Sleek makeup haul/ cruelty free beauty review

One of my latest cruelty-free brand discoveries is the British beauty brand Sleek MakeUp, they have been on the beauty scene for around 20 years but I have never tried any of their products until now. Since becoming cruelty-free it has pushed me to try a lot more high street beauty brands that I never would have looked twice at.
As it was buy one get-one free I decided to try a Matte Me Metallic lip gloss, blush in Antique, brow kit in Dark and the I-Divine Palette in Storm.
 I chose the storm palette as I need to stop choosing neutral pallets and this had a good mix of colours with a few neutral tones. The mirror is a really good size but the amount of shadow you get is quite small and very compacted. That being said it is really highly pigmented and the shades of each colour are really complementary. The dark greens and blues are really stunning and work well on a night out, and they seem to be able to hold their integrity for quite a while.
I decided a few weeks ago that I need to start doing something to tame my eyebrows! After looking at a few pictures where my eyebrows seem to have a life of their own, I watched a few eyebrow tutorials on YouTube and decided to give drawing them on a go. Trawling Superdrug and Boots for a good eyebrow gel that was cruelty-free was like looking for a needle in a haystack. This is my first ever brow kit and I'm enjoying learning how to apply brow gel in a more polished and precise way which you can only really get with a gel. I like the consistency, but the choice of colours in boots was pretty poor and I think I should really have had a lighter one. Next time I would probably order offline where there is more choice. The blush is also pretty good especially for the price, it's well pigmented and quite good for contorting too!


 Metallic Matte lip cream. What can I say? I love this it was my favourite Sleek purchase and I love wearing it on a night out! I love the colour and the kind of glamorous 90's look you can create with it; such a striking colour and I got so many compliments on my make up when I wore it. Not my usual choice but I am enjoying experimenting more and the purple did work well with my skin tone.
I have enjoyed experimenting with Sleek MakeUp and I love that it is cruelty-free; they seem to have a good range of colours and shades and be well priced for a high-street brand.

Since going cruelty-free however, there are quite a few products I still haven't been able to dupe, not in the way of quality or colour or application. I'm still looking for more brands to explore let me know what you all have been enjoying and that works well!

Oils of Heaven Review - Cruelty Free Facial Oil

As a person with combination skin, I have always been unsure about putting anything oily on my face. Adding more oil to my skin never sounded like a good idea, but I heard that it can actually balance out your skin.

I decided to try the Oils Of Heaven organic argan moisture retention face oil from Love Lula. This is made from cold pressed argan kernels which are rich in vitamin E. You only need a small amount but the bottle is quite small at 15ml so there is no choice really! It's not perfumed as far as I can tell and went on smoothly as you would expect. 

This was the first time I used an oil and it seemed counteractive to put oil on my face  especially with a moisturizer. 
It was easy to sleep in, and the next day my face didn't feel oily or greasy. I'm still not sure where I stand on face oils as so far I can't see much of a difference and my skin doesn't feel smooth or soft. I'm hoping that long term this will help some of my dry patches of skin on my face but the jury is still out for me. 


I would like to try some more oils from this brand as it is quite popular but I think I'll wait till I've made up my mind on this one. They have other oils like the hemp oil that I would like to try. Watch this space...


15 tips for more ethical fashion


1. Don't follow fashion trends, no one can ever keep up that's the point! Focus instead on your own style and build your wardrobe around that.

2. Shop less (I know, I know).

3. Buy clothes from sustainable brands.

4. Buy classic items that you can wear for years.

5. Never put fabric in the bin always take it to a charity shop or rag place.

6. Update the clothes you already have.

7. Buy pre-loved and vintage items.

8. Switch your fabric choices to hemp or bamboo they are softer and require less water!

9. Buy natural fibres where possible, synthetic fibres release plastic into the water with every wash.

10.Organic cotton, bamboo and hemp are all much kinder to the environment. They also don't jeopardise the health of the farmers who grow them.

11. Wash your clothes less, on a short wash at a low temperature.

12. Clothes dyed with vegetable dyes are much better for the environment!

13. Stay away from leather goods, leather is not a by-product of the meat industry this is a common misconception. In fact, many animals are just killed for their skin which is very wasteful, leather is then treated with chromium 6 poisoning local people, animals and the environment.

14. Iron less and use the tumble dryer less.

15. Check where clothes are made, the country where they are made will give you a good idea of how much the workers have been paid to make your clothes.



My morning routine and how its helped me

I've always struggled to be organised and keep track of things, often feeling overwhelmed and stressed. I felt tired when I got to work and exhausted after work when I was trying to put energy into my other commitments. When you get into a stress cycle like this it becomes really hard to break, and I feel like things often just get worse.

Something that I have found really helpful is having a really set really structured morning routine. When I started watching youtube videos about this subject, all I could think is how on earth do people have the time and the energy for all this in the morning?? All I want to do is keep hitting that snooze button! After over a year of feeling exhausted at work and unable to make most of my commitments through being so overwhelmed, I decided to give it a go. This is just my personal experience and other people might have had a different one so feel free to share below! :)

I decided to start with trying to wake up and get up much earlier than was needed and started setting my alarm for 5.30am. This was something I thought I would find really difficult but it actually didn't take that long to start naturally waking up at this time. I also decided to incorporate yoga into my morning routine as I had more time and lots of videos I watched recommended yoga/journaling/meditation. This has now become something I love doing and something that is really important for me. I only do short sequences usually about 10-15 minutes but I have seen such a positive result from it. The main benefits that I have seen from this are increased energy and better circulation, as I have always had problems with cold hands and feet.

Something else I decided to start doing was making sure that all the boring household chores I needed to do and all the cleaning was done in the morning before I left the house. I think it can feel so overwhelming sometimes coming back from work and having laundry, dishes, tidying etc to do after a long day at the office. Eliminating this by doing it before I leave the house has really helped me! Now when I come home I know I can just relax and get on with other things.

The last thing I have incorporated into my morning routine is making sure every day I make time for a good big breakfast and a coffee. Making time to eat not standing up and not rushing has really helped improve my energy levels, I also have time now to have something hot in the morning which I really enjoy especially in winter.
These seem like quite obvious things to do in the morning but since I routinely made time for them it has really, really helped me.  I think it can massively impact your work too, as you always arrive with more energy and less stressed. At some point, I would like to add journaling into my morning routine and maybe some gardening as long as I don't have to get up any earlier!