With only a couple of day to go until the UK Blog Awards I’m starting to get really excited. I did warn you that this week would be packed full of my preparations for the blog awards – I told you all about my shoes on Tuesday Shoesday and will be sharing my outfit tomorrow – so today I wanted to let you know about the lovely beauty box I received from Lookfantastic.com in order to prepare for the big night.
It was an exciting moment when I opened up the mystery package and found out the theme of the April Beauty Box from Lookfantastic.com. The collection was #LFBlooms and is all about beauty with a difference. The natural, organic and eco products were gathered together to celebrate Earth Month – taking care of the planet while you take care of yourself. Thankfully, the box contained lots of cruelty-free brands and the collection promotes natural beauty – definitely my kind of thing! Plus, if you shop natural products on lookfantastic.com while the campaign is running, you’ll find some great discounts on good-for-you brands so check out the website today for inspiration. 
First up is a hand scrub by Rituals, which is one of my favourite products in the Beauty Box. As someone who suffers with very dry skin on my hands all year round (often flaking and cracking between my fingers) it’s lovely to find a product that treats this problem. There are many reasons to love Rituals; their products are not tested on animals, their product packaging is made from sustainable sources and they support the Tiny Miracles charitable foundation. The product itself is infused with nourishing oils so even while you’re scrubbing off the dry skin it is conditioning the skin too. It’s made a big difference to my hands already and after using the British Botanical Hand & Nail Butter also included in the #LFBlooms box, I am feeling ready for celebratory a manicure now!
It’s no wonder that Bloom and Blossom as included in the #LFBlooms Beauty Box – it’s a range created for mothers-to-be, babies and new mothers, so they are all lovely natural products. Anything that’s suitable for use during pregnancy must be full of natural ingredients and I’m delighted to find out that the collection is free from animal testing, parabens, sulfates, mineral oils, and chemical toxins. I’m happy to switch to using this organic cucumber bath and shower gel for a more natural way to wash. And while I’m enjoying a pre-awards ceremony soak, I’m planning to use the Briogeo Don’t Despair, Repair! deep conditioning mask on my hair. Again, this product doesn’t contain parabens, silicones or phthalates – only the good stuff: avocado, sweet almond, argan oils and hair essential vitamins B5, D, A, E and biotin to repair damaged hair.
Skin-wise I’ve been prepping by using the Super Toning Body Polish by Balance Me and buffing away dry skin with the ground walnut shells in this luxurious product. I love the brand’s animal testing policy – none of their products or ingredients are tested on animals, they don’t use third parties to do any animal testing on products or ingredients and they do not distribute to countries where testing is obligatory. And to top it all off it’s a 99% natural product that is made in the UK. Balance Me are definitely coming with me on my cruelty-free journey! Other body treats contained in the #LFBlooms beauty box are the Tanworx tan maintainer, which I haven’t used yet and a tube of MyVitamins, to prep your body from inside-out. The Tanworx product is another fabulous ‘made in the UK’ product and can be used to maintain a real or fake tan. It can also be applied as a base for fake tan but I’m not planning to wear any tan for the blog awards so won’t get a chance to try it out next month. I haven’t yet decided on a cruelty-free fake tan product to support so I’ll keep hold of this until I do!
I also needed to sort out some make-up for the ceremony (I have NO foundation left at home!) so I did a bit of research and chose this Bareskin mineral foundation and powder. Minerals are super-kind to skin and I’ve been using various mineral foundations over the years but always in loose powder form. So it’s a real change to be using minerals in a liquid foundation instead. I’ve had to buy myself a stippling foundation brush but the good news is that the swirling application technique is the same. I don’t think I’d be able to apply foundation any other way, that’s just how my hand moves when I’m putting on make-up these days!
Even though I usually have to choose the lightest shade in any range, the ultra-thin mineral foundation blends into my skin for a really natural ‘your skin but better’ look, so a warmer ‘natural’ hue suited me better than my usual pale ivory. The minerals are tone-correcting so the foundation simply evens out my skin without covering it up entirely and makes it look considerably brighter. I’ve been using the veil powder to ‘set’ the foundation and, when applied with a big fluffy kabuki brush, it gives an ‘air-brushed’ finished. I’m pleased with this collection because the range isn’t tested on animals, it’s full of natural ingredients and the foundation contains SPF20 too, which a bonus for my pale easy-to-burn skin.
I think I’m almost ready for the UK Blog Awards – bring it on! Let me know how you prepare for a big night out by leaving me a comment below or tweet me suggestions of your favourite cruelty-free products to @Cassiefairy – I’d love to discover more brands. Having said that, the #LFBlooms beauty box has been a great way to learn about brands and products that I didn’t even know existed but that are now some of my firm favourites. Natural and cruelty-free? Love them all!
Some items in this blog post have been gifted to me and the pink links indicate a gifted product, affiliate link or information source. All thoughts and opinions in this post are based on my own experience and I am not responsible for your experience 🙂
