Best Budget Vegan Body Care.

Hiiiii,

Just a quick post to give these bomb shower products a shoutout! I had known about this brand being vegan but I wasn't aware they stocked them in Dealz aka Poundland in the UK.  They have a whole heap of scents from blueberry to watermelon with each one infused with some sort of oil.

These two are my favourites and for 1.50 they're an absolute steal.

Ps, I would encourage everyone to learn about the cruelty involved in testing on animals and the "ethics" of many brands. While at times it can be difficult to find information on some brands, I would urge everyone to really make the effort to boycott companies that exploit animals for testing as it's the only real way of ending it for good. 
Just for reference other popular cruelty free brands are; 

Essence, Catrice, Bourjois Paris, Lush, Dr.Organics, Nip+Fab, Sleek, Kat Von D, Anastasia Beverly Hills, ELF, Stella McCartney... to name a few! 

For a full comprehensive list I'd recommend the site Logical Harmony. They have loadsss of brands already listed and regularly contact new ones to add to the list.

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What I eat in a day. #6

I'm back with a new what I eat in a day post! As always this doesn't include snacks just core meals.

As just an fyi, I don't follow any specific way or diet like raw/low fat etc anymore, I just eat whatever I crave and since it's been a year now since I changed to vegan living, this is all I ever crave! Sounds crazy but legitimately, fruits, grains, veg, starches are all I ever really want to eat.

Anyway on this weekend Aldi had kiwi and mangos on sale for 50c so I decided to make a fruit platter! Coupled with a sunny morning it was a pretty perfect breakfast!

I happened to have more fruit later this day. Here, I blended strawberries, dates and frozen bananas with passion fruit and some coconut flakes.

For dinner I ate these new spicy Mexican beans I found on special offer in Aldi! Sourdough bread with hummus and rice and spinach meant I got all the good stuff too! Protein, iron and good fats to name a few! 

Follow my Instagram for more foodie bits! 

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Cruelty free skincare for hyperpigmentation and acne-prone skin.

Since making the switch to a vegan lifestyle I've been researhing more and more about cruelty free cosmetics so that I don't support any form of cruel practices. Luckily I didn't own many brands that tested on animals before the switch anyway!

That said, I also wanted to make my skincare more natural with as little 'un-pronouncable' ingredients possible. As a rule of thumb I try to stick to ingredients that I've at least heard of before...except for when it comes to scarring! I've got my fair share of hyperpigmentation left over from when I had severe acne. So to combat that I've got a few glycolic products as (apparently) that's what works best at getting rid of scars.

As someones suffered from various forms of skin conditions, mild to severe acne, eczema, dryness , oiliness- the lot! I'm not going to say that this is the answer to all your skin issues or that this is the perfect routine but at the moment it's doing a pretty good job of helping me clear my skin- something that, so far, no other product 
or routine has been doing.

Now I've been using these Nip+Fab products for over a month now and definietly see subtle changes. The exfoliator is a must if you have dull, dry skin or if you've got any acne scarring like myself.
Ingredients like almond oil, shea butter and aloe vera make it the perfect consistancy for it to do it's job without being too abrassive!
I usually exfoliate about 2 a week.


Every other day I actually do very little to my skin. Depending on what it's like each morning I might not wash it at all! If I do, I'll splash some water on my face and then I'll put of my diy astringent on it. I mix 2 parts water with 1 part Apple cider vinegar and 1 part Rosewater. I find that once this drys in to my skin is super soft and it helps keep the oil at bay. 
Each night then, I'll generally do the same thing and once the toner has done its thing I put some coconut oil on to add extra moisture.

As for price point, this is possibly one of the cheapest and simplest skin routines I've followed. 
I got my Nip+Fab products off of Cloud10 Beauty, who have free international shipping on orders over €15 ! 
The serum was €15 while the exfloiator was €10, not bad compared to in store prices!
A litre bottle of Apple cider vinegar can be found at any health food  store for about € 15 euro too which is pretty good too considering it lasts ages! 
And I got the coconut oil from Tesco for € 2.50! Bargain!

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Vegan Junk Food!

Now, sometimes we just need a bit of a feast. Whether it's PMS, exam stress or birthday celebrations, we all like a bit of junk food now and again. So here's a list of my top 10 favourite vegan junk! Albeit a lot are accidently vegan, its still a win-win!  (I'm also going to include a full list of random vegan junk outside of this top ten too!) Ps, some ingredients may be different in different countries and some contain palm oil so always check the pack!

1. Veggie Percy Pigs;
If you're outside the UK or Irelandthen you might not be formiliar with these but they're ...actually quite hard to explain.. They're just sweet, chewy jellies that I've always LOVED. Beyond delighted that there's a no gelatin version! You can get them form any Marks & Spencers for about €2.50.

2. Skittles/ Starburst;
A cinema staple in my books! These have been childhood favourites of mine that I still buy from time to time!

3. Clif / Trek / Nakd Bars:
A vegans or gym freaks fave, these are awesome sources of good protein and nutrients. Definietly more on the healthy side but they're still yum and great snacks to bring to work or college.

4. Doritos-Lightly Salted, Chili Heatwave;
More on the smelly side, these make for great movie night snacks. I'd also recommend trying these Doritos with salted popcorn-sounds a little weird if youve never tried it before but honestly, it's the best thing just try it!

5. Aldi's Dark Chocolate Digestives;
I was buzzing to see that these were vegan and if you're thinking "ew, no I hate dark chocolate"-don't.  The chocolate hasn't got a high percentage of cocao so it isn't too rich.

6. Betty Crocker Chocolate Cake:
Replace the added eggs with flax or chia seeds that have been mixed in water and set aside until gloopy and use almond/coconut/hazelnut/soy/oat/rice/hemp or any other plant milk you can find.

7. Lotus Biscuit spread:
A great alternative to Nutella!

8. Oreos:
A standard one for most. A must try with hazelnut or almond milk!

9. Aldi Mango/ Raspberry Sorbet;
Perfect coming up to Summer! Don't forget you can also blend frozen bananas with any fruit to make a more creamy ice cream.

10. Tesco Jelly Beans;
Awesome alternative to the gelatin filled jellies that are everywhere but be warned, I often feel sick after eating too many of them! Probably all the artificial sugar!

A few reasons why you should make a conscious effort to switch to veggie jellys and biscuits...
* You really don't need the nastiness of beef/pig or bovine gelatin in your sweets.

* Not only is cows milk unhealthy for you (thanks to the pus, hormones etc), it's not natural. Our bodies stopped producing the enzyme lactose after infancy so drinking milk isn't essential and drinking the milk of another species definitely isn't. Not to mention the artificial insemination of the cow to begin with and the seperation of mother and calf so we can use her milk. Definitely one to leave out of any recipe!

More Veg Junk...
-Jelly Tots
-Cadbury Bournville Plain Chocolate
-Fry's Chocolate Cream
-Walkers: Salt& Vinegar, Ready Salted, Prawn Cocktail, Worcester Sauce.
-Skips
Pringles: Original, BBQ, Paprika, Smokey Bacon
-Bourbon biscuits
- McVitie's: Ginger Nuts, Fig Rolls, Hobnobs, Chocolate Chip Hobnobs
-Aldi cola bottles
-Aldi Mint Creme chocolate bar

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What I eat in a day. #5 -College edition.

Hiiii,

So I thought it would be a good idea to do a bit of a college/uni edition of how I stay full and satisfied On a plant based diet during the college semester. Some days I find that I don't need to bring meals with me because I'm not in for that long but rather snacks, which I may do a separate post on!
On this day, I was in from 11 until 6 and considering I commute to and from college, that pretty much means I need to have dinner with me or at least half of it!

I seem to always opt for cereal/ porridge for breakfast probably because it can be cold in the mornings so it warms me up a bit plus it's super quick!

• Aldi "Special K" 
•  raisins 
• wheat biscuit (I had some left over oats underneath this too.)
•  All with soya milk and coconut sugar.

Next was a burrito that I had prepared the night before. I usually 

bring 2 or 3 depending on what I fill them with. This day I had 2.

1. Wholewheat wrap with:

• rice 
• spinach
• lettuce
•  falafel
• hummus 
• kidney beans.

I also had Siracha and a curry sauce from Aldi on the rice- I may do another post on the best/cheapest vegan sauces and condiments!

Once I got home I had a favourite of mine at the moment. A 

homemade bean burger with chips! So good when you've spent the whole day walking from lecture to lecture.

Mix in a bowl;

• Kidney beans
• Oats 
• Spices (chili, garlic,onion,paprika,turmeric,oregano)

Simples! Then you're done! Place them in the oven until they're as cooked as you want them. I generally leave them in for 15 minutes or so.

Obvious none of this included snacks this is just the main meals of the day but hopefully it gave you some ideas!

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Be a good sport.

Hola,

More mixing of pieces. I have been doing this a lot lately in a bid to save cash! Getting the most use out of all my bargains is what I'm all about. What's the point in having pieces you can only wear with one outfit or don't wear enough at all?! Versatile pieces for the win!

*Boohoo Bomber, River Island trousers, Topshop top, New look trainers.*

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Vegan in Brussels.

Hellooo,

It's been a while, aye? Between college, job hunting and binge watching various TV series, I've let the blog slack a little recently. That said, I'm back today with a bit of a travel post. Recently I visited Brussels for a few days on a bit of a spontanious trip. Seen as this was pretty much my first time going abroad on  a plant based diet, I thought I'd do a bit of prior ressearch to see what my options were.

Surprisingly, Brussels isn't a bad place for plant based options. I stayed in a hotel about 20 minutes away from the main village and even still I was able to find a veggie take out truck called Greenway in the train station accross the street from me! Unfortunely I didn't end up actually getting anything from them, but it seems like a great one to try out if you're in the area!

Even though the flight was only a little over an hour I of course, still brought plane food because why not? A litre of water, dates, pistacheos and watermelon pretty much hit the spot for me. I had the watermelon before leaving my house and brought everything else with me for the flight! Unfortunely I forgot to save the pictures from my snapchat (xemmajanefx) after uploading them so I have considerably less and ones of considerably worse quality.

Since Belgium is thee place for chocolate, I thought it best not to miss out. So, I found this cute little vegan shop called Vegasme, which is apparently only opened since Febuary. They had everything from dairy free ice cream to milk, cheeses, snacks- everything! I also spotted these Vego bars that I'd thought were only available in America but I guess not! I'm not going to lie, it was probably the best chocolate ever! It pretty much tasted like a Ferero Rocha bar!
White chocolate was also a must since it's pretty hard to find a decent bar of it here in Ireland.

Aside from the chocolate, I ended up having some Asian take out one night, chips and salade another, falafel wraps and veggie burgers galore! All in all, Brussels offered some pretty kick ass vegan food!

I'd also recommend checking out these places too!

*Ami - 13 Rue de Lesbroussart Ixelles (awesome veggie burgers)

* Dolma- 329 Chaussée d'ixelles, Bruxelles 1050 (buffet style+ super cheap) 

*Den Tee- Rue des Chartreux 66, Brussels

* Vegasme, Chaussée des Waterloo 367 

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Vintage shades.

Hola,

So it's been a few days since I posted anything...I just wasn't feeling it lately.  I think there's a good few people who are feeling the same within the community at the moment.  Between negativity and boring, repetitive posts from everyone, it's been lacking some serious creativity as of late- myself included!
So with this in mind I decided to get back to what I started with -vintage pieces! I've always been a lover of charity shops and finding bargains anywhere that I can. Big labels aren't really the goal for me but on occasion I find some gems from old school favourites.

This brown velvet shirt is a kind of piece I've been searching for a long time. A couple of years ago I seen a green one that was dirt cheap but I wasn't quick enough and it was snapped up by some other eagle eyed shopper! So this one filled the void I guess..

What's your favourite vintage find?

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5 Vegan Breakfast Hacks.

I thought I'd do a quick post of some food hacks I've learned in the last few months about making subtle changes to encorprate more planet friendly, healthy meals! I've acumilated most of this through experimenting and of course from the Internet and other vegans favourites. 

1. Oats

This is a bit of a two in one. Even before coming to this lifestyle I always enjoyed having porridge for breakfast as it's super filling and quick to make. I simply switched the cows milk for almond, soy, rice, coconut, hazelnut..the options are endless. My fave is definitely the nut milks! They add an extra creamy taste and are all genuinely nicer! On top of this I add mashed banana into the mix while I'm cooking the porridge on the hob(Also tastes much nicer like this).

Alternatively you could make overnight oats which seem to be pretty popular right now. Basically do the same thing but put them in the fridge the night before! (Note that generally you need less oats this way because the milk is soaked up a lot more so you've got a much thicker consistency) 

On top of this, I use oats as flour too. Just blend up some oats until they turn to powder and voila, you've got gluten-free flour.

2. Chia seeds

These are a staple for me. An awesome source of protein and omega 3, I love to add them to cereal, smoothies or porridge. Useful for baking too, you can actually use this instead of egg! Simply mix 1 part chia seeds with 3 parts water and leave in the fridge for 10 minutes-done! You're left with a gloopy, sticky consistency minus the period! Win win!

3."Nice-Cream"

Done to the death at this stage, nice-cream is the equivalent to ice cream without the crap! Freeze some bananas overnight and place 

in a blender with a small bit of water and you're done. You could add berries or cocao powder to change up the flavours. If I tried to credit all the youtubers and bloggers who've tried this out, I'd be here forever.

        

                                               

4. Pancakes

This is quite possibly my favourite. I normally mix a random amount of flour and milk and one again, I use a mashed up banana instead of egg! It honestly taste dreamy-so much more flavour than a normal pancake and half the cholesterol and fat! In fact this is a meal that would keep you satiated for hours with 0 cholesterol and very low fat-with most of it coming from the oats! 

5. Cake 

This is one I've yet to try out but apparently most generic cake mixes are accidentally vegan appart from the ingredients you have to add. So instead of adding egg and milk, people some how came up with the idea to add coke cola or any soda instead to get the same results! I've seen videos where this looks like it light matey works but I've yet to taste it.

Which ones your favourite? 

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What I eat in a day #4 hclf

Hello again,

So I started this day with cereal for a change. I couldn't decide which cereal I wanted so I ended up mixing oats,fruit and fiber as well as wheatabix! Seems like a lot of food,and I guess it is but it tastes so good! I posted the vitamin content of this meal in itself over on my Instagram  HERE** It's one of the best ways to get all your B vitamins. While it won't give you 100% of all 12 of them it gives you close enough and complete satisfaction in some,all in your first meal of the day!

After doing a workout I decided to make a creamy "protein" smoothie which is one of my all time favourites. It has 3 bananas, almond milk, 4 or so dates, peanut butter, coconut sugar and carob powder for a chocolate-y taste! You could add some protein powder if you like, I didn't have any at the time but you get get plenty of different hemp and rice ones! 

 Doesn't look the best but this was actually super tasty. I added a curry sauce to the rice and some Siracha sauce and seasoning to the rest

Whats your fav food right now? 

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Vintage Galore.

Hi all,

Yet again I've found myself gavitating towards my vintage pieces. I always love styling outfits around these kind of pieces because they make everything 10 times funner. The fluffy top is one of my mams oldies. I always find absolute gems in her wardrobe. Actually the retro jacket is from her closet too! It's like an 70s/80s dream. Everything from shoulder pads to bold colours to crop tops!
I thought the textures of this look worked really well together  the smoothness or the jacket coupled with the hairyness of the top I guess, it makes for an interesting combo. The jeans keep it somewhat interesting with the patchwork at the knees while the pointy boots stick with the overall polished theme. I also think this would look fab with a A-line denim skirt or a pair of brightly coloured structured trousers to give it a more definite 70s look!

What's your favourite fashion era?

Boohoo jeans// vintage top and jacket.

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Off Duty.

Aloha,

College(Uni) is well under way for the second term and I'm enjoying the switch up with my timetable. It definitely uplifts the repeatitive nature of going to college for sure that more often than not leads to *cough cough* skipping lectures- but we won't talk about that just yet.

On to the outfit- mixing lights and darks for this post. It's something I haven't done in a good while now, having the polar opposites of black versus some of the palest of blues for some reason gives a kind of high fashion feel. Not quite sure why I don't wear this more often to be honest!

Old jumper// Pennys Trousers// New Look shoes

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Invisalign Update. #2 -How I clean them.

Hellooo,

So it's been about a month since I got my first tray fitted and I've been steadily getting used to having them in and the extended cleaning routine. Each time I eat I take the aligners out and when I'm finished eating I clean them and my my own teeth!

1. Toothpaste
As far I'm aware any tootpaste will sufice. I used this one because I feel like the baking soda in it really does a good job of thoroughly cleaning the teeth whether you have braces or not!

2.Floss 
I was always really bad for flossing, I just couldn't get into a routine of remembering to do it but because my teeth are quite crowded, they were peared down quite a bit in places to allow for movement so there's fairly large gaps between some of my teeth! With that being said, it's probably better not to have lots of food caught in between while they're trying to move..eww nuff' said..

3. Mouthwash
The main thing when picking a mouthwash is making sure it's alcohol free! Primarily because it's just not needed and because it makes my mouth super dry while leaving a strange after taste.

Extra tips:
I made the mistake of drinking herbal tea which stained my first tray pretty bad, despite allowing it to allowing it cool and drinking through a straw! So I would definitely steer clear of hot drinks regardless and coloured or fizzy drinks.

Each of these cost me €1.50 at Dealz(Poundland) which is such a steal!

Have you evere had braces? If so, what's your advice?

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Bell Bottoms 2.O

Hellooo,

The Bell bottoms are back again. I was messing around and experimenting with this little vintage gem that you seen here. I think I've rekindled my love for it recently after finding it hidden at the back of my wardrobe. Despite it being a little bit itching because of the fluffy material, I still love it. It works strangely well with so many outfits even though it's such a simple piece! Shout out to mam for this fav, once again!

What's your favourite simple wardrobe piece?

H&M bell bottoms// vintage top.

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