Kind Culture > 2016

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Year: 2016

christmas dinner flat lay - Kind Culture review

Where to get a Vegan Christmas dinner in London

General, London

Hi guys,

I hope you’re all well! I’ve been so busy with Christmas planning, so this post will be a quick one for you guys!

As Christmas is approaching and everyone is busy getting prepared for the holidays I thought it would be great to put together a list of the best places to get a proper vegan christmas dinner in London.  Since being vegan doesn’t exactly fit in with most of the traditional Christmas foods, I thought it made sense to help you guys find the perfect vegan Christmas dinner, so here are 10 places to help you with your Christmas cravings…

Where to get a vegan Christmas dinner in London:

1 | Pret-a-mangers – Okay so it’s not technically a Vegan Christmas dinner, but it is a Vegan Christmas themed baguette, plus you can pretty much find a Pret-a-manger’s almost everywhere across Central London. So it’s not exactly dinner, but I guess that’s your Christmas style lunch sorted.

 

2 | Amico Bio – An Italian restaurant, close to Barbican Station, that offers a range of vegan, vegetarian and gluten free options. Right now they have a Christmas lunch and Christmas dinner set menu with plenty of options for you all to choose from that will be served throughout December.

 

3 | Manna – Is a well established 100% vegan restaurant based in Primrose Hill. They currently have a menu exclusively for Christmas with plenty of traditional options that will only be available up until Christmas day, so you better start making reservations fast!

 

4 | Tibits – A vegan and vegetarian restaurant chain that was initally based in Switzerland and now have a restaurant in Central London (off of Regent Street). Right now they have a special Winter Menu as well as a special Christmas package available.

 

5 | Mildreds – Based in Soho, Camden and Kings Cross, Mildreds is a vegan and vegetarian restaurant that prides itself in making internationally inspired cuisine. Their Christmas menu has a bit of a twist on the traditional Christmas dinner and is available across all three of the sites in London.

 

6 | The Gate – Is a vegatarian restaurant chain influenced by French and Italian cuisine based across Central London, with a site in Islington, Hammersmith and Marylebone. It took a little while to find their Christmas menu, at first I wasn’t sure if they had one, but I managed to find it! They also have a Sunday Roast section on their regular menu.

 

7 | 222 Veggie Vegan –  This particular restaurant is based in Kensington and if you can’t already tell from the name it’s a vegan and vegetarian restaurant. There doesn’t seem to be a Christmas special on the website, so I’m not sure whether there is one going or not, but there does seem to be a Vegan Roast option on their menu.

 

8 | Farmacy – Based in Notting Hill, Farmacy has a range of vegan and vegetarian dishes inspired from world cuisine for you to choose from. The Christmas menu has options for those of you that are vegan, vegetarian, eat gluten-free and even have nut-free options.

 

9 | Carnevale – If you don’t feel like having the traditional Christmas dinner then you can try the Mediterranean vegetarian and vegan food at Carnevale , near the Barbican Centre. Again I’m not sure if they have a christmas menu, but they have plenty of vegan options.

 

10 | NAMA Foods – Is a vegan restaurant based in Notting Hill that specialises in making raw vegan dishes. For Christmas they currently have a luxury 5 set menu.

Let me know if you guys liked this post on where to get a vegan christmas dinner in London! ☺

Handmade Heroes Dry Shampoo Review

Bath & Body, General, Hair Care, Reviews

Handmade Heroes Dry Shampoo Review

Hello people of the internet!

I hope you’re all well!

I’ve actually been wanting to share this with you all for quite some time, but I wanted to spend the right amount of time using this product before blogging about it. So without further ado, I present to you all the Drop Dead Gorgeous Dry Shampoo!

Who are Handmade Heroes?

The Drop Dead Gorgeous Dry Shampoo was created by Handmade Heroes, which is a company that was founded in January 2015 and have based all of their products on the value of an all-natural lifestyle. Handmade Heroes pride themselves in their ability to make all of their products from natural ingredients and make sure that their products are void of preservatives, synthetic chemicals and parabens. As Handmade Heroes are based in the U.S, they actively make sure that their packaging is approved by the FDA (the U.S Food and Drugs Administration) and is BPA free. The Handmade Heroes products are also certified by PETA as both cruelty free and vegan.

Handmade Heroes Drop Dead Gorgeous Dry Shampoo

Surprisingly, this was the first time that I had ever used any kind of dry shampoo, and I was kind of curious to learn more because of all the negative stories that were being shared on social media about dry shampoo. (Just to be clear, I’m referring to the negative stories about the dry shampoo that are made of foam and tons of chemicals.) It was generally quite reassuring to know that this product is vegan, so of course I knew that there wasn’t going to be any problems when using it. The dry shampoo is made with hints of peppermint and soothes with lavender and eucalyptus. Known for its absorption abilities to trap toxins and impurities, the activated charcoal leaves the scalp healthy, balanced and odourless.
 

Review

My initial thoughts when I opened the bottle were actually that the shampoo smells just like the Love Hearts sweets; I always love a natural product that smells great too! On the packaging it said it would take 5 minutes to use, but truthfully it took me 10 minutes to do so, then again that could be more to do with the fact that I have long and thick hair. Having long and thick hair is quite high maintence and I usually end up having to wash my hair every two days just to keep it from getting greasy. I had to leave my hair quite greasy a few times just to test it out properly and it managed to dry the oil at the top of my hair quite well to the point that it was not visible at all. Generally, I didn’t need a lot of product on my hair for it to do to its magic, I was definitely pleased with the change from oily to clean hair. The bottle itself is travel size so it’s perfect to take with you when you’re on the go or to use after a workout (or if you’re just feeling lazy).
Before…
Aaaand after!
The Handmade Heroes Drop Dead Gorgeous Dry Shampoo is available for you all to buy on Amazon for £5.90. On that note, I want to thank the people at Handmade Heroes for sending me this amazing product to try out and review for you all.
I hope you all enjoyed my Handmade Heroes Dry Shampoo Review.

Click here to read more hair care reviews. 

#EOYR2016

General, Inspiration

Happy Sunday to you all! 🙂

I hope you’ve all had a great weekend and enjoyed all the crazy sales.

Today my source of inspiration comes from one of my friends, who has created a social media campaign to pause, reflect and celebrate our achievements of this year. The motto for the campaign is “Hold the New Year Resolutions, Have an End of Year Reflection!”

To share the positivity, you can post a tweet on something that you have achieved, are proud of, have accomplished or learnt in 2016, using the hashtags #EOYR2016 (End of Year Reflection 2016) or #2016Accomplishment on Twitter or Instagram. Just so you know, the first hashtag is the most important, so please try to use this even if you can’t use the other!

I’ll be adding mine on my Instagram account and a link to the post on Twitter, I would love to see what you all have to say, so please do take part share and spread the word! ☺♥

Too Faced: Cruelty-Free status

Beauty, Makeup

Hi guys,

How are you all doing today? I’ve been stuck inside with the cold all day.

Have Too Faced sold out?

Yesterday, I found out that the Estée Lauder group, the cosmetics chain that owns companies like MAC and Bobbie Brown, bought Too Faced for approximately $1.45 billion (£1.16 billion), which is one of the largest acquisitions that Estée Lauder has made so far. However the main problem with Too Faced’s, (does that sound grammatically correct?), new parent company is their willingness to test on animals for the sake of making profit in China.

Now I won’t discuss China in-depth, but for those of you who are new to the world of all things cruelty free, China legally requires cosmetics to be tested on animals ergo any cosmetic company that sells in China is not cruelty free. There are some companies that insist that their products remain cruelty free across other nations and continents, for example here in the U.K, some companies claim that the products that are sold here are in no way subject to testing but their policies seem to be quite shady.

Too Faced: Cruelty-free status

As far as Too Faced is concerned, co-founder Jerrod Blandino, spoke out about the acquisition via his Instagram to confirm (and possibly to convince) their followers and customers that they will continue to be “a champion for animals”. Generally, I’m hoping that Too Faced can influence other companies to stand firm on their anti-animal testing stance and that people will continue to support them as well as other companies that are cruelty free, but are owned by companies that do test, to show that cruelty free products are not just a trend or phase.

#regram @jerrodblandino My values, morals and heart will never change. I have built my life and my company with love, kindness, positivity and compassion for animals and all of God’s creatures. That will NEVER change. This is way bigger than business for me, it’s my life and my heart at the deepest level. It means everything to me. We have been a champion for animals since our beginning in 1998 and that has only grown stronger and more powerful with every passing day. Rest assured we continue to have iron-clad rules in place that will ensure we will NEVER test on animals and we will NOT sell in China. I’m truly honored that we continue to be supported and acknowledged by @peta (link in bio). Thank you for your passion and support for animals, I’m grateful you’ve used your voices to ensure animals are protected and treated with kindness and love. I’m right there with you and always will be. XOXO, J

A photo posted by Too Faced Cosmetics (@toofaced) on

Too Faced Vegan makeup

One thing that I didn’t notice until now was the fact that Too Faced actually have a list of which products are specifically vegan on the FAQ page of their website, which is a pretty handy thing to use if you’re unsure of what is vegan or if you just can’t remember.

 

My favourite Too Face products 🙂

I love buying new makeup, it’s like an all year round Christmas! Are you guys loyal to any particular cruelty free and/or vegan brand? Let me know which brands you love!

RiDE Skincare Launch

Bath & Body, Beauty

RiDE Skincare Launch

 

Today I wanted to share news about a unique skincare range for all you outdoorsy sports lovers called RiDE Skincare.

What is RiDE Skincare?

The skincare range has been designed by Tom Marshall, after 2 years of research and testing, specifically to work on your skin in extreme outdoor conditions and officially launched his project last week on Kick Starter. What sets RiDE a part from other outdoor skincare ranges is that it uses 100% naturally derived and organic ingredients, whereas other skincare ranges designed for extreme conditions are full of harsh, synthetic chemicals.

The RiDE Skincare products

For now, RiDE Skincare will be launching two products; the Ride Protect and Ride Recover.

1 | Ride Protect is an all-natural SPF 30 rated sunscreen that uses the mineral titanium dioxide as its active sun protection. Most normal sunscreens use a mixture of synthetic chemicals that absorb into the skin and break down the UVA and UVB rays. Mineral based protection like the titanium dioxide used in Ride Protect creates a barrier on top of the skin that reflects back the UVA and UVB rays, thus protecting the skin. Because this is a physical barrier it starts protecting your skin as soon as it is applied. It also protects from any wind burn and stops rain and saltwater drying out your skin with the help of jojoba and coconut oils. It’s easy to use and blends into the skin. Ride Protect has been extensively tested and has proven to be extremely water resistance, from surfing in the Atlantic to sweating out on the bike, it continues to protect your skin regardless.

2 | Ride Recover is a 100% naturally derived moisturiser that can be used when your skin needs extra help to recover after being exposed to the elements, or as an everyday cream to keep your skin in great condition. It’s light and absorbs easily into the skin with a smooth texture. The aloe vera, green tea and high grade olive & peppermint oils help to rehydrate and replenish the skin.

As both the products are in the process of being produced, the cruelty free credentials are yet to come but I do have confirmation via email which I can share with you all.

“there is certainly no form of animal testing on our side and all my supplies are UK based and also assure me of their cruelty free credentials”

The Kickstarter campaign has been live since last week and is running for another 18 days so please share and spread the word! To find out more about the Kickstarter campaign for RiDE Skincare you can watch the video below and to pledge you can click here.

Soap & Co Review

Bath & Body, Beauty, General, Reviews

Soap & Co Review

Recently I went shopping with my friend and was approached by a lady who worked at a Soap&Co stall in the shopping centre. Now I don’t know about you guys but I’m one of those people who find it hard to just leave a person in the middle of a conversation, plus the stall area smelt so nice, so I carried on listening to what she was saying. After testing out the products on myself, I ended up buying from her and I was so pleased to find out that their products are all natural and cruelty free (which is not always mutually exclusive).

Finding the right nail care brand can be tricky, let alone finding a good vegan nail care brand as it takes a while to find one that suits your needs. However, I must admit that when both my friend and I we’re testing out the products that the lady was showing us, we both really loved the fact that the products worked so quickly and weren’t full of chemicals. (We also loved the smell of the passion fruit scent) 🙂

Review

The actual nail care kit itself consists of a nail file, a nail buffer, a bottle of hand and body lotion and a little bottle of cuticle oil. I’ve used the products myself quite a few times at home and I am still just as impressed with the quality of the products as I was when testing them in store. The buffer works quite quickly without having to put much effort in it, leaving a nice shine to my nails on both my fingers and toes. Although, the nail file took a while to get used to as I have a bad habit of trying to file too quickly and eventually end up getting the wrong shape for my nails. The smell of both the cuticle oil and lotion lasts quite a while and it also does not leave a weird sticky feel like some oils and lotions can do – which is perfect.

I paid £39.99 for the whole set, which may seem like quite a bit, but so far I can definitely say that it is worth the money given the amount of times that I’ve used the products. On the Soap & Co website it’s not exactly clear whether the products are cruelty free or not, so I decided to get confirmation via email to which they responded;

“I can confirm that none of our products contain any source materials from animals and all our products are cruelty free in accordance with the beauty standards as set out by the EU governing bodies.”

For now Soap&Co are only available in shopping centres across Central London and online, but hopefully they shall be branching out soon so that the rest of you can pay them a visit!

Let me know what you all thought about this quick review and whether you’d like me to do more posts on nail care 🙂

Click here to read more beauty reviews 

Read more “Soap & Co Review”

One year on

General, Inspiration

Hi everyone,

Happy Sunday! I hope you all have had a great weekend and are all well.

It’s my first blogiversary! 🎂🎉  I cannot believe that my blog is officially one years old. One year on and I feel like I’ve gone through a steep learning curve from making my own content to managing the accounts and learning about so many different topics in one go. I must admit that I do love the fact that there is a never ending learning process when it comes to blogging in general and that there are constant changes happening in terms of animal cruelty policies, eco fashion and sustainability.

Over the course of the year I have met so many amazing and passionate people who like me are trying to make a positive impact. It is genuinely so inspiring to see the amount of people that share the same passion and try to do whatever they can to help animals and the environment, there is such a long list of other bloggers who have been an inspiration for me during the past year – the list would literally go on and on. Hopefully I have had the same effect too! (*fingers crossed*)

Naturally, there is room for improvement and I always will continue to learn as much as I can. I’d like to thank everyone that has read, emailed and given me support whilst I’ve started this journey, it is genuinely humbling when people can connect with you and share the same passion that I do.

 

(P.S. This post was slightly overdue as I had been juggling quite a bit lately, but I will try my very best to keep posting as much as I can ☺♥)

Geobar

General, Reviews

Hi guys,

I hope you all have been well, I’ve been juggling so much lately but I’m glad to say that I am back on track. Today I’m quite excited because I get the opportunity to blog about something that I haven’t touched upon so far – food!

About Traidcraft’s Geobar

Traidcraft is one of the leading fair trade organizations in the U.K and they produce a number of products using the raw materials supplied and made by poor farmers, growers and artisans in order to help them have a better lifestyle. Currently, Traidcraft have released their new and improved Geobar cereal snack bars. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Geobar, it’s pretty much in the name itself, they are a cereal bar range that are made with a global mix of fair trade ingredients using mother natures goods to provide a healthy snack whilst supporting the people that work hard to make the produce. Geobars are available to buy at Sainsburys, Waitrose, Oxfam as well as other independent Traidcrafts stockists and cost £2 for a pack of 5 bars.

What really sets these Geobars a part from the previous range is the fact that for the first time there will be use of fair trade marked rice from Myanmar. The taste of the bars has also been improved by Traidcraft so that it is less sweet and has a source of fibre in it, which was based on the feedback provided by customers. Personally, I think the bars give a good energy boost during the day and they taste great with smoothies. It’s definitely a healthier, and ethical, alternative to have in comparison to most snack bars on the market, although it does contain raisins – so you have been warned.

Review

The chocolate flavour uses cocoa made from South America and generally has quite a wholesome taste to it and surprisingly wasn’t as sweet as most chocolate cereal bars that I’ve had in the past, which is perfect because I didn’t feel guilty for having a second helping (haha).

 The mixed berries flavour uses ingredients that are from South America and they have quite a sharp taste to it, as expected with berries. I could also taste the grains and oats more in this flavour for some particular reason, might just be me though.

This particular flavour was by far the sweetest that I had, I definitely think it was because of natural sugars in the wild apricots which come from Pakistan. I would definitely say that this one gave me a real energy boost.

There’s also a competition to win a £400 Marin bike on the Geobar boxes which ends on the 30th September 2016; you will have to enter via http://www.lovegeobar.com/competitions/win-marin-bike-geobar/

Lastly, I would like to thank the people from Gardiner Richardson for sending me the lovely Geobar range. I would love to know what your thoughts are on this!

YuLin Festival

General

Hi everyone,

A couple of days ago I was sent a link to sign the petition to end the YuLin festival and it got me thinking about what happened last year. Unfortunately, most people found out about the disturbing YuLin festival almost a week before the actual event from celebrities like Ricky Gervais and the #StopYuLin2015 trend. There was a moment of outrage that was enough to gain awareness across the world, but did not manage to sway the political forces to end the festival.

In this situation you cannot help but feel completely helpless the most that people felt that they could practically do last year was create a hastag, make it trend and sign a petition – which feels as though that could be the outcome this year. Now I don’t want to divert attention from the real problem at hand but one thing that I would say was completely unfair was the selective outrage over the public slaughter of dogs when we are fully aware that animals are slaughtered for meat everyday across the world albeit inside buildings. Not only are we completely sheltered from the horrors that animals face but we willingly choose not acknowledge it and save ourselves from being scarred by the graphic images. But sometimes that is exactly what we need! In our everyday lives we have become so accustomed to seeing meat neatly packaged in a plastic tray that we completely detach the idea of meat from a living creature altogether.

After I had signed the petition I decided to do some research into the dog meat festival itself to find out more about how the tradition had come about. I managed to find out that the tradition of eating dog meat has existed in the Far East for approximately 400-500 years. In the city of YuLin, dog meat is usually eaten with lychee during the summer to cool the body from the scorching heat (lychee juice could have done the job by itself really). Strangely enough the actual festival itself is not part of an age old tradition, but rather has formed in recent years to mark the Summer Solstice. The very fact that there are tensions between the people of Yulin over this festival makes clear that there is no real need for this. The Chinese government themselves have acknowledged the problems that can follow if they allow the festival to continue, not just for the animals but also for their own political structure and reputation. (Whether the Chinese government intervenes and acts on this global outrage is another thing.) What makes it worse is that many of the dogs are stolen pets and are found on the street which just seems all the more unreasonable to allow the theft of pets and the promotion of unhygienic dog meat all for the sake of a festival.

In China there are many animal rights advocates that have been forming networks in order to collectively bring awareness, and justice, for animals which for the Chinese government could be threatening if they choose to sweep the concerns of festival under the rug. The Duo Duo project, an organization dedicated to ending the dog and cat meat trade, is one of organizations that are at the forefront of bringing more awareness about the festival with the hope that they can make political changes and end the festival. The executive director of the Duo Duo project, Andrea Gung,  is in fact the one that has set up the petition that I was sent.

There are currently over 2 million signatures on the Change.org petition to the YuLin City Governor, Mr Chen Wu, and we need just over 900,000 signatures; so I have embedded the petition below for you all to sign, please do sign and share!

Let’s hope that this year the Yulin Festival is more than just a hashtag.

Lotus Herbals Apriscrub Review

Bath & Body, Beauty, Reviews, Skincare

I had to take a break from blogging because of my final exams, but I am so glad that my final year is finally over. If anyone that has gone through this phase in their life tells you that university is a breeze, they are either a horrible liar, or extremely lazy – this last year was a real challenge and words cannot accurately describe how relieved I am that it is over.

During my revision and exam time I had pretty much neglected taking care of myself I like normally would do, and had pretty much turned into a slob, but one product that I had been continuously using was the apricot face scrub called Apriscrub by Lotus Herbals that I had bought from India. Despite the fact that I was under a lot of stress during this period I have to admit that I hardly broke out with any spots, in fact it kept my skin relatively clear.

About the brand

Apriscrub is made for all skin types and it’s specifically made to remove dead skin and keep your skin looking fresh, from my experience it has significantly reduced the amount of oil that I get on my T-zone (the forehead and nose). The best thing about this particular scrub is that its made with an ingredient that people are familiar with, as naturally people can become a little apprehensive when using trying different ayurvedic products and it also does not leave a lasting smell. It actually smells like a nice blend of apricot and musk.

Lotus Herbals leaping bunny and vegetarian logos.

Lotus Herbals is an Indian herbal cosmetic company that pride themselves in their innovative use of ayurvedic ingredients and their ongoing scientific research – they even have a make up range. What makes them even better is that they are a cruelty free company, and they actually have the leaping bunny logo and green dot logo to verify that they are both cruelty free and have vegetarian origins. One thing that I have noticed about ayurvedic and herbal cosmetic companies in general is that they do not test on animals but the only problem that I have with some of these companies is that they do not always verify this, which can make consumers sceptical of them. The companies seem to make the assumption that we would automatically understand that the products are not tested on animals but I personally think that they tend to forget that being cruelty free and organic is not mutually exclusive.

Are Lotus Herbals cruelty free?

Compulsory brown and green dots on packaging

In India, it is still legal to test on animals but in the past few years there have been active steps in the right direction to make changes to the law. Before I had mentioned that the Apriscrub packaging had a green dot on the back of it; for those of you who are not familiar with products made in India it was made mandatory by the Indian government in 2014 to have a green dot on the packaging of cosmetic products, food and household items to signify that the product has been made with vegetarian origins for the majority vegetarian population. For products that have been made from non-vegetarian origins there will be a brown dot, or in some cases red dot, which will make consumers aware of what type of product they are purchasing.

Where to get Apriscrub

I bought the scrub for 245 rupees for 180ml in India, which works out for roughly £2.48. However, I am not sure if it sold in any stores in the U.K but you can order it from Amazon for £5.48 with free delivery, which is a positive thing considering that it is £3 more than the price that I had originally paid for but it is  definitely worth buying.

I would love to know your thoughts on this piece, and whether you all think that I should continue to write more about Ayurvedic beauty. I hope you all enjoyed my Lotus Herbals Apriscrub review.

Click here to read more skincare reviews. 

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