CRUELTY FREE BEAUTY FAVES #2

Since I last talked about cruelty free beauty back in August I've had an increase in subscribers (hi and thank you!) so just to reiterate: I committed to buying only cruelty free brands towards the end of 2016, and throughout 2017 slowly switched up everything in my makeup and beauty kit to cruelty free (meaning that neither the company, nor the parent company uses animal testing, nor do either have a third party perform this task for them) and honestly I don't regret it for a second.

I very occasionally get a little twinge of envy when somebody mentions a new NARS palette, or when the beautiful collections from Too Faced are released (those heart shaped highlighters. Oof.) But ultimately it's all just paste and powder that I smear on my face to feel cute, and bunnies look better without chemical burns so I get over it pretty quickly. I did a round up in the summer of some cruelty free beauty products I had been loving, which you can read here, and I've since built up a collection of a few more that I want to share.


Without further ado, lets get on with the second round up of Cruelty Free beauty faves!

STILA . THE EYES ARE THE WINDOW PALETTE Now a few of you may be typing comments telling me that Stila are owned by Estee Lauder who DO test on animals but as of January 2017, Stila is owned by a different parent company and has pulled out of the Chinese beauty market (where animal testing is required by law for some unfathomable reason.) This means that Stila are officially cruelty free!  This beautiful palette was bought for me by my lovely mum for Christmas (she checks these things too and knew before I did!) and it is a beautiful soft palette of neutrals, in both warm and cool, shimmery and matte shades. The quality is lovely and it's all I've taken back to York with me after Christmas, I don't need any other colours to be prepared for any occasion! This is one in a collection of three palettes and I'm definitely planning to give the others a try at some point. LINK

NYX . COSMIC METALS LIP CREAM I've been 'not-really-a-lipgloss-person' for most of my makeup wearing life, but something about these cosmic metals glosses caught my eye (it was the glitter) and I gave them a shot. They are FANTASTIC. The colour in the tube is the completely opaque colour that they apply, and they stay where you put them for a good few hours. They don't dry down like a liquid lipstick, they stay a little tacky so that's something to be aware of, but even as someone who likes eating and drinking and gets her hair blown into her mouth a lot these haven't annoyed me at all. I first bought Retro Harmony which is a mouthwatering rose gold, and was then very brave and got myself Dark Nebula, a deep rich blue that gives me lagoon dwelling sea-witch vibes and makes me feel like a galactic scale badass. LINK

NYX . TOTAL CONTROL FOUNDATION + STUDIO CONCEALER I bought the Total Control foundation after watching and reading a number of very positive reviews and deciding that, after finishing my third bottle of the No7 Stay Perfect foundation, it was time for something a little different. The consistency is VERY runny and does need to be applied and worked onto the skin quickly, as it dries down to a pretty hardwearing finish and does it fast. I dab this on with a damp Real Techniques sponge and really like the matt porcelain doll look that it gives, though I imagine I'll want something a little more dewy in the summer. The Studio Concealer is perfectly nice and worth a mention too. I still pine a little bit for my MAC longwear concealer but the NYX offering is doing a bang up job so far. LINK  

BARRY M . LIQUID CHROME Like most makeup lovers right now I love me a good highlight. If I turn my head in direct sunlight and nobody is struck blind I'm not impressed. I tend to use shimmer eyeshadow for a dramatic highlight (including the pale champagne colour 'Kitten' from the above Stila palette) but wanted to find something for days where I don't want a powdered look. Barry M's liquid pearl (in the shade Precious Pearl) is a pretty strong highlight, but it can be toned down by mixing it with foundation and applying across the high points of the face. It doesn't much like the NYX foundation unfortunately, but on a more forgiving finish like the Stay Perfect it looked absolutely lovely. The way I've been wearing it currently is by applying it strongly to my bare face, then applying foundation over the top, giving a nice radiant glow without looking like I've got my high beams on... LINK

NYX . MATTE LIQUID LINER As I mentioned in my last post, I'm struggling to find a really good mascara, and unfortunately the search is still on. I'm making do with an ELF one at the moment but it's very meh, so recommendations are very welcome! With that said I think I might have found the liquid liner for me. I've been using pen tip liner for years, thinking that I just didn't have the skills to handle a brush tip, but with this appearing all over the place in 'beauty favourites of 2017' lists I went ahead and picked it up. It's a dream, I honestly don't know what I was worried about. It might not be great for newcomer to liquid liner (pen tips are your best friends guys) but if you've been drawing black lines on your eyelids for a few years I can't recommend this highly enough. Beautifully black, dries quickly and stays that way, and is a dream to use - especially if you're like me and like doing wings you could take off with. LINK