified through one of the organizations of PETA’s Beauty without Bunnies, Cruelty-free International’s Leaping Bunny, or Choose Cruelty Free (CCF). Each of these organizations has a CF bunny logo, however since not every company can afford this licensing fee, some brands may not have their products labeled. Even if brands, claim their products are cruelty-free, we cannot assume that they are unless they are certified by one of these organizations.

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What are some cruelty-free brands?

Skincare brands:

  • Yes To
  • Burt’s Bees
  • Trader Joe’s
  • Lush
  • Pacifica
  • Glossier
  • Thayers
  • JASÖN

Makeup brands:

  • Tarte
  • Too Faced
  • Nyx cosmetics
  • Wet n Wild
  • The Balm cosmetics
  • Urban Decay
  • It cosmetics
  • Morphe
  • Colourpop
  • Anastasia Beverly Hills

Since starting this journey, I can now say that my beauty routine is fully cruelty-free, from my makeup, to my shower staples, and even toothpaste. I have incorporated this CF switch to other aspects of my life such as cleaning products. I hope that this year I can start to only use solely based CF products in all areas of my life from personal hygiene, to laundry detergent, and other household products.

Thank you for reading as to why I chose to make the switch to a cruelty-free beauty routine. I will be having more cruelty-free posts in the near future, from brand reviews, to routines, and my favorite cruelty-free picks. (As a side note, I will be posting on my blog every Wednesday, since that day will work best with my schedule once I start my spring semester.)

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talk to you all next Wednesday, ariana. ♡

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Pride Makeup Look 2018/// Cruelty-free

Hello everyone, I know it’s been awhile since my last post, and I apologize for being so inactive. Last week I started work again (I work as a swim instructor at a local pool), and then some other things came up and because everything was so new again, I did not know how to balance my week out, anyways I hope to get back into my routine of posting at least twice a week.

I hope you all are doing well, and since I have hardly posted this month, I just wanted to wish everyone a very happy Pride Month! For those of you who do not know, June is known as Pride month for all those who identify as LGBTQ+, and today I am showing my support for the community and well of course celebrating Pride! I’ve been wanting to do a Pride rainbow makeup look for quite awhile and since throughout the month of June, Pride fests and parades are happening all over the world, I thought I’d show you one makeup look to try out. I will be attending Chicago’s Pride Parade this upcoming weekend, and I’m planning to complete this same makeup the day of. Anyways I hope you all enjoy this look and maybe even try it out for yourself.

Starting off with the eyes of course, since it happens to be the main action of our look. I decided to mimic the Pride flag on my eyes, a rainbow transition from red, orange, and yellow on one eye and on the other, green, blue, and purple. For today’s look, I used the BH Cosmetics “Take me to Brazil” Palette and the Nyx Ultimate Eyeshadow Palette in “Brights”. I used a few different brushes, that I will mention in the process of this look.

Before starting this eye look, I did apply the Urban Decay Skin Concealer onto my eyelids using my Beauty Blender, and then setting my eyes with the shade “Peach Butter” from the Too Faced Peachy Mattes Palette, (You can use any light neutral shade).

The first color I begun with was the yellow color, I started off towards the inner corner of my eyes, building it into my crease. I used a mix of the two yellow shades in the TMTB palette, using a “Beau Gachis Tapered Blending Brush” that I received in my Ipsy bag a few months ago. (I probably had the most trouble with the yellow, the pigment really was not showing up for some reason, which why it took me a little longer).

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The following color was the Orange that I used on the center of my lid, I used a blend of the orange from the TMTB palette and then the tangerine shade in the Nyx palette. To apply the orange, I used an It Cosmetics shadow brush, this is really good for picking up color. (Orange was the other color I struggled with for some reason, hopefully when I do this makeup look again, the color is more pigmented).

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The last color used on this eye, was the Bright Red. This is where the pigmented really started to show up. There is only one matte Red shade in the TMTB palette, and to apply the color onto the outer corner of my eyes/crease, I happened to use the “It Cosmetics Precision Shadow Brush”, another brush I adore.

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Once I had gotten all three colors onto my eye, I then blended them with the “BH Cosmetics V5 blending brush” to make sure that there was not any harsh lines and to give it an ombre effect. I also wanted to mention that if I use a repeated brush, I do clean it with the Vera Merona Mini Color Switch, to remove any of the previous colors.

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Next up is my other eye, which holds the other three colors of the Pride flag. I went ahead with the Green first, starting in the inner corner of my left eye working it into the crease. The first green was from the TMTB palette and then the darker green was from the Nyx palette to begin the transition for the blue. To apply the green colors, I used this thin brush that I also received in my Ipsy bag a few months back, by SL Miss Glam.

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With my blue shades, I used the same brush when I did the Orange. I decided to start off with a turquoise like blue and then darken it up with a midnight blue color, as it would be transitioning to the purple.

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Lastly, for my purple color, I kept it pretty simple and only used one color. Using my Wet n’ Wild Large Eyeshadow Brush. To compact and slightly smoke out the color.

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That completes my eyeshadow look, and now onto the glitter magic. (I finished the rest of my face makeup before starting on the glitter). For highlight, I used the cream highlight stick by Milk Makeup in Techno, I know they were promoting this for Pride Month, so I am unsure if this is sold only for a limited time. Next, I applied the Nyx Glitter Primer with a little precise brush by Real Techniques, where I decided to primarily focus on the highs of my cheekbones. I applied the Nyx Crystal Glitter with the same brush and just compacted a bit onto the primer. I decided to keep it to a crescent shape.

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Once I was done applying the glitter to both sides of my cheekbones, I finished off by highlighting areas of my face with the shadeChehoo” from the Babe in Paradise Palette.

 

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That completes the final Pride Makeup look. I am no MUA, but I was happy with the way everything turned out. I do hope that the colors come out more pigmented on the day of the Pride Parade and I will also be applying more Glitter than I did here. Hopefully you all enjoyed, and happy Pride! 🌈 I also wanted to say thank you to everyone who follows my blog, I hit 200+ followers!

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remember love always wins, ariana. 🌈 ♡🌈 

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What I received in my Ipsy Glam Bag/// May 2018

Hi everyone, welcome back to my blog. It’s been nearly a week since my last post, which was more of a serious/personal post (thank you to everyone who read my posts and comments positivity to me, it meant a lot). Today’s post will be my awaited post on unboxing my May Ipsy Glam Bag.

This month’s Glam bag theme is “Go There”, it’s all about finding yourself in the midst of traveling. This month’s bag is adorable, the bag itself has vintage international traveling stamps, and not to mention that it’s great quality. I’m looking forward to trying these products out, so let’s get into the unboxing portion.

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SL Miss Glam Pink Beauty Sponge 

This product is probably what I’m most excited for, it’s so cute and tiny. So far I have had nothing but good experiences with Slmissglam. As many of you know, the Original beauty Blender is my holy-grail, but I’ve also been loving the Real Techniques Sponge for quite some time now, and hopefully this could be a new contender!

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Aphrodite Skincare Olive Oil Face Scrub 

This is a new brand to me, however I did do some research about their company and I’m very intrigued by their products. Aphrodite Skincare are products that are handcrafted in Greece, a staple of most of their products is olive oil. The face scrub claims to be gently exfoliating and cruelty-free.

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TonyMoly Painting Therapy Pack: Sebum Control Black Color Clay

So unfortunately, Tonymoly is not cruelty-free which is very unfortunate because I really do like their products, however I do not believe I will be using this product, because they do test on animals. I will probably end up giving this product to a relative of mine.

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TreStique Mini Matte Blur Stick 

I absolutely love the concept of this product, as an oily person, this would definitely come in handy. The product claims to be a blurring primer and shine eraser, I only tried this product in a small area of my hand so far, therefore I will need to use this one my face a few times in order to form an opinion. Their site claims that they do not test on animals, however I do not see a certification, so hopefully they are.

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Huda Beauty Lip Contour in Trophy Wife

I was very fortunate to get this in my Glam bag this month, I have never tried any of Huda’s products however they are all very beautiful and this is a gorgeous color. I do not wear lip products often, however I will definitely give this one a shot.

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Nyakio Kenyan Coffee Face Polish

This last product is a product that I got using my Ipsy points, and I am beyond excited to try this out. The product is certified cruelty-free, organic/natural, and fair-trade. This face polish exfoliates to give your skin a youthful radiant complexion, with the ingredient of Kenyan Coffee. IMG-5595

Hopefully you all enjoyed this post, I apologize for not blogging much, I am possibly going to take a week off from blogging until next week, just to clear my mind and focus on other things currently, I feel like the past few days I’ve been loosing motivation to write posts. Anyways I have started a Buy Me A Coffee page, this is to help support my blog, any donation is very appreciated, but do not feel pressured to donate. If you enjoyed this post then do not forget to like it and please subscribe with your email in the sidebar, to be notified of new posts through your email, (be sure to confirm subscription in email). Also make sure to follow me on my social media pages down below, I will follow back all other fellow bloggers!

much love, ariana. 

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