Since two years ago, I've been trying to live a healthier lifestyle. I exercise three times a week and have stopped eating red meat, incorporating more veggies and fruits into my diet. Sugary drinks were banished from my menu and most sugary foods have disappeared from my regular diet. That doesn't mean that I don't eat ice cream or chocolates, but I treat them as indulgences, a once-in-a-while treat. I actually lost weight and felt so much better!
That motivated me to green-ify other aspects of my life. Makeup is a major passion of mine, if you hadn't noticed ;), so I looked into going cruelty-free. I didn't think it was possible but after some light research, I realized it wasn't difficult. Some of the blogs I find most helpful are crueltyfreekitty and Logical Harmony. Cruelty-free mean different things to different people. For me, the products must be verified by PETA/Leaping Bunny/similar entity and cannot be sold in China. If the brand is owned by a parent company that tests but the brand itself is cruelty-free, I still choose to support it. This stance isn't very popular but I hope my readers and future readers can respect my decision. As sentient beings, we can decide for ourselves what is right for our lifestyle. Criticism and comments are always welcome on my blog but they must be presented with respect. I do not tolerate vitriolic or hateful speech in real life and my blog is a personal extension of me. So now that we have that out of the way, let's go down my journey!
I started by purchasing only items that were cruelty-free. That meant that most of my favorite drugstore brands were off limits. That was a double-edged sword; I couldn't recommend some of my favorite items but at least my wallet was happy with the shorter list of available wish list items. Luckily for me, Sally Hansen, Wet n Wild and NYX are cruelty-free so I happily continued to buy from them. I was always overwhelmed by other brands but since I could not longer consciously purchase from them, it gave me the time to look over and buy things I had been curious about for the longest time, like the NYX HD Concealer and Prismatic Eyeshadows.
I didn't have much trouble sticking to my guns about this because I already had so much stuff. However, when the special collections were released, I was sorely tempted to pick up some things but they weren't cruelty-free! Thinking about sad bunnies and that helped me resist--works like a charm every time. There are some really graphic photos out there but I'm not going to do that to my readers. I'm quite squeamish myself and I don't want to traumatize y'all. Google at your own risk!
Recently, though, I decided to kick it up a notch. I sorted through my vast makeup collection, separating the cruelty-free stuff from the non-CF stuff. Quite surprisingly, most of my high end stuff was CF, so I could keep those. Most of my non-CF items came from the drugstore--what's up with that? I contemplated what to do about the non-CF stuff and have come to the conclusion that it will stay in my collection. Tossing it out would cause waste and that goes against my "green" lifestyle. Also, my mom would probably yell at me about wasting money. So, I'm going to keep using them up but will not repurchase. That was a hard-ish decision for me because my HG mascara, under-eye concealer, eyeliner and foundation are unfortunately non-CF. But the silver lining is that this is the perfect opportunity to try new stuff--shopping spree!
I'm starting off with makeup since that's the easiest part to go through. I have several posts about my process so keep your eye on the blog! The first post will be going up on Friday. As I continue to sort through the rest of my beauty stash, skincare and body/haircare will be the next areas I clean up!
Since I'm trying to get rid of the non-CF stuff, I'm putting them front and center in my collection so that I remember to use it. I'll continue to write about them because my blog reflects what I'm currently using and loving but when I write about Cruelty-free items, I will be sure to mark it. I'm hoping that by June 2017, I will have gone through most of my non-CF and will write exclusively about cruelty-free beauty. To keep myself accountable, September 2016 will be my first check-in. By then, I hope to go through at least 10 items--that seems like a reasonable goal, no? I don't like to pigeonhole myself so I'll leave it up to my future self to decide what those items are. Sample Weekly Edits won't count since they're a separate series. I haven't decided if I will include those Dirty 10 (as I've nicknamed them) in my monthly empties posts or if they should be a separate post. I don't want to hold onto empty packaging but I don't want to lose count either. Help me decide, good readers of this blog!
What do you think about cruelty-free?
Should it be more strictly defined?
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