My faves:

No Drought Dry Shampoo, $12.95: The older [...]]]> All right, Lushies, get ready to swoon over the latest and greatest vegan LUSH goodies. Yahooooooey! Since ChristmaHanukkahHanzFranz&Kwanzaaka is just a hop, skip, jump and booty slap away, there’s no time like the present to hook yourself up with some supa-fab beautifyin’ gifts to make you look über hawt!

My faves:

 

No Drought Dry Shampoo, $12.95: The older I get, the more I realize I can can get away without washing my hair for longer periods of time (shhhh, that’s privileged information). Sers, between waking up at the butt-crack of dawn for work, sleepy nap times, slavin’ away at the gym, and straight up laze-itude, washing my hair is often not a priority (unless it’s crazy stank-nasty and so greasy you could fry tofu on it).  Enter my beloved dry shampoo. I have been waiting eons and a satchel of dried flower petals for LUSH to come out with a dry shampoo, and they finally have! The key ingredients in No Drought—corn flour and talc—absorb excess oil and leave hair soft and clean-lookin’. The zesty fruity scent of lemon, grapefruit and lime leaves hair smelling to die for, too. LOVE.

Latte Lip Tint, $6.95: I’m a lip tint-y kind of chick. I’m all about subtle, soft (and tasty) lip color, so I can go all crazy wild with my eyes (without lookin’ like a clown). This Latte shade has a soft golden (slightly sparkly) coffee hue, and it smells like powdered coffee, sugar icing and vanilla. YUM—try not to eat it! It’s also packed with jojoba and Japan wax for mega moisture for super soft smoochable smackers! xx

Lustre Dusting Powder, $14.95: Being a former glitter addict, I now reach for pretty-smelling shimmery fairy dust aka body powder when I wanna be a sparkling princess. Lustre provides a subtle, golden bronzed glow with all the jasmine-y sexiness of LUSH’s Lust perfume (one of my fave scents, for realio). Get your shimmer on and smell and look like the sex goddess that you are!

Which LUSH goodies are on your holiday wish list?

However, [...]]]> Tarte has long been recognized as an eco-friendly brand—for the most part. They sell a good number of vegan products, but it’s not their main focus. If they need to use a non-vegan ingredient, they simply label it as such instead of actually trying to find a way around using it in the first place.

However, their site is easy to navigate to and has a complete vegan section. You have to hand it to them—at least they’re not trying to deceive anyone. As a matter of fact, Tarte is incredibly open about their efforts, to the point of having PETA certify that the vegan products they advertise really are vegan.

Here are a few of their best vegan products:

Clean Slate Face Primer

The best makeup artists often use silicone as a base primer because it holds makeup better and gives a smooth finish. Though Clean Slate is all-natural, it definitely has the feel of a silicone-based primer.

Application is easy. The product is smooth and goes on easily. Simply squeeze some out, rub it on the top of your finger pads and apply directly to your face. This makes it especially great for college students who don’t have a ton of room for extra brushes lying around or an easily accessible sink to wash them out in.

Those who are used to a creamier base will be slightly surprised at the texture of Clean Slate. It has a thicker formula and is more of a gel than a liquid. Once on, however, it feels light and natural.

If you’re looking for something to get rid of shiny spots or to make your skin less oily, you’ll want to try another product. On the other hand, it’s not moisturizing either. You’ll still want to stick with your regular skin routine, because Clean Slate really won’t take care of any of your skincare needs.

Lifted Natural Eyelid Primer

Lifted eye primer isn’t nearly as good as its Clean Slate cousin. The company boasts that it will decrease fine lines around the eyes nearly 51 percent after 10 minutes. Honestly, I didn’t notice a huge difference, but I also don’t have that many lines yet so that’s not exactly a surprise.

As far as application, it has a very light liquid base. The wand it comes with is pretty useless, so plan on just removing the product from the tip and applying with your fingers. The product is a decent primer, but I did experience some creasing after about five hours. That might be long enough to get you through class, but you’ll end up re-doing your eye shadow before the night is over.

Lindsey is a freelance writer living in the Midwest who loves walking her Bichon-Poodle mix almost as much as he enjoys it. She writes on behalf of Colorado Technical University.

Bottom line: Cruelty-free products are not always vegan.

“Cruelty-free” refers to products that are not tested on animals, and “vegan” refers to products [...]]]> I wanted to post about this because I think there may be some confusion as to what these terms mean in the world of beauty products and whether or not they are mutually exclusive.

Bottom line: Cruelty-free products are not always vegan.

“Cruelty-free” refers to products that are not tested on animals, and “vegan” refers to products that do not contain any animal-derived ingredients. (Apologies to peeps that are already like, “duh”) ←It may seem obvi, but it’s not always. Hopefully one day, “cruelty-free” will actually mean 100% cruelty-free; that is, no animal anything at all (testing or body parts/secretions).

Common animal-derived ingredients include: honey (bee barf), beeswax, carmine (crushed bugs), collagen, lanolin (jizzy sebaceous gland substance from sheep), etc. For a complete list of icky, non-vegan ingredients, click here.

I also wanna point out that you shouldn’t beat yourself up if you’ve been buying cruelty-free products and discovering they have animal ingredients in them after the fact. Nobody’s perfect, and quite honestly, some ingredients are so ambiguous (with their 14-syllable science labby names), that it’s virtually impossible to know WTF you’re buying.

Luckily, lots of companies are incorporating logos like these:

My advice is to not only look for these types of logos, but always read labels for ingredients (just like when shopping for vegan food)—and if all else fails, contact the company and ask them if their products are vegan and/or cruelty-free. You’ll be glad you did (peace of mind is priceless)!

Shimmy Shimmy Sparkle Bar, $6.95: First of all, I’m in ♥ with LUSH’s massage/lotion bars. They are super creamy, beautiful-smelling, low maintenance (aka not messy [...]]]> LUSH is my BFF. Whenever I need a quick beauty pick-me-up, I head straight to my LUSH stash for some much-needed pamperin’ & TLC. These LUSHtastic goodies are my current faves:

Shimmy Shimmy Sparkle Bar, $6.95: First of all, I’m in ♥ with LUSH’s massage/lotion bars. They are super creamy, beautiful-smelling, low maintenance (aka not messy and super totable), and this particular one is packed with glitter (and loads of it)! When I’m in the mood to be a sparking princess (which is pretty much every day), I rub this vanilla/lavendery scented bar of shimmery magic all ovah and embrace all that is glisteny and girlie in this beautiful world.

Vanillary Perfume, $39.95: I’m a sucker for anything vanilla/sweet/caramel-y/candy-like… if it smells like something I wanna eat for dessert, it mos def deserves to be worn as a perfume. This vanilla scent is soft and sweet and surprisingly long-lasting. I always get compliments whenever I wear this out, and my hubby loves this scent on me, too.

Dirty Toothy Tabs, $3.95 (40 tabs per box): I just got back from a 1 week trip to Europe, and instead of dealing with bulky toothpaste tubes and airport security hullabaloo for toiletries, I opted for a space-saving, convenient, and eco-friendly alternative. These toothpaste tabs are kind of a trip. Basically, you mash one or two of them up with your front teeth and then start brushing… it gets all sudsy like conventional toothpaste, too! These tabs leave your teeth feeling mega clean and fresh!

Cupcake Mask, $7.95 (only available in stores; needs to be refrigerated): Now here’s a beauty product after my own heart. Not only does it have cupcake in its name, but it’s packed with rhassoul clay, cocoa-y goodness (seriously, it smells like a frickin’ brownie), and spearmint & peppermint essential oils! It’s also great for oily and acne-prone skin—yay! Now you might be thinking, “Why would I rub chocolate on  my face to prevent zits?”… it doesn’t contain chocolate per se—just cocoa powder (which is packed with flavonoids and antioxidants), so no fattiness or oils that are found in straight-up chocolate. This is probably my all-time favorite LUSH indulgence. This mask leaves my skin feeling deliciously smooth every single time. I can feel it soak up all the excess oil and gunk from my pores. I ♥♥♥ it!

Which LUSH goodies are you currently digging?

LUSH’s new Tiny Hands Solid Serum ($5.95) is not only vegan, intensely moisturizing, beautiful smelling, conveniently totable (perfect for traveling – just plop it in [...]]]> All right Lushies, prepare yourselves for one of the most amazing dry skin remedies for your hands… complete with argan oil (my beauty bestie), marigold petals and some shea buttery love.

LUSH’s new Tiny Hands Solid Serum ($5.95) is not only vegan, intensely moisturizing, beautiful smelling, conveniently totable (perfect for traveling – just plop it in a LUSH tin), but it comes in the shape of a wittle chubby hand. ← Gotta love that shit! It’s quirky, it’s cool, it’s handy.

If you’re like, “Huh, what is it, I don’t get it.” It’s basically a dense, solid lotion bar whose main goal is to make your fangercicles look H-O-T (aka soft, smooth, young, anti-crispy).

This shit is the shit! I give it 2 thumbs (and a whole hand’s worth of fingers) up! xx

These are some of my current vegan faves:

Stepping Stone ($3.95) This pumice and sea salt based foot scrub [...]]]> I have a lush amount of appreciation for all things LUSH. When I’m in the mood to treat myself to to a relaxing, fizztastical, bubbly bath or an intoxicatingly sweet skin care routine, I get my LUSH fix.

These are some of my current vegan faves:

Stepping Stone ($3.95) This pumice and sea salt based foot scrub is the just the thing your tosie wosies have been begging for. It’s packed full of moisturizing cocoa butter, jojoba oil and lemongrass oils and has an awakening, citrusy lemon-lime scent that’s sure to leave your feet smelling fresh and pamperable (now all you need to do is get your sugar booger to give you a nice foot massage).

Glorious Mud ($5.95): Get down and dirty with a mission to deep cleanse your skin! This fizzy block, of what looks like beachy sand or gritty cocoa powder ), is actually an amazing body mask made of Rhassoul clay from the Atlas Mountains. Once it gets wet and fizzy, it becomes perfectly easy to apply all over your body. This power packed mud cube (which grips the gunk from your pores and leaves your skin soft) smells exotic, sort of like licorice, spices and pretty flowers – it’s uniquely beautiful!

Grass Shower Gel ($29.95 for 16.9 fl. oz.): I can’t imaging a more pleasing, welcome-to-a-new-day shower scent. I don’t know how the scentual wizards at LUSH managed to squeeze in springtime and sunshiney goodness into a bottle, but they did it.  This shower gel smells  like freshly cut grass with soft citrusy undertones. LOVE it!

What are you favorite vegan LUSH goodies?

There are going to be lots of cruelty-free goodies, amazing food, cool vintage clothes and more! And if that’s not [...]]]> If you live in the LA area and are looking for something fun to do this Saturday that benefits animals, get your booty on down to the Beauty Rebellion Launch Party & Best Friends Animal Society Benefit!

There are going to be lots of cruelty-free goodies, amazing food, cool vintage clothes and more! And if that’s not enough to get you excited, the first 150 attendees get an Urban Decay Vegan Palette (that I raved about last week) for F-R-E-E!

I’ll see you there!

American Vintage

1750 Hillhurst Ave.

Los Angeles, CA

2-9 pm

$10 suggested donation (all proceeds go to Best Friends Animal Society)