Pit Stop | Dr Organic argan oil conditioner.

I could have waited and made this an awesome of the week but I want to save that for things other than reviews of products, plus I got overly enthusiastic and just had to talk about this so I'm making a quick pit stop on the blog.

For the longest time I have been trying to find a conditioner with argan oil without the insanely expensive price tag - I have some seriously out of control frizz and argan oil is the current craze to aid dry hair.

I was originally recommended Lee Stafford by my lovely cousin who has similar hair to me and so shares the same struggles. It worked okay for me although I didn't notice a huge difference from the conditioner I had been using previously plus I used it all in just over a week and at £10.99 a pop it wasn't a sustainable choice. (I do use the curl creme still though because it's amazing and lasts a super long time)

I for the life of me could not find any vegan conditioners with argan oil in them and believe me when I say I have tried a lot of products over the past couple of months and they all fell short of my expectations.

But my wishes were granted when I, on a whim, walked into a Holland and Barrett to pick up some snacks on a shopping trip and as we queued I looked to my left and saw it! This wonderful, shimmering, orange jewel - a completely cruelty free, vegan hair conditioner with argan oil.

Can I get a hallelujah?

My first experience with it was nothing short of magnificent! I only needed to use a small amount which is amazing compared to the 34 bottles I got through each time I used the other products I've tried (okay maybe that's an exaggeration). It went through my hair so easily, detangled it and it felt delicate and soft afterwards, not dry at all.

The best bit about this find? It costs £5.99 a bottle...... I am one very happy camper.

What are your beauty must haves?

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Awesome Of The Week | Graze Box.

This always seems to come back to food doesn't it?

I had Graze boxes a few years ago but quickly realised that students probably shouldn't have that extra expense! However I got a voucher in an Amazon package for a free box and decided to sign back up again - well I am working now!

Here's what was in my first box:

This was my favourite in the box as the 3 components had such differing tastes and textures. You can distinguish all the ingredients that are supposed to be there and the breadsticks tasted like little poles of pizza and how can you not like the idea of that!?

Cashews for me are the boss of all nuts and when you sprinkle them with rosemary and garlic you can't go far wrong.

The greatest compliment I could pay to this little snack is that I not only ate but enjoyed all of the olive croutons and I HATE olives. Like seriously they so gross. But the croutons? Delicious.

I'm new to the realms of pistachios and I don't know where they've been all my life but I have been missing out!!

When I saw the words "black pepper" I was a tad nervous as it can be such a powerful seasoning - there was no need to worry at all, they were freaking delicious.

The pepper complimented the natural sweetness of the pistachios and I would be lying if I said I didn't eat them all within about 3 minutes.

There's not much I can tell you about dried cranberries and raisins as I'm 87% sure you've had at least one of them before. These ones are infused with blueberry and cherry though!

Never before have I come across dried pineapple and I am terribly upset about it because I wish to kiss whoever decided to create it - sweet, chewy and an amazing afternoon pick me up in the office,

Time to come clean - I may or may not have consumed all of mine before taking a picture.....

I find when at work all day that towards the end I am in need of something small and savoury and now I would suggest this to anyone.

The crackers are crazy light and crispy with a chutney that has a kick but doesn't leave you in agony!

The first box did not disspoint at all, I enjoyed all the little treats that Graze chose for me! The best part of Graze is that you can go on the site and choose which items you definitely want in your boxes and which ones you don't (but it's still a surprise as to which ones you will get each week!).

They even have a section for those that have requirements such as vegetarian/vegan which as I am a new veggie and aspiring vegan it was made a whole lot easier as I could just bin anything that isn't vegan!

I don't know if it's just me but I've found vegan meals to be pretty easy to create but have seriously struggled when it comes to snacks. A lot of snacks are processed and contain all sorts of animal derived ingredients and milk powder for flavour! Having these boxes sent to me means I don't have to worry about whether I should eat this delicious looking food in front of me, I know it's vegan and healthy as their products are natural and can just dig in.

Just to add to the health benefits I opted for the Graze Light Box which means I can eat my box safe in the knowledge that it is fairly low in calories and fat. Bonus!

I definitely recommend this to anyone as you can cancel you subscription at anytime, opt out of any boxes if you're on holiday or just don't fancy a box that week and you can customise your boxes once you've tasted them by rating them and choose to get a box twice weekly, weekly or twice monthly.

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Cruelty Free Cosmetics.

I decided to go on a hunt for cruelty free vegan make up here's what happened -

After a short amount of time searching I realised the best plan of attack was to find entire ranges that are vegan as it's much easier to find a brand and stick with it and not have to read through aaaaaall the ingredients on the common cosmetic lines ..... plus let's be honest I have no idea what 83% of the ingredients actually are - seriously what is ferric ferrocyanide?

Eventually I stumbled across a range from Superdrug which is cruelty free and so thought I would give it a go - they deliver free on orders over £10 and the price of the products seemed pretty fair compared to a lot of the specialist brands.

The range is called "B. is for beautiful" and each piece has a name that plays on this which I love the idea of! To explain what I mean here are the 5 products that I bought -


- B. Nourished:

This is technically an anti-wrinkle cream and at the age of 22 I wasn't specifically looking to control my wrinkles however it was the only product that seemed to suit my need of a moisturiser.

It feels so delicate on the skin, not claggy or greasy at all and if it does help to hold back those wrinkles I won't complain!

You barely need any of it which means it will last AGES.




- B. Quick:

Now this was something I was desperate to find - Make up wipes that are vegan and still get all the grime off.
I was really pleased with these as they remove make up with as little as a single wipe. I'm hoping it's not just me that loved (and got a little excited about) the plastic lid on the packaging.....

No longer will I be plagued by the distress of what I like to call "top wipe dryness syndrome". When you have had a pack of wipes for a while the lid will lose it's stick and refuse to stay shut causing the top wipe to dry out just enough so that it becomes pretty damn useless. Excellent idea Superdrug, well done!


- B. Loud high volume mascara jet black 195:


This was one of the few bits I bought that I wasn't quite as impressed with. There's nothing fundamentally wrong here I just personally didn't get on with it.
Now when it comes to cosmetics and more specifically mascara I am a bit rubbish and at the best of times end up with at least 32% of my face covered in it. The issue with this one is that the brush is MASSIVE meaning more surface area to get over my skin instead of eye lashes. Add to this it's staying power.... normally a good thing, however once it's on my skin it's really freaking hard to get off again! I end up looking like I haven't slept in a month because of the black smears under my eyes. I am wanting to try another one from this range though and have also ordered a mascara brush which is hopefully smaller. If you are actually good at mascara then this would be a good choice as once it's on you're set for the day.


- B. Dramatic bold liquid eyeliner black 100:

There isn't too much to comment on with this one, it does the job and stays on for hours so no worrying about smudging or reapplication. The only issue with that is similar to the mascara in that if you cock it up it takes a bit of time to rectify.

The only downfall I found with the eyeliner was that the brush is very small so it takes a little colouring in if you want a thick line, also it can be a little pale and grey on occasion but if you persevere it looks no different to the non-vegan options (or at least it doesn't to me who hasn't tried many varieties) it just takes a little more time.

EDIT - After having this for a few days it became unusable, it was faded to an almost grey colour and it didn't actually leave any eyeliner on the lid. It was as though it had run out even though it had barely been used, I am disappointed and unfortunately will need to find an alternative.


- B. Radiant BB under eye concealer medium 93:

It might come as a shock but I have never actually owned concealer before!
My daily make up routine consists of eyeliner and mascara ... that's it. I do occasionally stretch to mousse foundation if I know I'm going to be drinking alcohol  to cover up the red cheeks that will without doubt make an appearance.

I bought this sort of on a whim just to try it and see if it makes me look less tired. I'm not sure if it actually does but it makes me feel better that I made a little effort so I think I will keep it.



Over all I have been pretty impressed with my experience using B. is for beautiful and would buy their stuff again considering it works just fine and you can use it guilt free knowing that no animals were used for testing or as ingredients in any of it!

As vegan newbie you can probably expect many more posts like this about things I have found that work - let me know if there's anything in particular I should try out.
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