Current Favourites- Beauty and Food.

I should have done an April favourites but we are way too into May for that to be justifiable. So here are my current favourites.

First off is foundation. 



Natio Pure Mineral Foundation 
 

Finding a good vegan foundation is nearly impossible. I've spent years trying to find a half decent one but they don't seem to exist.  Liquid ones tend to blend terribly and have little to no coverage, and powders are cakey with no staying power. 

 I was told that Natio was vegan, I was a bit skeptical as it was a non-vegan who told me. Especially as Natio is a rather big name brand, they are in almost all department stores and pharmacies here in New Zealand. 

Being the pessimist that I am, I geared myself up to be told I was misinformed when I emailed the company to ask. 

This was the response:
“Natio’s makeup and nail polish range, including our foundations are also free from animal by-products, meaning that yes, Natio foundations are vegan friendly."  

YAY!! 

 I bought this guy for $25 at Farmers. A bargain considering I had paid upwards of $80 for some foundations in my quest to find a decent vegan one. 

 

 

 

 I was so excited to try this for the first time. I wasn't expecting miracles, but I was hopeful. 

Being a mineral foundation it's not a heavy coverage. I don't have great skin so I do prefer a bit more coverage than this gives. It's very light, I definitely forget I'm wearing it. A major upside is that you don't feel like you've got a face full of make up, you look fresh and dewy.

The one I have is in the shade 'light.'  I am very pale and it can make it rather hard to find a foundation light enough for my skin but Natio's Pure Mineral Foundation is a great match. 

Overall this is a good foundation for the price and 100% the best vegan foundation I've ever come across. No doubt in  my mind that I will buy it again. 





Pureology Perfect 4 Platinum 

 

I've blogged about Pureology before  but this time it is about their Perfect 4 Platinum shampoo and conditioner. 

Although I am not blonde anymore, I was using this when I was a few weeks ago. 

Like foundation, finding vegan shampoo and conditioner can be really tricky and comes with a hefty price tag. That is one of the major down sides to this brand- it isn't cheap. 


Upsides:- They smell amazing. Very sweet and sugary. 

              - Unlike other vegan shampoos and conditioners   
                you  feel like your hair is actually clean. 

              - Not only is it vegan but it's purple shampoo.
                Meaning, it's great for blonde hair. 


I won't be buying this particular one again as I'm no longer blonde, but if you are and don't mind spending a little more on your hair, I recommend this stuff. 






 Cherub Dairy-Free Parmesan

This stuff will be mentioned in a few recipe posts. It is my new faviourte thing when it comes to vegan alternatives. 

 I know it's not great to eat processed food, sometimes I can't help it. I get cheese cravings.

Cherub dairy-free Parmesan is amazing. It lasts for ages, it smells like the real thing, tastes pretty close, and I can't get enough of it.

I bought this for $5.90 at The Cruelty Free Shop . Reasonable for alternative cheese, I reckon. Brilliant on pasta, pizza, mash....  Even my meat eater boyfriend likes it.

 If you can get your hands on this stuff, I urge you to try it.

Alpro Creamy Valina Dessert 

 

If you miss vanilla mousse, or Angel Delight type stuff, then you will adore these.

I tried these creamy desserts for the first time on a trip to the UK, 2 years ago, and loved it. I never expected to see it in New Zealand but about 3-4 months ago I spotted them in a Countdown supermarket.  

They aren't the cheapest thing going, about $6 for a pack of 4 but they are great for a treat. 

If you've tried any of these products, or have some alternatives, please let me know :)

Chocolate Balls- Vegan and Gluten free

These things are genius. 

They are like vegan Snickers. 

 Easy to make and so bloody yummy.

 Ingredients:

1 cup chocolate
3/4 cup maple syrup 
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup chopped nuts 
1 teaspoon vanilla extract. 



Recipe:

1. In a saucepan, on a medium heat, melt the chocolate, maple syrup and peanut butter together. 

2. When all the chocolate is melted and mixture combined, add the chopped nuts, and vanilla. Mix well. 

3. Take off heat and put the mixture into a bowl. Put in the fridge to harden. 1-2 hours.

4. When your Chocolate ball mixture is firm, take it out of the fridge and mold it into any shape you want. I go for balls as I enjoy saying, 'do you want to try my chocolate balls?' 

5. Once shaped, they will begin to go soft again.  Put them in the fridge for 10 minutes. 

6. Serve and enjoy.

I hope you love these as much as I do. They really are a great way to satisfy that chocolate craving. 

Philippines Trip

Apologies as this post has been a long time coming and will be a long post.

In the early hours of Valentines day, I set off for the Philippines (with a 6hr stop in Singapore.) I can't say The Philippines is a place I ever imagined myself visiting, even though I have some relatives and friends there, but I am so glad I did.

This trip was made for a specific reason. After 3 months apart, I got to see my lover boy again!! (yay) And what a perfect day for it.

I flew with Singapore airlines, and for the most they were pretty good. There was a small hiccup with the vegan food. They didn't know the difference between vegetarian and vegan, but it was all very quickly rectified.

 

DAY 1:

  As soon as my feet touched the ground, I was whisked away for a valentines meal at Corner Tree Cafe. They had a special Valentines menu that night, including wine, an entrée, main, and dessert for $20 each . The restaurant is fully vegetarian, but does cater to vegans. As it was a while ago, I can't fully remember what it was that I ate, but I remember it was good. (Sorry I can't give much more info) It is a cute restaurant with a homely feel. Very friendly staff and great vegan food. I was really impressed. I definitely recommend it.

 

DAY 2:

This was the day that I was meant to see two friends that I had met near on 4 years ago, over this lovely thing we call the internet. 

Slice was the restaurant of choice. Although not actually vegan, they were very helpful and happily adapted a meal to suit. 

Without access to the internet while out, I was unable to contact friends, Maia and Alex. Instead I had no option but to sit in Slice for over an hour waiting. (Next time I will make sure I get data of some sort while traveling.) 

Right when I was beginning to feel forgotten about and unloved, :( (i am a drama queen, yes) Maia walked through the door. Though I knew her and her face, it was so strange to put a living, 3D person to the friend I had had for 4 years. 

Unfortunately, only Maia could make it, though I am sure I will get a chance to meet Alex sometime in the near future. 

Some may call me reckless to meet up with people over the internet, but I can, hand on heart, say that I have made the most amazing, genuine friends I have ever had.

In the end, we had a wonderful afternoon, lunch then cocktails. The meet up definitely had the opportunity to be awkward but it was honestly like talking and hanging out with an old and dear friend. And that is truly what Maia is to me, her and all my friends I have made over the years on the web (you know who you are.) 

It was a sad moment when we had to part, knowing I might not see her again. 

If you read this Maia, thank you for meeting with me, you are a wonderful woman.

 

DAY 3: 

Up at 5am. 5am!!!

Had a bus to catch at 6am to go to Batangas port. 

We were off on an romantic island get away. 

After the 2 hour bus trip filled with needing a wee and people starring at my pale white skin and bright blonde hair (something I only started getting used to, 2 days before I was due to leave The Philippines) we arrived at Batangas. Straight onto a boat to take us to Puerto Galera.

I have to say, Manila isn't the most attractive place. No sunshine, no blue sky, it seems quite a dreary place. But not far out of the city, you're in paradise.  

 After an hour on the banca, we hopped straight onto White Beach. People absolutely everywhere, coming up to us from every angle, bombarding me with questions. All in all, making me feel very overwhelmed and uncomfortable. Quickly we found a bar to have a drink, and wait for our ride to take us to our hotel.

I won't deny, when we first stepped foot on White Beach, I became very worried about the standard of living we would have to endure for our trip (I can't help it, I like my home comforts.) From what I saw, most hotels looked like shacks or hotels that's hay day was over 20 years ago. But luckily, we stayed at Amihan Villa

 

Picked up at the bar by a very smiley gentleman, we were driven about 5-10mins up a rather large hill. Got out of the car to be greeted by a meeping goat, that we later named Charles. Up some steps and we reached the most perfect villa. Surrounded by greenery, and the bluest of oceans. 

This place is perfect. It feels so secluded, isolated from the rest of the world. A great place to relax.

The villa itself consists of 5 guest rooms, a pool, kitchen and communal lounge area. We stayed on the first floor, in room 5. I think all the rooms are the same, beautiful, airy, and light. 

 

(Apologies for my lazy arse in that 2nd photo)  Unfortunately I didn't think ahead and take any proper photos of the room.  

I cannot enthuse enough about the staff at Amihan Villa. Gemma and the rest of the team are so helpful and clearly love what they do. Gemma gave us a tip about a private beach less than 5 mins away from where we were. After the overwhelming experience earlier that day of White Beach, a private one sounded amazing.

Perfect white sand, blue sea.  

I'm not one for the ocean, I have a fear of fish. But the sea is so crystal clear, I took my fear head on, and went for a paddle.....for about 2 minutes. IT STILL COUNTS.

 Could a day spent in paradise be ended any other way??? 

  

I discovered a great appreciation for pina coladas while at Puerto Galera. Rupert Homles Escape became our holiday theme tune.

DAY 4:

  

After a good nights sleep I was ready to face the chaos of White Beach.  Maybe walking there in 30+ heat was a bad idea though...

  

As beautiful as the island is, things like this do open your eyes and make it quite clear the sort of poverty a lot of the people live in.  But even though they live in shanty towns like this, everyone I met was so cheerful and friendly.

 Compered to Manila, Puerto Galera is so colourful. It's cheerfulness is almost infectious.

I think I saw more goats in the Philippines than I ever have in my life. This guy was just taking a stroll on the beach.

We spent the majority of the day at the beach, sunning ourselves and jet skiing.   

Went back to the hotel via a tricycle and hung around the pool with pina coladas.

Amihan Villa were very understanding about my food requirements. We ate dinner there twice and both times the food was great and no fuss was made about having to change parts of the meal.

 I also found a deep love for mango while staying here, I must have had 8-9 in a 4 days.

DAY 5:

Time to go back to Manila. But first. PIZZA.

After saying our goodbyes to Gemma and the rest of the staff at Amihan, thanking them for everything. It really was a perfect stay. We headed 5 minutes down the road to Casamia. 

After discovering this restaurant on the first day, it became a favourite. The food was great and the staff amazing.  One quick word with the chef about veganism and they created me the best pizza I've had. I 100% recommend this place if you ever find yourself in the area.

We thought we would just go straight to the boat but I guess we couldn't leave before having another go on a jet ski.

Fully covered in sea salt, eyes burning, we headed to the boat and said goodbye to a wonderful holiday within a holiday.

Bye Charles the Goat.

DAY 6: 

We went shopping.

The malls are ginormous, the crowds ridiculous, and the security... a shock. I never expected to ever need to go through a metal detector and have my bag looked through just to get into a mall. 

But, even still,  a lot of shopping was done at Green Hills and hardly any money spent. 

Even in the normal malls, everything is so much cheaper. I could have totally restocked my wardrobe, cosmetics, home ware.... but that would have been silly. Next time.

DAY 7:

The day I did some learning. 

I think, like most people outside of The Philippines, I don't know much about the country. So I felt like I needed to visit the national museum. 

We got told off after this was taken...

Went back to Alex's, babysat his sister and her friend then got ready to see one of the best shows I've ever seen. 

Alex's parents took us to Club Mwah

 

I can't say I had ever been to a show like it before. Based on the cabarets of Las Vagas and a cast of transvestites, Club Mwah was great. The costumes are all hand made, as are the sets. It's loud, glitzy, and mesmerizing. I really enjoyed my night at Club Mwah. I wish I was able to get some photos of the show itself but we weren't allowed.  

DAY 8: 

More shopping. 

Then lots and lots of booze. 

DAY 9:

My head paid for the heavy night of drinking.

I went with Alex and his family for lunch then more shopping. 

I can't stress enough how cheap everything is.  

DAY 10:

This was a sad day. Nobody likes it when a holiday is over. 

Going to The Philippines was an adventure I never thought I'd go on, but I am beyond happy that I got the opportunity to.

I'm so grateful to Alex's family  for everything they did for me.

I got to meet some amazing people and see some wonderful things. It was truly a holiday I will not forget any time soon. 

Vegan Pad Thai.

This dish is my own take on a traditional Pad Thai.

It was one of my favourite meals as a meat eater, and I didn't want to have to give it up because I had turned vegan. After a few goes at perfecting it, I reached this lovely dish. It's certainly a lot more satay tasting than the original, but it still has that great tamarind, bitter-sweet, taste.

serves: 3-4
Ingredients:

250gm rice noodles
100gm baby spinach
1 spring onion chopped
Whatever other vegetable you desire, I chose broccoli and cauliflower

Sauce:

1 tbsp crushed garlic (you can use less, I'm am just a big fan)
1 cup veg stock
1/2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp minced chilli
1 tbsp tamarind paste
1 tsp crushed ginger
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp peanut butter


1. in a saucepan, boil your rice sticks for 3-4mins. You don't want them fully cooked, as the sauce will continue the cooking later.

2. In a bowl mix all of the sauce ingredients, trying your best to dissolve the peanut butter. (don't worry if it doesn't completely, the heat will do the rest.)

3. Remove your noodles from the heat and strain the water. Keep the noodles to the side.

4. Prepare your veg however you want. Then lightly fry them in a pan.

5. When you are satisfied that your chosen veg is very almost cooked to perfection, add the sauce to the fry-pan.

6. Stir constantly, and allow the veg to finish cooking and the sauce to thicken slightly. After about 3-4 mins add your noodles and spinach, making sure to keep stirring.

7. After 2-3 mins your Pad Thai should be done. Noodles fully cooked, and sauce reduced. Take it off the heat, serve and garnish with spring onion.


Enjoy.

As with everything, there is always room for improvement, so if you have any suggestions or you've given this a go, please let me know.


Rachael xx

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/11724317/?claim=8dwqsy4v86t">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

5 Beauty Products Everyone Should Have

These are some of my favourite beauty products at the moment. All 100% vegan and 100% brilliant. 

A couple of these products I have been using for a long time, others, a couple of months.

First up is Simple's 'Kind to Skin Replenishing Rich Moisturiser.'   

I am a huge fan of simple, and have been since I lived in the UK. As someone who suffers from sensitive skin, this brand is a lifesaver. It has no harsh ingredients that might irritate the skin, just all the kind, loving stuff.  If you have issues with dry skin, definitely give this a go. I find it is rich enough to get rid of those horrible dry patches, but not too heavy that it makes my face feel greasy. Another good thing about this moisturiser is that it works for 12+ hours. I am trying actively to use moisturiser 3 times a day (as I saw the results of this on a relative -looking very good for 60+) but I am rather on the lazy side. So, it is good to know that if I do forget to reapply, it will still be working it's magic. 

The other Simple product on my list is their 'Kind to Skin Moisturising Facial Wash.' 

Again, this stuff is designed especially with sensitive skin in mind. All of the products Simple make are light, gentle, and refreshing. The face wash is no exception to that. 

 Because it's foaming, you get a hell of a lot of use out of the bottle, which is always a plus.  If you do suffer from sensitive skin, you will be happy to know that his product is 100% soap free (YAY!) And because it's moisturising, it wont dry your skin out, like other washes can. Want to know something else great about this brand?  Simple is really affordable! This face wash retails at about NZ$11 and the moisturiser NZ$8. Not bad for some of the most skin friendly products on the market. 

For hair care, I have Pureology 'Essential Repair- Split-end Correcting Treatment.' 

This isn't' something I actually went out and bought. And I know, had it not been given to me by my wonderful friend Nick, I never would have tried it. However, I am SO glad he did gift it to me. This stuff is great. I am yet to try other products made by Pureology, but if this is anything to go by, I need to get my hands on some more of their stuff! Not only does this smell like sweets, it visibly improves the condition of your hair, while prolonging colour after dying. It also has organic ingredients in it, which is always nice to see. One thing I will say, is that you really need to make sure you brush your hair thoroughly after using this, so as to avoid greasy clumps.

I've tried a lot of vegan hair products over the years, and it can be very hard to find ones that work as well as their non-vegan counterparts, but I have found a product that works better than any non-vegan product I ever used.

I've got two Lush products to show you, the first is 'Tea Tree Water.'

I tend to be quite wary of tea tree products, as when I was younger I had a bit of a reaction with it. But for some reason, this toner works fine with my skin, I've had no issues with irritation or dryness. One thing I've always disliked about toners is that they can leave your skin feeling very tight, even after applying moisturiser. I've been using this product for over a month now, and haven't had any of that tight skin feeling. So, I definitely recommend if that is something you dislike about other toners. I don't just use the Tea Tree Water on a cotton pad, to wipe away excess dirt, but it also works well as a face refresher. Because it's a spray, it is great to just spritz directly to the face, leaving it feeling cleaner and fresher. As tea tree is a natural antibiotic and antiseptic, it is amazing at helping clear up spots and blemishes. 

Lastly, is another Lush product 'Charisma Skin Tint'

Skin tints have a few uses. The first is as a tinted moisturiser. Just add a small amount to your everyday moisturiser and voila. The second thing this is good for, is as a contour or bronzer. It does look very dark in the bottle, but don't fret, it doesn't apply that dark. This product builds as you go, so it is great if you are someone like me, and often makes mistakes. It's third use is great for summer, or if you are a bit partial to fake tanning. I won't lie, I don't tan very well at all, red is about the only shade, other than white, that I go. However, fake tan is a great alternative to not only getting sunburt, but also premature skin ageing that the sun can cause. 

Downside to suddenly having skin a few shades darker? Having to get new foundation, either that, or applying bronzer by the bucket load. But never fear! Much like how this can be used as a tinted moisturiser, it can also be used to darken your foundation. As I said before, it builds as you go, so you can easily get the perfect colour to match your bronzed body. This stuff works well with other products, mixing in perfectly, so there is no separating or uneven finishes. 



Hope you found this little bloggy blog useful. 

Rachael x

Who am I and What am I Doing Here?

If I go by my Twitter/Instagram description I am:

 Brit living in Kiwiland, writer, music lover, vegan, crazy person, boosh obsessed cat owner who is disliked by her cats, sister, daughter.

What does that all mean, you ask? Well, let me explain. 

I'm Rachael, a 22 year old lady (Ooh lady, very nice) from Surrey. My family and I moved to the great old 'Land of the Long White Cloud', near on 9 years ago, and since then, I have resided in Auckland city. 

source: en.wikipedia.org

In my heart of hearts, I am a writer. Fiction is my main love but I have been published in magazines. 

And most importantly to this blog, I am a vegan. 

Source: vegansociety.com/

My change to veganism from a very meat heavy diet, started over 4 years ago. 

Since becoming vegan, I have made it my mission to show people that it is possible to live a cruelty free lifestyle without giving up any of the comforts we have grown to love. 

And that is what this blog is all about. 

Letting people see how easy it is to lead a guilt free life without having to forgo the things we love. I am talking ,food, make-up, clothing, travel, and all things lifestyle.

So, if this sounds right up your alley, give this blog a follow. 

If you have any questions, or would like to work with me, please email rachaelclaudette@gmail.com

Thanks,

Rachael  

                                       

Ⓥ