About Me

My photo
Vegan. Ex-makeup artist. CFS/ME sufferer. Cares about human rights, equality, animal rights, conservation/climate change.

Chitika

Wednesday 11 July 2012

Review - Lily Lolo, Bdellium Tools and cutECOsmetics

Earlier in the year, I came across a website called cutecosmetics.co.uk. It seemed pretty awesome - they are an 'online eco, organic & cruelty free cosmetics specialist'. They have a dedicated vegan section, and nothing they sell is tested on animals. Big thumbs up from me! So you can imagine my glee when I heard via their twitter they were looking for bloggers to try out some of their products. I volunteered, and soon afterwards, I received a package!




Lily Lolo Mineral Foundation in China Doll (£12.49) and Bdellium Tools Green Bambu Vegan 959 Powder Blending Brush (£12.95) :D


The powder brush is soft and dense, but not as fluffy/silky as my favourites Cozette or OCC. It's great to apply and blend powders - I've used it for foundation, blush and bronzer and it works well. It's particularly good for stippling on liquid products - you need a slightly firmer bristle for that. I've washed it a fair few times and had no problems with colourfastness or shedding. The green is adorable, but I kind of wish it matched - the bristles are mint, but the handle is lime - they clash horribly. Of course that's just me being picky, it obviously makes no difference to how  well it works! Overall I'd recommend it, but it is worth it to splash the extra cash on a Cozette, in my opinion. However, I'm still eager to try some of the other brushes in their Bambu series. 


On to the foundation.


China Doll is the second lightest colour, and it matches me perfectly. It's a neutral shade, with just the right balance of yellow/pink. The silky fine powder gives a beautiful matte finish, with no sign of that horrible sparkly look some mineral foundations have... 
Not quite the natural look I was hoping for! (via Pinterest)
The thing that really sells this foundation for me is the coverage. Tap the excess from your brush, then buff it in for a beautifully even complexion. If you have a little more to conceal, use a combination of buffing and patting/pushing it into the skin, adding a second layer if you need to. Flawless! It's seriously the best coverage I've seen from a mineral foundation, and you'd need to be plastering it on with a trowel to get the dry, cakey look I've seen with other brands. 


With all this, plus SPF 15, it's certainly earned it's title as my Holy Grail mineral make-up, even before you consider the price. 10g for £12.49. Let's compare that to, I don't know, BareMinerals? 8g for £24! That's double the price, and frankly, last time I tried it I wasn't too impressed.


But don't just take my word for it, here's a swatch, and a pic of me wearing it. 


L Swatched with finger, R Blended out


Why am I wearing a teal wig? Because why the hell not?!


It should be noted that I suffer from both acne and eczema (lucky me) and it covered like a dream :) 


Both products are available to buy from cutECOsmetics.


Thanks for reading!
Guide to vegan make-up shopping coming soon!


Emma
xXx


Disclaimer - The products in this post were provided free of charge by cutECOsmetics for review purposes. This is not a paid review/promotion - all opinions are my own, honest thoughts. Have a beautiful day, you're awesome :)





Tuesday 10 July 2012

UPDATE - Urban Decay Backs Down!


Epic win for animals and lovers of cruelty-free make-up! Urban Decay have released a statement announcing they will no longer be going ahead with the move into China, saying they couldn't "...comply with current regulations in China and remain true to our core principles." Click here to read the full statement.


Whilst I'm delighted about this turn of events, I can't help but think that they only changed their minds due to the outcry from their customers (I like to think my email had something to do with it).

However, I've noticed something curious. Since the news about Urban Decay selling in China broke, YouTube gurus and beauty bloggers have been abuzz with criticism and opinions about it. This is a stark contrast to the tight lipped silence that met the news about Estée Lauder, Avon and Mary Kay. Arguably, that should have received more coverage - Estée Lauder owns a lot of companies, their decision would bring many more animals to the labs than Urban Decay. So why did the online beauty community ignore Estée Lauder but criticize Urban Decay?


Hypocrisy. Urban Decay have always made their cruelty-free status a selling point, printing it on all their packaging and shouting it from the rooftops. Avon, Mary Kay and Estée Lauder's crew never made a big deal out of it, they just stated it discreetly on their websites. You aren't shocked when you walk past a restaurant and see some guy tucking into the remains of a cow, but when you see me chowing down on a chicken leg, you're gonna do a double-take.


The point is, the animals don't care who is hurting them and experimenting on them. It could be Hitler or Ghandi, it makes no difference - they just want it to stop. And so do I. 

Urban Decay's backtrack shows us that when enough people talk, big companies listen - if only to save face and stay in the public's 'good books'. So I ask everyone reading this to sign and share my petition against Estée Lauder, Avon and Mary Kay testing on animals, and join me in boycotting them until they agree to stop selling in China - where animal testing is mandatory. Post on their Facebook and Twitter pages, blog and vlog about it, message your favourite beauty guru about it.

Although I'm sure Urban Decay wouldn't have changed their minds were it not for the consumer backlash, I want to commend them for listening to their customers, and not being too proud to hold their hands up and say 'Ok, you're right, we made a mistake'. 


Urban Decay is available in the UK via Debenhams and House of Fraser - check out their list of vegan products here.


There are more posts from me coming soon! 


Until then,


Emma
xXx