It feels like it’s been a while since I sat down to talk about beauty products exclusively. I gave this post a miss last year while I was still figuring the whole cruelty free thing out and attempting a project pan, but I finally feel like I know what I like again and have a few favourite cruelty free brands and I’m ready to try a few new things.
As far as my cruelty free status goes, the only things I have left now are a few old eyeshadow palettes and a couple of powder blush pans that are slowly going down in their own time, but foundations, concealers, skincare (barring one cream I use when my skin is having a major sensitivity reaction) and any cream makeup products are all exclusively CF now.
As always, there are a couple of repurchased items here and a few newer ones too; I’m starting with the repurchased items because there are a couple of cruelty free discoveries in here that I’ve been really excited about.
Repurchases
SOS SPF
50ml, £17, vegan
The first time I tried this, it was sent to me, but I’ve purchased it a few times since. My skin is basically sun intolerant. It burns even with SPF 50, even when I’m fully covered, even when I’m only in the sun for 10 minutes. And my skin is also really sensitive to SPF; I react to almost all of them. So, I’m incredibly loyal to them when I do find one I love, and giving up my La Roche Posay one was quite a daunting thought at the time, but I love this one.
It absorbs like a serum, looks like skin when worn alone, leaves no residue, leaves no white cast, sits beautifully under makeup, isn’t drying, doesn’t contain any drying alcohols and I’m basically never trying another new one again. She’s perfect. And this one here is the 50ml, but it also comes in a travel sized 15ml and a supersize 200ml. See, perfect.
(This was the final thing I ordered and at time of posting hadn’t arrived yet, so please excuse the old image from the first time I posted about this product.)
Elf Putty Bronzer
£6, vegan
Okay, I’ve used this before, but this is a new shade for me. I’ve used the cool, palest shade as a cream contour for about a year now, but this is my first time using this as a bronzer. I have the palest warm shade, Tan Lines, and I already know how soft and creamy this formula is when it comes to blending out, so I’m very excited to give this a try. I’m not the biggest bronzer fan and only really use it in summer, so I’m hoping I can also double this shade up as a cream shadow base (latte vibes).
Morphe 2 Skin Tint
30ml, £16, vegan
I hate the fact that I like this, but I love this skin tint. The formula is extremely watery, which I know some people despise, but that’s my favourite kind of ‘barely there’ skin tint. My skin is dry, so I prefer watery formulas because they leave less visible texture on the skin. A couple of drops give your skin but better finish, but it can also be built up to a light-medium foundation-esque coverage.
The shade range on this is pretty poor. As you can probably tell looking at this bottle, it’s far too dark for me, but if I only use a drop of too for a light tint, you can’t really tell on the skin unless the lighting is harsh because it’s so sheer. The undertone of the palest warm shade (Crème) is perfect for my skin which makes the lack of match less visible. I wouldn’t be trying to build this up to get more coverage though.
New Stuff
Elf Lash N Roll Mascara
9.2g, £6, vegan
If anyone has been around for a while, you’ll know that my lashes and mascara don’t mix any more and mascara is a bit of a special occasion/ treat for me these days. As a result, I only buy really cheap mascaras, or minis. But before switching to cruelty free, the mascara that I found to be most gentle on my lashes was Benefit Roller Lash, and this mascara is a mere £6 a tube, vegan and supposed to be a dupe for that one. I haven’t tried it yet, so I don’t know whether I’ll lose all my lashes when it comes to trying to take it off, but I’m hoping this one wears like Roller Lash, and I can hopefully start wearing mascara more frequently again.
Huda Beauty Glowish Skin Tint
40ml, £34, vegan
Yes, another skin tint, but this one comes with far better shade options than the last one I mentioned. Morphe have a habit of discontinuing everything after it’s been out 10 minutes, so I’ve been making a shirt list of other CF skin tints that don’t contain SPF that I could try instead, and this one is my first, and I love it. It dries down beautifully while still looking glowy, blends well and wears well throughout the day. Because it feels like a more satin finish on the skin, I’m not sure if this one will be with me during winter too or whether my skin will be too dry, but for now, this one is perfect.
When I added this to my wishlist, the lightest warm shade (0) was out of stock for months, so I got the shade 00 and hoped for the best. It’s a bit too pink, but one drop of a warmer toned foundation (80:20) seems to be enough to neutralise it, or wearing it alone and dusting a little bit of Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder in Diffused Light (pale yellow) also does the job and leaves a fresh glow.
That’s it! Not a great deal, but more than I’ve bought in one go since I’ve been phasing out my old and trying to go fully cruelty free.
Have you tried any of these products? Which are your favourites?
Until next time,
Sophie
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