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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. 

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!

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”

Patanjali Amla Hair Oil Review

Bath & Body, Beauty, General, Hair Care, Reviews

Patanjali Amla Hair Oil Review

Generally speaking, Ayurveda is widely regarded as a traditional medical science which originated from the Vedas in India but it covers a much broader spectrum of health and well being from beauty to yoga and so on. Today the remedies that are provided by Ayurveda are well established in the field of beauty and alternative medicine. It is definitely something that I have been quite keen in learning more about, those of you that have been following my blog for quite some time will be aware of my interest in Ayurveda, I’ve even blogged about an Ayurvedic beauty product before (Ayurvedic Beauty: Neem Mask ).

Amla Hair Oil Review

The Amla hair oil is produced by the company Patanjali, which specialise in Ayurvedic products and also sell food that are produced by people in the rural areas of India. Amla, also known as Indian gooseberry, are typically used in hair care products and is used specifically for the purpose of strengthening the roots and thus preventing hair fall. On the packaging it also states that it can also be used to prevent split ends and the inevitable graying of hair; I assume that for you to actually see the results you would have to use it over a long period like most herbal products.

 

From my experience the best way to actually put the oil on is by taking a little bit of oil at a time, massage it on your scalp and then gradually work on the rest of your hair. It is recommended to keep the oil on for at least half an hour before washing it out, but this could depend on your hair length and type, I have left the oil in my hair for roughly 2 hours but it’s entirely up to you! I particularly like the texture of the Amla hair oil as it doesn’t seem to stick to your hands, but I must admit that it has quite a strong smell, so it’s definitely best to use on a day off.

The only real problem that I would say that I have with the product is the flimsy cap, I had to put quite a lot of cello tape around the cap just to secure it when I was travelling back from India to the U.K. In India, I had bought the 100ml bottle of the hair oil for 40 rupees, which works out to be just over 40p. Unfortunately, on Amazon it is sold for a little bit more than what it is in India but I guess that is expected, online it is sold for £4.60. Although that may seem to be quite a bit for a 100ml bottle of hair oil, it is actually worth buying as the oil itself works quite well in small quantities, so I would definitely recommend it to you all!

It would be great to know what your thoughts are on this post, and whether any of you have tried Amla hair oil before. I hope you all enjoyed my Patanjali Amla Hair Oil Review. 🙂

Click here to read my hair care review. 

Eriis for Sun Review

Bath & Body, Beauty, General, Reviews, Skincare

Now that spring is finally here and the sun keeps coming and going for a few hours, I thought that it would only be fitting to dedicate a post to the new season.

Most people assume that using any kind of skincare products with SPF (Sun Protection Factor) are restricted for the summer but you can still be exposed to UV rays regardless of what colour the clouds look like outside. I’ll be honest I am not usually someone that has paid much attention to the SPF count in skincare products, but as the effects of global warming are becoming increasingly clear in our everyday life, it seems absurd to not consider ways of avoiding skin damage.

About Eriis for Sun

ERiiS for Sun – Latte Solare Sun Protection Milk

Eriis for Sun is a skin care range produced by the Italian company Iridiem Pharma and have been created specifically to protect all skin types from UVA, UVB and infra-red rays (including sensitive skin like mine). The skin care range produced by Iridiem Pharma are vegan, cruelty free, halal and FDA approved. So the protection milk can be used by all without any problems whatsoever.

This specific Sun Protection Milk is SPF30, providing high protection for when you are outside and on the go. If you are in the sun for quite some time then it’s best to reapply the milk to your skin so that your skin is protected properly throughout the day. Initially, once you spray the milk it looks like a cream but the milk has quite a light, almost weightless texture to it and blends into the skin quite easily without leaving that oily effect that creams have a tendency of doing. In the past few days I have actually been using this product as both a moisturiser and a primer, since the foundation I use has an SPF count of 15, which has lasted for most of the day for me. (I have to admit I do love the clean smell to it.)

Where to get it:

The ERiiS for Sun protection milk can be bought online from Vie Healthcare and is sold for roughly £15-£20, depending on the SPF that you want. I personally received the product from Sam Jennings PR Group and would genuinely like to thank them for introducing me to this awesome product. You can also buy the Eriis for Sun from Amazon.

Are Eriis for Sun cruelty free?

On the Iridiem Pharma website it’s not particularly clear whether their product is cruelty free or not, so I had to confirm via email before using and posting. I thought that I should share a quote of the confirmation with you all.

“Paola Borgomastro from Iridiem Pharma confirms that ERiiS Sun is vegan and vegetarian friendly. In the formula there are not any animal derived ingredients. The ERiiS Sun range also has not been tested on animals.” 

Remember to apply the protection milk to your necks, hands and arms!

P.S: Click here for more skincare reviews. 

5 Cruelty-free Salons in London

Beauty, General, Hair Care, London

5 Cruelty-free salons in London

I haven’t been posting as much due to the fact that I am in my final year of university and I’ve been juggling many different projects in one go. Whilst I have been on my quest to find all things cruelty free there is one particular thing that stood out to me the most – it is extremely rare to find a high end cruelty free salon in London! There are many different types of salons in London that use organic products but I found out from one of my followers that the products used have misleading animal testing policies. So I decided to do some more research into the nature of different salons and present to you 5 cruelty free, and vegan, salons across London! I hope this is useful for all my Londoners, and to anyone visiting London.

Cruelty-free haircuts in London

1.THE RABBIT HOLE – Is probably the most famous vegan salon in London. The Rabbit Hole is based in Shepherds Bush, West London and all of the products used are vegan. The website looks as though it may be under construction, but you can check out the Facebook and Twitter accounts to find out more about the salon. I wonder if they like to throw Tea Parties…

2. GLASSHOUSE SALON – Is based in Hackney, near the famous Broadway Market and a bus journey away from Stratford. This salon are well known for their specialist organic colour treatments using the cruelty free Organic Colour Systems range. The Glasshouse Salon really do incorporate their value of sustainability in every aspect of their company and one thing I do admit that I love is that they have explicitly made clear that one of their hair waxes contain bee wax – so honest!

3. MUKU HAIR – Based in one of my favourite parts of London, Shoreditch; for those of you that are not familiar with Shoreditch it is the historic East End of London that is full of art pretty much everywhere you walk. The Philosophy of Muku Hair is grounded in the Japanese meaning of the word Muku, pure and natural, which they definitely live up to by using Pureology’s 100% vegan products.

4. ENA SALON – Is another salon that values both cruelty free products and sustainability. Ena Salon is based in Covent Garden, in the heart of London and literally a walk away from the Thames. They use and distribute an eco salon Italian hair care product range called Davines, which does not test on animals as per the EU ban on animal testing made in 2009.

5. ROCOCO ORGANIC SALON – Has been certified both vegan and cruelty free by PETA. Is based in Clapham and is a walk away from Battersea Rise (A3), which has plenty of places to shop and eat. They pride themselves in their use of organic products and currently have 20% off of their services for first time customers.

It’s a shame that I’ve only found 5 so far, it seems as though many of the salons that boast about using organic hair care ranges hide the fact that their seemingly eco-friendly products are not so animal friendly (*cough Redken and Aveda cough*). I hope you all enjoyed my guide on 5 Cruelty-free Salons in London.

If you are a cruelty-free salon that would like to advertise on here, get in touch. 

For more London posts, click here. 

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