Monthly Favourites | May 2014

It's the end of May already! Doesn't it seem like just last week it was Christmas? You know you're getting old when you start saying things like "is it just me, or just time seem to go faster than it used to?", yep I've been guilty of that numerous times over the past few months.

At the beginning of the month I had a bit of a shopping spree in Superdrug and Boots, and have been loving almost everything I got from both shops, a few of them I have been using exclusively all month, and therefore, they have made it into my May favourites.

ELF Haul

As I reported on my Facebook page a few days ago, ELF currently has a great sale on with up to 70% off. If you spend over £20 you get a free mystery gift and free shipping. Being a bit of a bargain shopper I couldn't let this offer go unused. Shipping only took 5 days, including bank holiday and weekend, I was pretty impressed with that. Here is what I bought:

Wish List Wednesday

Weekly Favourites | Social Media

I thought it might be nice if I shared some of the blogs and accounts that I have been enjoying this past week. Some are fully vegan, some are cruelty free and some are just awesome. Enjoy:

Blog - Vegan Beauty Review

Of course I had to kick off the post with the amazing Vegan Beauty Review. Sunny, the owner of the blog is so warm and friendly that she's made hers one of the top vegan blogs out there. Her 'Mani Mondays' are one of my favourite regular posts that she does, they often introduce me to nail polishes that I have never heard of before, and they're always gorgeous! She updates Instagram regularly too, with fun photo's of her beautiful family and amazing looking life. If you're looking for more artisan brands that produce high quality vegan make-up, you need to be subscribed to this blog. I have lost count of the amount of things that have made their way to my wish list after seeing them on her page.

Plaid Animal Testing Policy

For those of us who like cruelty free cosmetics, thankfully the choices are getting more varied with new brands popping up all the time. A quick Google search will throw up suggestions that we may not have heard about before, but for those of us that also like to craft without causing harm to any living being, the choice can be a harder one to make.

I'm sure many of you will have heard that some glues are made using animal by-products, so it's important that if you're living a cruelty free lifestyle you do your research before buying products to craft with.

B. Quick 4 in 1 Cleansing Wipes - Review

I've just realised that the last few posts have been quite negative, not intentionally of course, it's just the way things worked out. So I thought I'd start this week with a nice glowing review, start off on a positive note.

As I'm sure most of you know, it isn't advised that we use wipes to cleanse our skin, but I cannot resist a new brand bringing out their own version.

Why I Hate Summer

With the weather turning this weekend, we are reminded that it's coming to the end of May and will soon be summer. This is not good news, at least for me. Most people I know look forward to the hot weather, but for me it brings a sense of dread, here's why:

MUA Animal Testing Policy

It seems that a lot of companies have been responding to emails regarding their animal testing policy over the last couple of weeks, the latest one being MUA.

MUA are a budget-friendly make-up brand available online and in Superdrug stores nationwide. With their products ranging anywhere from £1, I was desperate to get a reply about their animal testing policy and suitability of vegan products, so was delighted that they replied. Here is what they had to say:

Sleek Matte Me in Fandango Purple | Review

A few months ago I bought my first matte lip lacquers. The two I opted for were Lime Crime's Velveteen's in Red Velvet and Suedeberry, and I love them. So, when I saw that Sleek had a slightly larger range of colours in the same type of product I knew I had to try it.

After looking at swatches online I opted for Fandango Purple, a cross between purple and fuchsia. The colour is absolutely beautiful, unlike anything else I own, sadly the formula is unlike anything I own too - and not in a good way.

TMI | Tag

I have seen countless You Tube videos of this tag, and I love them! Some are really funny, the stuff people will tell the whole world never fails to astonish me. I read See It, Love It, Swatch It a couple of hours ago and Dawn has done the tag on there, so I thought it might be fun if I did it too. There are 50 questions so this is going to be a long one. Pour yourself a cuppa and enjoy reading way too much about me.

Dry, Cracked Elbows? I Have The Cure!

All of my life I have suffered with very dry elbows, in winter they get so bad they can crack and bleed! I know, gross. I know I'm not the only one with this problem, but for some reason it's not a problem that is spoken about a lot. I have tried prescribed cream from my GP as well as numerous moisturisers, lotions and potions, but only recently decided to try something a bit different.

I was scrolling through the Boots website a couple of months back, when they had one of their 3 for 2 offers on, and came across Soap and Glory. I had never tried anything from the brand before, probably because I do the majority of my shopping online and tend to stick to what I know. After a quick Google search to find out what products are vegan (and that's a lot of them) I put in an order.

Perfect Purse For Spring/Summer

Until recently I've never been one for switching up colours to match the seasons, but the last few months I've noticed my tastes starting to change a little. I previously had a boring black purse from New Look, so I decided to try and change it up by painting it in pastel colours to make it a bit more spring appropriate. I failed, miserably. I ended up ruining a perfectly good purse, so had to look for a new one.

Whilst browsing the Very site, I saw this beautiful offering from Fiorelli. I already own a couple of the bags from the brand so know how great quality they are. With a slight drop in price I decided to splash out more than I usually would and picked this up for £28 (down from £35).

Wrappz CPAP Skin | Review

Last year I was diagnosed with sleep apnoea. Because of this condition I have to wear a mask at night that is connected by a hose to a CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) machine. Basically, my airways collapse when I am asleep and I stop breathing. The CPAP pushes air in and keeps me breathing. My CPAP machine is incredibly ugly, so I went on the hunt for something to cover it with, to make it fit in with my bedroom a bit more. Enter Wrappz.

I was advised by the lovely owner of Hope 2 Sleep that Wrappz, an online company specialising in skins for games consoles, phone cases etc, made a skin for my model of CPAP machine that I could add any image to that I wanted. After looking for months I was over the moon to hear there was a company in the UK that offered this service and for my machine, which seemed no-one else did.

After playing around with a few different images and eventually being happy with the size and placement, I put in an order. The skin cost £14.99, but with your order you get 3 vouchers for £5 each to use on any further orders.

It took 3 days for my order to arrive and it was really well packed in a large cardboard backed envelope. When I opened the envelope though I noticed that my image had come out slightly blurred. On screen everything looked great and there was no warning that a certain size image had to be used, so I was a bit disappointed. However, it was still better than having an ugly black box sitting on my bedside table.

Spell Check Your Blog!

The amount of blogs I read is getting to an almost ridiculous amount, I read them as if they're the morning papers; get up, eat breakfast, check Bloglovin'. It's an addiction I swear!

One thing that has been really bothering me about a few of the blogs that I read lately are typo's. I don't mean the odd there instead of their, or occasionally writing a instead of an, I mean every other line virtually not making sense because you have to put it together how the author thought it instead of how they wrote it.

My list on Bloglovin' has gone down a fair bit over the last few weeks because I was spending way too much time trying to figure out what the author was trying to say, it's just not worth the hassle. I guess all I am trying to say is; if you have a blog, and expect people to spend time reading it and subscribing, please take the time to put a spell check through your posts. Even better, proof read it before publishing. You'll do yourself a huge favour.

Helpful Vegan Facebook Groups

If you are the only vegan in your family or circle of friends, it’s easy to feel like a bit of an outsider when it comes to meal times, even with supportive people around you. Your views will more than likely be different from those closest to you and food and clothing can often become a bit of a battlefield.