Jolie Beauty "Sorceress" Gothic Eyeshadow Palette Review

Since becoming vegan nearly four years ago, it's become apparent to me that some of my makeup is not! I've bought cruelty free for many years now but there's a catch - cruelty free doesn't necessarily mean vegan, and a product being labelled as vegan only refers to its ingredients and not whether it's been tested on animals.

This can be confusing and doesn't make a lot of sense, so there are definitely some products I own, mainly eyeshadow palettes, that could contain nasty ingredients like carmine. Personally I feel it's wasteful to throw these products out, especially as many of them were high end purchases, so I'm using them up but it has left me hunting high and low for cruelty free beauty brands that are clear about whether their products are vegan.

Enter Jolie Beauty. With their vast range of vegan  products, they've been a very welcome new find. There's so much I'd love to try from their range, but as somebody drawn to witchy vibes, crystals and intentions all year (not just Halloween!) their new Sorceress eyeshadow palette couldn't be more up my street.

The packaging is beautiful - the deep purple palette and it's protective sleeve are decorated with the most beautiful illustration by Em Eato. The palette itself has a good sized mirror and is surrounded by gold detailing including the words "you look simply bewitching" for a really magical  finish.

Designed to make you feel empowered and beautiful, the Sorceress palette is aptly named. It has a few neutrals which are useful for transitions but really the 28 shade colour palette is designed to create a fully transformative experience (that's half the fun of makeup, for me!) Unlike their other warm toned palettes (and let's be honest, the market has become saturated with those) this Gothic palette is predominantly cool toned - including some beautiful smoky greys, purples and greens. There are also some really unique transformer shades including Transform and Shapeshifter (both of which have a 3 way colour shift which is truly magical) Luna Eclipse, a duochrome, and Dreamcatcher which is an amazing pure black shimmer. There are also several pressed glitters which are perfect for finishing a look. There's a great selection of mattes, shimmers, glitters and duochromes creating a really versatile colour story.

The pressed glitters are particularly unusual to me - in the past I've had next to no luck with glitter in this form but these are very pigmented and striking when applied using a finger (glitter and brushes never seem to mix well in my experience!) I'll be using these on the lash line from now until January when I need a pick me up - tis the season, after all! For more tips with these I'd recommend checking out the Jolie Beauty pressed glitter tips video. The other shades are lovely to work with - they feel pigmented, blend well, and I haven't had issued with fallout (although I don't listen to my own advice, I would generally still recommend applying foundation AFTER a smoky eye to avoid potential fallout ruining base application. But I didn't, and it was ok!) I'm obsessed with the transformer shades too, being a bit of a magpie, I love pressing these into the centre of the eye for a really interesting shift. The shadows don't seem prone to staining either, which is always a welcome relief.

My favourite thing so far to do with this palette has been to create a deep green smoky eye, à la Yennefer from The Witcher. The beauty of this being it can be quick and a little imperfect (after all I have a 17 month old!) but is still striking. Pressing Shapeshifter into the middle of the eye adds a little bit of magic to my everyday. To be honest, that's why I love makeup - it's not just about the way it looks, it can really transform the way you feel and for me the Sorceress palette is a perfect example of that.

For you, would this palette be for Halloween or for every day?

*ad - Sorceress palette gifted for review, all opinions my own.

Lyonsleaf Balms for Nappy Rash + discount code!

If you read the Green Parent magazine, you may have seen that Lyonsleaf won a gold award in the Natural Beauty Bible for their Calendula and Marshmallow Balm. I've been testing this out for a couple of months now, along with their Zinc and Calendula nappy cream (a different variety also perfect to be used as a nappy cream) so I could give them a thorough performance review. I've struggled to find it hard an ethical, natural baby balm that we get along with so I was very excited to have the opportunity to test these products out!

Christmas Charity Offer at the Nappy Den

 

I'm so proud to be an ambassador for The Nappy Den with the fantastic Christmas charity offer Lorna has come up with. There are 50 Mama Koala designs onsite now - the nappies cost £12 including the inserts and £1 from each nappy will be going to a charity chosen at checkout, either NSPCC, CLIC Sargent or Tommys.

Mama Koala are a generously sized birth to potty pocket nappy. Actually, these were the first printed pocket nappy I purchased. This time last year we had a perfectly reasonable stash of Little Lamb and Miosolo nappies but I guess these were my gateway into trying different styles - something I'm glad I did as we now have found options that work better for our Eden (actually, we still love little lambs, but Miosolos never fit her well due to their shape - all babies are different!) These days Mama Koalas tend to be a great reliable nappy to grab quickly, they're good for an extra quick change due to only having two poppers (J appreciates this, as does wriggly Eden) making them a good option for those new to cloth or even childcare. The pocket is generous and comes with two bamboo inserts that dry quickly, but pockets are particularly useful at this time of year as the shells dry so quickly they can be stuffed with any absorbent booster for a fast turnover. Mama Koala nappies come in a minky or PUL finish - this is Eden's first minky nappy and it's so soft and lovely.

Christmas Gift Charity nappies are now up on the site available for immediate dispatch - naturally given the charitable nature of the item discount codes won't be applicable on these, but you can use LittlePackDen10 to get 10% off on other items onsite.

Have you tried Mama Koala nappies?

*Nappy kindly gifted for review, all opinions are my own.

Who Gives A Crap Toilet paper

 

It's an awkward time to chat about bulk buying toilet paper considering the baffling reaction to lockdown earlier in the year... BUT, we've been meaning to switch to Who Gives A Crap toilet paper for a long time to reduce our plastic consumption.

Lyonsleaf Skincare

Recently I received the most beautiful skincare package from Lyonsleaf - a brand I'm incredibly excited to be showcasing here as I have so much genuine admiration for their ethos.

Lyonsleaf use waterless formulas which means no emulsifiers or preservatives are required to stabilise them. They grow their own herbs on their farm in Somerset, soon to be certified organic, and infuse them with natural plant oils in small batches. The parcel was totally recyclable and biodegradable with minimal plastic used in product packaging - in fact, their manifesto is "Our mission in life is to provide 100% natural, safe, effective, cruelty free skincare, suitable for the whole family and all skin types (even very sensitive skin), at a price affordable to ordinary people, with the least environmental impact as possible." They've won multiple Green Parent beauty awards this year, including for their Zinc and Calendula Cream and Marshmallow Facial Oil, and with such good values and fantastic customer reviews it's clear as to why.

Eden Wax Melts

I love a hygge home so I tend to use candles and wax melts year round, but it always feels particularly special to use them in autumn as the evenings draw in and we naturally spend more time cosied up indoors. I was sent four fragrances to try from Eden Wax Melts including elderflower which is sweet and gentle, lemongrass and lime which is very zesty, aloe and cucumber which is a lovely clean fragrance, and rhubarb and rose - my personal favourite. These soy wax melts are handmade and made to order using vegan soya wax and are sent in plastic free packaging - what a lovely small UK business to support. Naturally I adore that they're called Eden, too.

Bra & Bebe nursing bra

 

It occurred to me recently that I've barely worn a "proper" bra for nearly two years. During pregnancy underwired bras can dig into sensitive breast tissue (not to mention I found them extremely uncomfortable) and postpartum I've been nursing for 16 months and counting! I've found this quite limiting to my wardrobe - although some breastfeeding mums are quite happy to work around their regular wardrobe, I've never quite got the hang of it. I hate having to practically undress if Eden wants some milk, so even now 16 months on I'm still living in nursing bras. This isn't necessarily a problem - the main thing is they're very comfortable! - but they tend to be very plain. That's fine most of the time but sometimes it's nice to wear something that feels a bit special, a bit pretty. The high street seems to be extremely limited when it comes to nursing wear in general, so I was thrilled to discover Bra and Bebe. They sell some beautiful designs that are perfect for pregnancy and nursing, and I'm so thankful that the lovely Daria gifted me a grey lace nursing bra for review. It's by far the most beautiful nursing bra that I own.

Going vegan: getting started

 

Continuing with my vegan series, I want to focus less on the "why" (you can scroll back for plenty of reasons!) and more on the "how". I know lots of people support the idea and intention of a compassionate lifestyle but don't know where to start. So today I'm going to post a few tips to think about when getting started.