Save your Beagle & Mousy friends from breeding for animal testing!!

I received an email with a link to this petition from BUAV or British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection. If you've never heard of them they are an animals rights organization in Britain, which -among other things-want to end all animal testing. 

This petition is to reject a proposal to from Bantin and Kingman Universal Limited (B&K) to construct a beagle and rodent breeding farm. No doubt these animal would be used for animal testing purposes. 
To read more about the situation please click on the link & also SIGN the petition.

I know I'm always hesitant to sign petitions because I wonder if my signature will make any difference. Change happens gradually & your signature is very important though it might not always seems like it. Also share this with your fb friends, your real friends, your mom and your mom's friends! Spreading the news is the first step to making a change. 

Lots of Love,
Camila

7-Day Shadow Challenge | How It was a Fail & Another look

Yes! I know, I know! My outfit is not the most fashionable, but yeah it's late & I get cold really REALLY easily!

Not sure what the 7-Day Challenge is? Click here to find out!

Hey guys!

So, I'm not sure if anyone has noticed, but my whole "7-Day Shadow Challenge" was a fail. "Camila, what do you mean?", you might be wondering? My original plan was to create a different look each day of the week. Starting with last Saturday. Well, it's been a week & Including today's post I've only uploaded four times! I will humbly admit I took on way more than I could manage. Well, what can you do? 

Meanwhile, I very much like the heart behind this idea. It made me not only us my makeup more, but it also gave me a push to be creative and daring with my looks. I'm feel very much inspired to try different things!

Though, I am ending this challenge, I will continue to post quick pictures of my most interesting eye looks! Most of you seemed to like it & it's fun.

What I used:

♥#3 all over the lid

♥#4 on the outer corner in a cat-eye shape.

♥#4 also, on the lower-outer lid.

♥#3 also, on the inner, lower lid. It's the bronzy shade you see there.

♥#2, a tiny bit on the crease

♥#1 on the inner corner!

7-Day Shadow Challenge Smokey! 'Cranberry Smoke' | Day 4

Hey guys!
I'm so proud of this look! It's a bit smokey, yet appropriate for the day & depending on where you work, for work!
It's also, in my humble opinion, so so pretty!

What I used:

♥ # 2 all over the lid

♥#3 on the inner corner, just a tiny bit for definition

♥  #4 for the outer part of eye, I packed it over my black pencil liner and using soft motions, I smoked it out. 

I tried to do a slight cat-eye shape.

& A tiny but on my outer-lower lash line.

♥ A little about # 4. It's a beautiful cranberry color! I don't know why, maybe it's because the Christmas season is creeping up on me, I'm just noticing how pretty this shade is!

I have two exams this week. One tomorrow & one on friday! Ah! Wish me luck!

Hope your week is less stressful than mine!

Lots of Love,

Camila

7-Day Shadow Challenge | Day 3

Not sure what the 7-Day Challenge is? Click here to find out!

Hey guys! I must admit, while this challenge is fun it's no joke! It's not necessarily hard coming up with different looks,finding the time is the hard part. 

Also, it's just like me to start this challenge on a finals week. LOL :D 

What I used:

 ♥ #2 all over the lid

 ♥#3 in the crease

 ♥#7 to on the lower outer part of the eye.

 ♥#1 on the inner corner!

While this is a fun look, it's not one of my most creative! 

Lots of Love,

Camila 

P.S. What is your go to look?

7-Day Challenge | Day # 2

Not sure what the 7-Day Challenge is? Click here to find out!

I used:

 ♥# 2 all over the lid

 ♥# 3 to define my crease

 ♥# 7 over my pencil-liner for definition

I'm really happy with how it turned out! 

#5 has a slight warm tone, which is really brought out in combination with # 3. 

I'm excited to see what I come up with tomorrow!! <3

Lots of Love,

Camila :P

P.S. Feel free to live me suggestions! 

Comfort Zone Palette w/ SWATCHES + 7-Day Shadow Challenge | All Cruelty-Free

These shadows don't have names so I've gone ahead and given each a number. 

Hey guys! ;)

So, this past Friday I was franticly looking through my makeup cabinet! I was late for school (story of my life) and I was planning to apply my foundation, etc... at school.

I ended up grabbing this palette. I've had it for at least 6 months now & have barely touched it. I re-discovered it & I wanted to share it's beauty with you all. Also, it gave me the inspiration for what I'm calling "The 7-Day Shadow Challenge".

It's the wet n' wild palette Comfort Zone.

It retails for $4.99!

from Left: 1  , 2  ,3  , 4  

♥These shadows are ridiculous pigmented and super "buttery".

♥They live up to their hype

♥ If you like prefer nude shadows you'll love these four! 

♥ My favorite is # 2.

 ♥ # 3 is the PERFECT bronze color!

from Left: 1  , 2  ,3  , 4

from Left: # 5  ,6  , 7  , 8

♥#5 looks really silver, though it definitely has silver tones it's very much a toupe color. 

♥ # 6 is such a pretty green color. It gives this mostly nude palette a splash of soul.

♥ #7 is soooo pigmented. Tred lightly friends. Also, the gold is gorgeous.

♥ # 8 is was so hard to photograph. It's a very warm brown color with blue shimmers. <3

♥ P.S. # 8 is my favorite! 

So, what is this "7-Day Shadow Challenge"?

I am basically going to only use the Comfort Zone palette this week! 

Why am I doing this you might be wondering?

Well, here's a beauty confession for you: 

I usually don't wear eyeshadow at all!

Yes, I know shame on me! SHOCKING!

I frankly have little to no time in the mornings! (excuses, excuses....)

But really, I need to stop being so lazy; although, hitting the snooze button is such a nice feeling...

I also thought it'd be fun to share with you guys what I come up with! 

I'm feeling really REALLY excited for this challenge! 

Feel free to join me! Use any palette you'd life. Preferably, one you often ignore!

Rules:

♥Post a picture everyday for a week, with the look you come up with for that day.

♥You can use any mascara and/or eyeliner combo you'd like.

♥CANNOT use any other palette 

♥You cannot repeat a look but you CAN use the same color combination as long as the looks are DIFFERENT

This is LOOK #1. 

Colors used:

♥#1 inner color, both top & bottom

♥#2 on lid

♥#3 on crease for definition

♥#8 on top of black pencil liner & on lower lash line!

Thanks for reading this! It was quite a photo-filled post! I hope you found it interesting & will follow me on this challenge! If you decide to join me PLEASE let me know! I would love to see the pictures of your looks!

Lots of Love,
Camila

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P.S. You can find Wet N' Wild products easily on amazon. I know they're hard to come by if you live in the UK. 

What's in My Makeup Bag? | Mini Review

Hey guys. This post is purely, spur of the moment. I was sitting here, thinking up ideas for this blog and decided to talk about the things I carry in my tiny makeup bag. It's a mixture of new products I'm testing out and my "must haves".

I will be featuring just 4 of the products in my bag. If I was to talk about all of them, this post would be more like an essay. I will just go ahead & list of what I have here:

1. wet n wild Coverall Pressed Powder 

2.Real Techniques: i. contour brush, ii.base shadow brush, iii. brow brush

3. Physicians Formula: Organic wear Tinted Moisturizer in Natural to Tan

4. wet n wild's Take on the Day Eyeshadow primer (from Fergie's line)

5. wet n wild's Mega Liner in Black

6.  Milani Color Statement Lipliner: True Instant Color in 02 TRUE RED

7.  Emani's Brow & Liner, Coco-brow trio 

* I have a review on this product, click link if you're interested! 

I do carry a lip-balm. I have the lemon EOS one but because my makeup bag is small I keep it in another pocket of my backpack and forgot to include it. :P

1. wet n wild" coverall Pressed Powder 
I usually use tinted moisturizers and it gives me just enough extra coverage. It claims to be an "all day wear" product, however, I do find myself having to reapply it at least once, through out the day. It also claims to "reduce the appearance of wrinkles...", I'm sure about that, but I will say it makes my skin look soft. I find it a very close dupe for the Rimmel Stay Matte Powder, it gives me that same look and feel. (Which I'd used in the past).

2. Physicians Formula: Organic Wear Tinted Moisturizer in Natural to Tan
This one is new and so far I really like it. My skin is far from perfect and I find this provides me with enough coverage to even out my skin tone. Does it erase my spots and/or does it conceal my under-eye circles? No, I would still use a concealer for that. It will only give you a light coverage, so if you're looking for a product like that, I recommend you give it a try. It also has SPF 15. Also, it only comes in two color selections. I find this color a tiny bit light for my complexion. However, that might be because of the SPF. 

3. Wet N' Wild: Take on the Day Eyeshadow Primer:

I am so pleased with this product. I've seen a couple of reviews on Fergie's line for WNW and so I thought about picking up this very carefully. I figured, since I don't have many eyeshadow primers I'd give this one a go & I'm so glad I did. I can't speak about the rest of Fergie's line but I'm super impressed with this primer. You need just the smallest dot amount to get your shadow to last. I literally mean, tiny amount. This has helped my liner (the one featured here) maintain its crisp-line and it DOES NOT flake or smudge on me at all! 

4. Milani Color Statement Lip liner: True Instant Color in 02 TRUE RED

It's beyond smooth! I didn't know what to expect. When I think of other liners available in the drug-store I think: "drying, hard to apply, sheer... "First this is a beautiful red, it's not overly orangey (which don't get me wrong, I like) or too fuchsia it's, imagine that, a true red color. It glides on like butter and will not move! I want to pick up more Milani products. 

I hope this post wasn't too long & fun to read! I'm trying new content here & I really hope you guys like it! 

Lots of Love,

Camila

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Emani Vegan Cosmetics | Mineral Eyeshadow, Mascara, Brow-Trio and Brush Review

 ****These were sent to me to review. This review is 100% based on my experience and I will not be receiving compensation for reviewing these products. I love you guys! 

Crushed Minerals Color Dust in : Champagne

I was really confused about the name of this shadow. Champagne? Sure it's shimmer but it reminds me more of a rose gold color. 

On Eyes: The shadow itself is beautiful. It was frustrating taking these pictures because I don't think my camera did it justice. I will have to so a 'face of the day' for you guys using this shadow so you can see how it looks on.

Primer?:  Like most mineral products, you will find there is lots of fallout. If you don't usually use eye-shadow primer, I recommend you pick one or use a base. If you use a primer you should be good for most of the day. 

Price: $10.50

Repurchase?: This was send to me. I would absolutely purchase this shade again and am already eying others from this collection. Like roller-queen! OMgosh it's beautiful!!! 

Organic Soy Infused Mascara: in Black

So intriguing! A soy mascara?! Whose ever heard of such a thing.

Wand: It allowed me to catch my most inner lashes. It has a cool and effective shape. I really liked it!

Packaging: It's sleek, which I enjoyed as well. 

Formulation: It's a dry mascara. It doesn't really let you build up the product, or at least that was my experience. I enjoy wet mascara because I like the slightly"clumpy' look they give. Also, because it's more on the dry side it does not clump your lashes. 

Price: It retails on Emani's website for $20.00. 

Repurchase?: This was send to me but I would not purchase. It's a bit pricey and if I was to spend that cash on a mascara I would choose a mascara that met my needs. 

Brow & Liner: 

I got the coco-brow trio! 

The sun washes out these closers. The picture below is true color. 

Colors: The women of my family (meaning my sister and my mother) have different complexions and hair color. My mom is very fair and her hair is a strawberry blonde color. My sister is also fair, she recently dyed her hair an auburn color, but her natural hair color is a medium-tone brown. I have a tan complexion and my hair is black/dark brown. Why am I telling you all this you might be asking. Well, the three of us have used this trio and found it fitting for diverse brow needs. 

Also, if you have very sparse brows, it gives a very natural look! I LOVE this trio!

Eyeliner: I like the idea of this being used as a liner. I personally like a dark and thick line. The darkest shade of this trio, in my personal opinion, is not dark enough to be used as a liner. I do not use this for that purpose. 

Price: $20.00

Repurchase: It was send to me. I WILL be buying this when I hit pan on it. It's also going to become my signature gift for the women of my family. It's AMAZING! 

 I didn't find this specific brush on Emani's site. All these products came in a little kit so this brush might not be available for individual sale. I hope that makes sense.
All their products are vegan so this brush is synthetic. I would not imagine using the brow & liner trio without it! It's sooooo soft on your skin. When most people think of synthetic brushes they picture coarse and tense tools that irritate the skin. I think that is one reason brushes made of animal hair are still so common. I can't speak for their entire brush collection, but if this brush is an indicator of the rest of their brushes I am really impressed. I hope to add more to my collection.
Be sure to check out their vegan brush collection. Their prices range from $24.00 to $11.50!

Lots of Love,

Camila

P.S. What product mentioned about intrigued you most? 

emani vegan cosmetics | cruelty-free inquiry

http://www.emani.com/

Hey guys.
     About two months and a half or so ago. I was contacted by a PR from a company called emani vegan cosmetics. They wanted me to review their products. I emailed them back inquiring about their cruelty-free status.
      They send me three products to review. Yeah, that was almost three months ago. It's taken me a long time to get a comprehensive review for your guys (which I'm wrapping up) and also to present to you guys my research on their cruelty-free status. In all honesty, the reason it's taken me so long to talk about them is because I know a lot of people are weary of reviews where products are sent to bloggers. I have been a reader of blogs for a year now and a subscriber to beauty vlogger for YEARS and I understand the concern. If you notice I don't have a PR tab on my blog because for a long time I didn't want to deal with that. However, I have been blessed with a growing audience and as a result companies have contacted me. I decided that as long as I stay true to my passion for animals and to my blog, my integrity as a blogger won't be compromised. Yes, review meaning I will give you my honest opinion about any products; whether it is sent to me or I purchase it. :D

Now that I got that out of the way! This was emani's reply to me.

Hi Camila,
Thank you for contacting EMANI. The answer to all of your questions is no. We do not test ingredients and/or finished productson animals. We do not test our ingredients or products on animals via our manufacturers or through a 3rd party. Michelle the owner and founder of EMANI works very closely with our labs and has final approval on all of the products we sell. We are notowned or affiliated with any companies that test products or ingredients on animals. We do not sell any of our products in Chinaor have any plans to sell our products in China. We only use natural organic ingredients in our makeup. Our products do notcontain paraben, gluten's, gmo's, propylene glycols, petroleum or toxic chemicals. At Emani, we use naturally occurringminerals, organic extracts and pigments perfectly designed and painstakingly selected specifically for their regenerativeproperties. EMANI is owned and operated By Michelle Doan Who personally sees to it that her products are of the highestquality.  We are a cruelty free, vegan company and are certified by PETA. You can find a complete list of all of our ingredients on our website. www.emani.com.
I hope I have answered all of your questions and I look forward to reading your review on your blog site.

I just love when I receive an email that gets right to the point!!! As you can see they meet my three criteria for determining cruelty-free status. As long as a company answers those three questions, I'm satisfied. (click here to read by).You will notice, that I do inquiry about palm oil and vegan products in the format I use when first contacting companies. They forgot to answer # 7: "Do you use palm oil/carnuaba wax in any of your products? If so, is it from an organic and sustainable source?" The PR took the liberty of addressing that question in a separate email:

Hi Camila,
Just realized I missed answering the palm oil/carnuaba wax question. Yes, we put carnuaba wax in our concealer and hybridcreams, but it is from a natural source. As I mentioned in my earlier email, here at Emani we only put natural and organicingredients in our product.

I will be adding them to my cruelty-free list. I hope you enjoyed this post and check out their products! They have stuff I'm so excited to try!

Lots of Love,
Camila

essence beauty | Two types of animal testing & did the EU really ban animal testing?!

Hey guys!

I'm sure you've either heard of Essence makeup or seen their products in Ulta stores. They are a drug store priced cosmetics company. I've seen a couple of cruelty-free beauty blogger talk about them, as I'm sure you might have.

SIDENOTE: I encourage you to reach out and email companies for yourselves. I don’t want my blog to me some kind of authority or definite sawyer of which companies are cruelty-free. I put my list out there because that is the list I, personally, use when shopping. Even if I didn’t have this blog I would still use my list, LeapingBunny’s, PETA’s, VeggieBeauty’s as resources. Hopefully, you understand where I’m coming from.

I had emailed them previously, maybe three or four times. I didn’t receive a reply for months. Maybe a month ago I received a reply. I learned a lot about essence as a company that I didn’t know before. (Which really re-enforces the importance of researching the companies you choose to support).

I emailed them using the format I always use.

This is what I received from essence:

Dear Camila,
thank you for the interest in our products and sorry for the delay. We are pleased to answer your question. Yes, it is true that we do not test our products on animals.
Since the autumn of 1998, animal testing for decorative or pampering cosmetic end-products is no longer permitted. Germany is leading the way in Europe with this legislation. We can assure you that cosnova neither conducts testing on animals, nor commissions it to any third parties – not in Germany or anywhere else in the world. We also strongly disapprove of testing on animals with end-products. This is also one of the criteria for the selection of cosnova suppliers as we need to ensure that their products are also produced without testing on animals. Our suppliers need to sign contracts in which they ensure not to do animal test.

Furthermore we do only use substances that conform with the European and International (f.e. FDA) Cosmetic Law and therefore their riskiness has been estimated a long time ago and is considered as safe. According to the use of palm oil or carnauba wax:
Yes, we do use these ingredients within different essence products of our actual product range. Because of the broad spectrum of our product range it is not possible to verify every plant ingredient’s origin for criteria of sustainability.
According to vegan products:
When producing our decorative products we do not use any ingredients directly derived from animals, such as placenta extracts or animal fat. We do, however, use materials such as beeswax, silk, or lanolin (wool fat from sheep) and the natural dye cochenille (CI 75470) which are indeed animal components (animal by-products), strictly speaking. Ingredients or raw materials from animals like pig, cattle, sheep or goat are not used in any of the products, except ingredients as mentioned before like lanolin or beeswax. The goods have passed the quality control and comply with our high standards and the directives of the World Health Organization.
But due to the nature and origin of single product components we do not consider our products as „vegan”. We are sorry, but it is not possible to send a summary of listed “vegan” products. But if there are single products you are interested in, we can check for the use of ingredients called animal by-products.

We hope we have been able to clarify this issue for you and that you will continue to have lots of fun with our products.

Should you have any further questions or suggestions, please feel free to contact us again at any time.

Kind regards,
Your essence Team

That’s a lot of information, which is great but it also requires further examination. I first have to email cosnova and ask about their companies and their cruelty-free status, standards, etc. You will notice, they did not address the China question. (China mandates animal testing for cosmetic products that are sold there). I emailed them again! Inquiring about it!

To Whomever it May Concern:
I am doing research on animal testing, and I need to verify a few key points about your company. Please be sure to answer each question.
1. How many companies does Cosnova own?
2. How does cosnova ensure their raw ingredients are not tested on animals?

3. Does cosnova sell in the Chinese market? Where animal testing is required by law.

Thank you so much! Any reply I receive will he shared on humanelychic.blogspot.com, which is my private blog. HumanelyChic currently has over 39,000 views!!
-Camila

This was their reply:

Dear Camila,


Thank you for your message. We would like to provide you with some general information regarding your enquiry about animal testing:
Since the autumn of 1998, animal testing for decorative or pampering cosmetic end-products is no longer permitted. Germany is leading the way in Europe with this legislation. We can assure you that cosnova neither conducts testing on animals, nor commissions it to any third parties – not in Germany or anywhere else in the world. We also strongly disapprove of testing on animals with end-products. This is also one of the criteria for the selection of cosnova suppliers as we need to ensure that their products are also produced without testing on animals.

To guarantee the safety of our products, we are only allowed to use completely harmless ingredients (just like other manufacturers).

One must therefore differentiate between two types of testing on animals. Animal testing to prove the effectiveness of cosmetics can be avoided as there are now sufficiently adequate alternative methods. However, animal testing to ascertain the so-called “toxicological profile” of ingredients are indispensible and mandatory until further notice.

This safety data is required by the German legislation for chemicals; it must be determined for all new raw materials – whether synthetic or natural. It must be established how dangerous a pure substance is in order to implement the necessary safety precautions during manufacture and processing of the materials.
There are no exceptions for this safety evaluation, all manufacturers and importers in the EU must conduct these tests. Unfortunately, this can mean, for example, that an animal test may have taken place to test a specific ingredient twenty or thirty years ago.
The term “not tested on animals” is only legally allowed if no testing has ever taken place on the finished products as well as all of the ingredients. This is never actually the case.

We are not on the so-called “positive list” of the German Animal Protection Association (Deutschen Tierschutzbund). The companies listed there have committed to only using ingredients for which no animal testing has been conducted in the past 25 years, which means that the raw materials are extremely old. In the field of decorative cosmetics this is very unrealistic because we aim to offer our consumers new, innovative and better products and some ingredients are therefore replaced with new and improved versions, which are, for example, kinder to your skin. This is the reason you will find practically no producers of decorative cosmetics on this list.

We hope we have been able to clarify this issue for you and that you will continue to have lots of fun with our products.

Should you have any further questions or suggestions, please feel free to contact us again at any time.
Best regards,

cosnova GmbH

I'm really confused about the whole "two-types of animal testing" situation. I makes me weary about EU's ban on animal testing because if the ban only applies to "effectiveness of cosmetics" testing, that would imply that some type of animal testing is still legal. These are just my thoughts/conclusions based on the content of this email.I am just as confused about this email as you are/might be!

For now we know -though, they did not state it bluntly- that cosnova is associated and/or conducts animal testing for their "new ingredient" products. Seeing as cosnova is essence's parent company I cannot support them! (I will be adding them to my Non-cruelty-free list.)

This was a long and complicated process and I still have questions! I encourage you to help me research this and to leave me feedback!! Thanks so much for reading this and choosing cruelty-free companies. It DOES make a difference!


Lots of Love,

Camila

Two-Types of Animal Testing?

Hey guys!

 I have a really long, complicated correspondence with Essence beauty. I received a reply from them and learned about their parent company, cosnova. Of course, I had to email them as well. The reply I got from cosnova is long and leaves me with more questions than answers. They talk about two-types of animal testing. One for testing "effectiveness of cosmetics" and one for "'toxicological profile'" of ingredients. I honestly, don't know what they are talking about. I need to do my homework, if you will, because I am confused. Would you mind if I shared this un-comprehensive reply? I think it would help me and everyone out. Maybe we can have a discussion in the comments about what this means and implies.
 
Lots of Love,
Camila