I’ve never actually visited Who Cult myself before. I tried to once, only to be told that they weren’t open yet. What bothered me about this was that we arrived at 10:50am. Both Google and the opening times on the door said they were open at 10am but when we approached the door, someone came out to tell us they were opening at 11am. In my hanger, I drove away and got breakfast and coffee elsewhere.
Admittedly, my rage was unwarranted. I was impatient for food, but I feel like they should have corrected their opening hours before hand to save us the journey.
However, with Tom being the best boyfriend, he has delivered me Who Cult donuts on various occasions and they are honestly so delicious. Not only are they vegan, they are light and airy with bright and delicious icing sugar.
I haven’t had their coffee yet, but Tom says it’s lovely. Also, apologies for the missing donut in the photo on the right. Tom couldn’t wait to eat it so consumed it immediately!
Their store apparently sells Who Cult branded apparel alongside their coffee and donuts. Maybe one day, I’ll pop back to visit in a less hangry stage in the day to get a proper feel of the place and eat more of their delicious donuts.
We’re into Summer now and over the past few weeks, Tom and I have been making a conscious effort to clear out our junk and start re-organising ourselves and the home! We are still very much in the process of clearing out but we’ve made a good start.
I’ve filled 1 large bin liner with clothes that I haven’t worn for a year or so (some even longer!). These have now been donated to charity.
Old shoes have also been cleared out, with the unwearable ones thrown away and the others donated to charity. I had, still have, an unnecessary amount of shoes.
With those 2 tasks completed, we were able to reorganise our third bedroom/office/dressing room. It’s much tidier with much more room.
This also included an early trip to IKEA on a Saturday morning after a week of designing our ideal wardrobe using the PAX Planner on their website. It wasn’t the easiest design tool but it was great for what I needed, although did heat up the laptop quite considerably!
My wardrobe design using the PAX planner
With the PAX Planner, you can save your designs to go back to later, add them to your basket and/or print out a list to take to your local IKEA store; which is what we did!
We spent a Saturday morning with our IKEA shopping list, struggling around the self serve section of the store with the trolley, collecting our items and cross-referencing them with our list. As it was still early, it wasn’t busy so we were able to get in and out within the hour. I also treated myself to a BRUSALI Shoe Cabinet.
Our IKEA trip was so exhausting just from lugging the items back and forth from shelf to trolley, trolley to van and van to house, that the thought of building it that same day was completely unfeasible. We settled for building the shoe cabinet first and saving the delightful wardrobe adventure for Sunday.
I wish I took before and after photos of the house, but before our shoe cabinet, we had a very basic shoe rack from Dunelm. This, combined with the masses of shoes, made for an incredibly messy looking hallway. The shoe cabinet has made a huge difference. It’s much more organised and having the shoes hidden away declutters a lot.
BRUSALI Shoe Cabinet
The only problem with the shoe cabinet was that the already provided gap for the skirting board was not large enough for our skirting board. This is probably my own fault for not checking but we got too lazy to cut it so we left it as it is, not screwed into the wall. We don’t have young children so we’re not too worried about furniture falling on anyone other than ourselves!
Now onto the wardrobe…
We woke up early on Sunday morning to build the first 100cm frame. I let Tom sleep in while I built the drawers as he would have the harder job of carrying the wardrobe frame upstairs. We opened all the packaging downstairs and he took the frame up piece by piece as it was heavy in it’s packaging.
We had to move the room around in order to give us enough room to build the frame but once we had that in place, it was fairly simple to follow the instructions. Our favourite thing about IKEA are their instructions with the funny looking faces. It can be quite difficult to follow and we made a few mistakes with misplacement of screws but fortunately they were rectifiable.
100cm frame with 1 drawer
100cm with drawers, shelf and rail
After completing this frame, we took a well deserved lunch break for an hour before moving onto the smaller 50cm frame. After building the first frame, it was much easier and quicker to do the second as we’d already completed the steps once before.
Both frames completed and put together
And finally, to finish off the wardrobes, we attached GRIMO doors with black ENERYDA knobs. The doors were incredibly simple to attach with the hinges and after we measured the door handles in the right place, the look was complete and we were ecstatic with the finished product.
With doors on
With doorknobs on
I’m not sure what everyone’s overall feelings towards IKEA are, but I recommend these wardrobes. Something of a similar size, without the customisable options, from somewhere like Made.com was at least double the price.
In my opinion, it was very much worth the effort of collecting, carrying and building for the perfect wardrobe. I’ll complete another post in the future with the wardrobe filled and some more of my organisation improvements!
As you may be very well aware by now, I am a huge fan of the Kat Von D Beauty range.
The limited edition Vegan Love eyeshadow palette is, of course, completely vegan and cruelty free. It’s full with 10 extremely vivid shimmer colours which catch the eye. As a bonus, 20% of the cost of the palette goes to the non-profit organisation ‘Mercy for Animals‘.
I haven’t yet used the palette on my eyes or face, but I’ve swatched it for you to trial the colours and show them to you guys on my skin tone.
From Top to Bottom: Mercy, Empathy, Equality, Sanctuary, Earthling, Liberation, Species, Sentient, Activist, Compassion
The only downside to this product that I can see is that some of the colour remains on the skin. I’ve simply swatched the product using my fingers, as suggested by the label, and I’ve been left with a green and red finger. I’m not sure what this would be like if left on the face!
Equality and Empathy
Sentient
The aside, my favourite colours in the palette are Empathy, Equality and Sentient. I’m generally a fan of more neutral colours but I’m sure I’ll find occasions to wear the more intense ones!
I really love this palette. The colours are amazing and the shimmer is surprisingly balanced (I thought it’d be a lot more glittery as opposed to shimmery). It’s bright and beautiful, and most importantly, vegan!
Now that May is over and we’re into June, I’m going to post about my purchases from the well known Lush Cosmetics.
Tom’s sister, Hannah, bought me a gift voucher for Lush for my birthday which I had yet to spend. For those of you that know me, I absolutely love shopping… online. I detest shopping IRL, out in swarms of crowds… It’s really just not for me.
As we were already out for the Swansea Vegan Mini Market, I took the trip to the Swansea Lush store to pick up some treats. I have various gripes with the Lush in-store model. Although staff are trying to be helpful, I also feel like it’s a hard sell. I usually know what I’m looking after some research, but it seems like they assume that all customers are just casual browsers. Once you push past this, it’s usually a pleasant experience.
Hard selling aside, I’d seen on the Lush Cardiff Instagram page a post about their Jade Roller naked cleansing balm. It was smaller than I thought it was going to be but at £4.95, it was a decent price. It smelt lovely and I’m excited to try it.
I also picked up a Peng bath bomb out of a whole new range of bath bombs and bubble bars. It smells incredible and the colours really pop. I haven’t yet used it but I bet it’ll be lovely.
Finally, I picked up my usual Ocean Salt which is my favourite exfoliating scrub. For those looking out for this, make sure you check the labels as they do a version that’s not vegan. The self-preserving one is the vegan one. I have been a habitual user of Ocean Salt for years and I will continue to be. It always leaves my skin clean and fresh and isn’t aggravating to my skin.
In addition to this, I must have gone on a good day, as I received a fresh face mask for free in Cupcake. As it’s fresh, it had to be kept in the fridge, but it smelt so chocolatey and I very nearly ate it!
As much as I love Lush, they’re only vegetarian but do sell many vegan products which are incredibly well labelled. The products are lovely but you have to make sure you buy for your skin type. I find that some products are too heavy for my skin and don’t go with my oily skin type so do your research before buying!
I can’t wait to write this blog post about Figs & Rouge. My friend, Vicky, was a subscriber of the Cohorted box and she told me about the April box being vegan! She raved about the products so I decided to pay the extra for the one-off box.
At £50 for a box, it’s incredibly pricey. But after a rave review and the savings compared to the usual RRP of the products, I thought why not treat myself!
I’m going to take this brief moment to put something negative up… Vicky does not rate Cohorted as a company so I most certainly would not recommend them. Firstly, they’re not vegan and put various non-vegan product in their subscription boxes; but secondly, their customer service is terrible with lack of replies and information and items have been missing from her boxes.
With that over, let’s focus on Figs & Rouge!
The entire contents of the Cohorted April 2019 Figs & Rouge box
In this beautiful box of goodies, I received the following Figs & Rouge products:
Morning Revival Face Cream
Day Detox Micro-Refining Serum
Illumination Eye Balm
Pore Perfect Matte Veil
Glow Drops
Morning Revive Oil
Everything is fantastic. The quality of the packaging is great and the product is incredibly luxurious. I’ve sampled everything in the box at least once now and here are my favourite items…
The Glow Drops pictured above are amazing. I used it as a highlighter and it gave me a lovely, natural glow. Apparently, you can mix it with a moisturiser to use all over your face for an instant, illuminated soft focus effect. It absorbs into the skin beautifully and leaves a fresh glow. A big fan!
As I’ve mentioned in previous blog posts before, I have really oily skin. This matte serum is incredibly. It feels amazing on my skin, and really did it’s job! I used it as instructed, across my T-zone underneath my make up and it really did it’s job. My face didn’t get shiny by the end of the work day and I didn’t need to top it up either.
I haven’t used anything else extensively but it’s all lovely, but those 2 products really stood out for me. I highly recommend them both, and as a brand, they stand for everything I need it to.
Proudly vegan and cruelty free. Their products are never tested on animals and source all luxury grade vegan based raw materials ethically.
Thanks for reading! Let me know in the comments if you have any questions and let me know if there’s anything specific you’d like me to blog about in the future.
Tucked away, on a quiet street corner in the Mumbles of Swansea is the beautiful Boo’s Kitchen.
Tom and I go to Boo’s every now and then when we’re feeling like a nice brunch/lunch or if we’ve been down to the Marina Market in Swansea. This isn’t a vegan event but is hosted once a month at the National Waterfront Museum and has various vegan options available.
Boo’s is a completely vegetarian establishment, with many dishes that can be made vegan. We love the atmosphere there. It’s a lovely quiet cafe with great food and friendly staff.
The breakfast menu is served between 9 – 11:30, and lunch I believe is served between 12 – 4. We’ve never had breakfast before, even though we’ve probably been early enough. We usually have a coffee and wait till lunch!
There are various plant based milks available here, so make sure you ask to see what’s available. They also make fresh juices in store in various different flavours. The menu is up on the wall and occasionally they’ll do a one-off special so keep a look out for them!
My usual order is the Reuben toastie (pulled jackfruit and gherkins) with chips. Tom will usually order the Soup of the Day but the last time we went, it wasn’t available and he was heartily disappointed. My brother came with us on our last trip and he ordered the Mexican Bowl and a side of chips.
Reuben toastie
Mexican bowl
I love the Reuben toastie. It tastes delicious and is really filling. The chips are always light and crispy too so I would highly recommend a side of chips too.
To finish off, we usually buy a vegan cake or brownie to go so that we have a nice dessert to snack on when we get home. The cakes are lovely and there’s always vegan offerings available.
If you’re ever in the Swansea area, I recommend a visit to Boo’s Kitchen. The food is simple but delicious and the service is always great. The staff are friendly and very helpful.
Time for the second chapter of the Lipstick Chronicles. If you missed the first one, you can find it here.
I found out about Beauty Bakerie from my sister, @vgnnatalie. They were a new, cult brand at the time that were renowned for producing a long lasting lip product, their Lip Whip. Not only was the product ground breaking for how well it stayed, it came in a wide range of colours which meant everyone could find a shade for them and whatever mood you were in.
Beauty Bakerie are a fully vegan brand and they are completely committed to being cruelty free! Details can be found on this post on their blog.
Here are selfies I’ve taken in Gingersnap and Versailles so you have a better idea of what they look like on.
Versailles
Gingersnap
I haven’t bought a Lip Whip for a while now but I do recommend them. Their staying power is second to none, and arguably much better than the KVD Beauty Everlasting Lipstick.
The colour range is amazing and the price point is appealing to all. I bought mine on ASOS at the time but I don’t think ASOS sell Beauty Bakerie anymore. They also had a nude and a metallic range which looks amazing but I’ve never tried. I don’t think I’ll find an occasion for a metallic lip colour as I’m fairly boring!
I have to be honest with you guys, I am a complete fake and self tan noob. I had a spray tan once back when I was like 19 which I thought was great but I came out super tanned and never tried it again.
I have so many weddings to attend this year, 1 of which I’m Maid of Honour for. My boyfriend and I have no holidays planned this Summer which means no tan for me this year. I can’t lie, I look much better with a little colour on me and with this being a year full of photographs, I decided to trial self tanning!
One of my favourite Instagrammers is Nicole, the @veganbeautygirl. If you’re not already following her, you definitely should. Here is a link to her corresponding blog!
I read her post on vegan self tanning products last month and decided to take the plunge! My first wedding this year is June 22nd so I thought I’d get in early to get some practice in before the big day.
The first company mentioned on the blog were Bondi Sands (There are plenty of other brands on the post to so make sure you give it a good read to find out what’s best for you). I’d heard of Bondi Sands before. Some of my sister’s friends recommended them. They’d also made it into the press recently because of their Liquid Gold Tanning Oil not needing to be washed off, so I did it. I bought it! Along with their tanning mitt.
So the delivery came along and off I went to the bathroom for my first attempt at a fake tan! It was easy to use, even though I was really nervous about the outcome. You simply spray the fake tan over your body and use the mitt to spread it evenly across your body.
Before and After
I was really pleased with the outcome. I could see the colour developing after only an hour which was great. The website says the product is buildable and for a deeper tan, apply more product after 30 minutes.
I’ve not been left streaky and the smell is more than tolerable! I say this as I know most fake tans have a very distinct smell. The Bondi Sands Liquid Gold Tanning Oil has a coconut smell, but there’s still a light fake tan smell.
It was only my first attempt so the fake tan left on my hands needs to be rectified but practice makes perfect!
The day after a night out on the town in Cardiff for a friend’s Hen party… in my hungover state, I took the trip to Bwydiful on Cowbridge Road East on Sunday afternoon just gone.
I’ve been a fan of Bwydiful for a long time, from back in their pop-up days before they opened their restaurant. Before I turned vegan, I absolutely adored their Veggie Baby burger. They opened their restaurant opposite Victoria Park a few months ago and ever since they’ve had fantastic reviews which doesn’t surprise me in the slightest.
In addition to this, on Monday night, Bwydiful won Best Street Food of Cardiff at theFood Awards Wales for 2019! A thoroughly deserved win by them and this post will prove it.
As I follow them on social media, I found out they’d worked with Keralan Karavan to come up with a new and innovative vegan burger! Currently a special for the month of May, it’s an Indian cuisine inspired burger consisting of an onion bhaji patty with a potato bonda on top in a lovely ciabatta bun.
The Bondaful and Hash Brown Bites
A closer look at the Bondaful
As you can see from the images above, the burger really stands out and is so colourful. Perfect for the ‘gram!
I took my first bite and was in awe of the flavours that I was being treated to. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever tasted and so much more interesting than a standard burger. The bhaji was delicious and the potato bonda was so flavourful. Everything came together beautifully and I really enjoyed eating it. I double checked that the hash brown bites were vegan too which they were so I, of course, ordered them too!
It was a quiet Sunday afternoon so the restaurant wasn’t particularly busy. The service provided was excellent. Staff were attentive and made sure we were well taken care of. It’s also possible to book so it may be worth booking a table on busier days.
I truly recommend a visit if you’re vegan to try this burger. I’m unsure how long it’ll be available for, but hopefully if the demand is high it’ll join the permanent menu. You won’t be disappointed by the explosive flavours that this burger has to offer.
I had originally planned for this blog post to be 1 long post about my entire lipstick collection. However, as I was drafting it, I realised how much lipstick I really owned and it made for a lengthy post which I wanted to avoid.
So this is the first of The Lipstick Chronicles! Starting with my favoured brand Kat Von D Beauty.
What’s great about the range is lipstick and liner colours match directly, but you can also find other colours that will match due to the extensive colour range!
Currently, I own 3 Everlasting Liquid Lipstick colours:
Vampira
Lolita
Santa Sangre
Above are the swatches of the lipsticks and the liners that I use together.
Lolita is my every day colour and it is gorgeous. It’s great for all skin tones and I highly recommend it. The everlasting liquid lipsticks have incredible staying power. When wearing it on a normal work day, it will last the whole day which will include at least 1 cup of coffee, numerous glasses of water, lunch and other snacks throughout the day.
The downside to it’s excellent staying power is that it can be a struggle to take off at the end of the day, so I use The Body Shop Camomile Eye and Lip Make Up Remover which is really great and pulls everything off.
Below are some of the other KVD Beauty lipsticks that I own and occasionally use:
Studded Kiss Creme in Cathedral
Studded Kiss Creme in Lovecraft
Everlasting Glimmer Veil in Dazzle
Everlasting Liquid Lipstick Kitten Mini in Ruthless
Limited edition mini shade of the Everlasting Liquid Lipstick in Ruthless
The Kitten Mini in Ruthless is a gorgeous berry shade (swatched below) which I believe is limited edition so get them while you can!
The above lipsticks are great but I wouldn’t rate them compared to the Everlasting Liquid Lipsticks. The colours are nice but they don’t last as well. The glimmer veil is great and works on it’s own as well as on top of another colour.
Additional swatches of the above can be found below. I’ve also included a selfie of me wearing the Everlasting Liquid Lipstick in Santa Sangre, on top of the Everlasting Lip Liner in Outlaw.
Santa Sangre Selfie
I’ve hyperlinked the main products and a few of the individuals where the colour can’t be selected.
Thanks for reading this post. I hope you’ve learnt a bit and found some info that you may or may not have been looking for.
This Vegan Mum 