Cruelty-free & Natural Beauty Products with a Delicious Scent!

A topic I want to cover today is beauty.  I know I’ve talked about this before but every time I find new vegan and natural products, I feel I must share them with you. Specially since the beauty industry is estimated to have reached $63Billion in revenues last year with most of us contributing to it. It all sounds great but here’s the downfall. Most beauty products do not only test on animals (all animals!) but they are also extremely toxic and can increase our risks of developing cancer cells since there is a direct connection between our skin and our bloodstream. Yes, ladies and gents! This means that whatever you put on your face and skin travels directly through your pores to your bloodstream. If you are using products with chemicals, the odds are those chemicals are floating in your blood right now. Don’t blame yourselves, I didn’t know about this either until I researched it two years ago. The articles I found were beyond disturbing and I decided to immediately make the switch and choose brands that were not only kind to this planet and its earthlings but also kind to my health. And it obviously did not make much sense to be following a plant-based diet but keep using toxic beauty products! 

So, with that being said, here is a brand I have been using for a while now and have become addicted to! From their nail polishes to the dry body oil to the body butter, I use these products on a daily basis. 

Spa Ritual: This brand is meant to nourish your body, soul and mind, guys! The products are formulated with vegan ingredients and selected plant essences that are Certified Organic and Fair Trade. Their nail lacquers and nail care essentials are vegan as well and do not contain DBP, toulene, formaldehyde and formaldehyde resin. None of their products are tested on animals nor do they contain synthetic dyes, parabens or petrochemicals. As if that were not enough, SpaRitual products are also packaged with the planet in mind using soy ink and recycled paper! On every box, you’ll also find the cruelty-free bunny logo proving that SpaRitual cares about our animals and does not test its products on them.

My favorite SpaRitual products so far are:

Nail polishes!!! I carry them in my purse, specially when I go get my nails done at salons that do not carry a vegan or organic line. I am head over heels over these colors: black (Bravery), white (Clearly), and Turquoise (Caring). How about those spiritual and uplifting names?! Another plus! PS: I also like SpaRitual's fast drying nail polish oil. A must!

In case you are wondering about cruelty-free and organic nail salons in Miami, I adore The Palms Hotel’s spa. They carry SpaRitual and Aveda ONLY! You will want to spend the entire day there!

Yuzu Rose Dry Body Oil, Body Scrub and Butter. These are to die for! I’ve been looking for natural, vegan and organic body products that leave my skin soft and moist while also carrying a nice scent for months now and Spa Ritual’s Yuzu Rose combo gives me all that! The oil is made with Green Tea Extract, Vitamin E and Grapefruit Peel Essential Oil. The body butter with Aloe Vera, Yuzu Oil and Shea Butter. The scrub with Yuzu Oil and organic sugar crystals. And don’t even get me started on the aroma of these products, guys! It’s beyond delicious! A sugary lemon scent that lasts for hours! Give these natural beauties a try and let me know your thoughts.

xx

The perfect eco-friendly home....

You know how some people dream about the perfect wedding, the dress and the huge cake? Well, there are a few others like me that dream about the perfect eco-friendly home. One with open spaces, huge windows, solar energy panels, water reuse systems, plants and herbs everywhere, and rescued animals running around the house! That's what I envision almost on a daily basis! Honestly! So much, that I've created visualization boards on my phone and now on Pinterest to share those dreams with you and maybe inspire you to start your own eco practices at home. It doesn't have to be anything huge like solar panels (I mean if you can, please do so by all means) but you can start with the daily essentials like the cleaning products you use or planting herbs at home or switching plastic cups and bottles for glass ones. That's a big powerful start already! Everything makes a difference, guys! Give it a try!

Here are a few basic recommendations:

Cleaning products: In case you didn't know, most cleaning products have toxic ingredients (for you, your pets and our planet) and test on animals. A brand that I'm obsessed with is Mrs. Meyers.  These products are natural, do not test on animals and have aromatherapy oils as ingredients. I mean... It does not get better than this! Mrs Meyers' products will have your house smelling like paradise! My favorite scent is "Lavender".

Shower head filter: Whoever came up with this idea is a GENIUS! A shower head filter that illuminates and changes to different colors based on your water use. It turns green while you are using less than 10 liters of water, purple when you go over 10 liters, orange when you hit the 30 liter mark, and RED when you hit or pass the 50 liter mark. This will not only lower your utility bills but it also has a HUGE positive impact on our environment. Water is a FINITE source and each American household uses approximately 100 gallons of water per day at home. That amounts to a total of 355 Billion gallons of water per day (2010 stats). And that is the US ALONE! Add the rest of the world to that.....

Eco-friendly Paper Products: Just like water, same happens with paper use. We use SO MUCH OF IT! From paper towels, to toilette paper, to paper cups and printing paper. It's insane! Here's a great solution for you guys at home. There are many brands, including Walgreens affordable "Ology", that offer recycled paper products. Seventh Generation is another good eco brand. You can find it everywhere! Literally! Whole Foods, Walgreens and online. 

Now, let's get to work! A healthier, cleaner and better world awaits. <3

Between Love & Reality.

Today’s post is very hard for me to write and even worse to meditate on. I own a dog myself and have loved animals since I was old enough to hold one in my hand. My love and fascination towards animals ranged from having a little white mouse as a pet, to loving frogs and picking up and healing little lizards that had been attacked by cats. It’s in my essence until this day. I normally don’t like to write about things that can turn our days gray but this is something that breaks my heart and I would like to share it with everyone.

If you look at the picture below these words, what do you see? What does it make you feel? Happiness? Love? What about realization? Or compassion? Let’s face it; whenever we see a picture of a dog, we melt. We smile, say “ahhh so cute”, run home to hug our own dogs, or think about getting one (if so, please adopt!). But there’s so much more behind that picture that we don’t take into consideration. Unfortunately, we live in a world where short-term gains come before health, humility and humanity.  Yes, you read right. HUMANITY! To make this a little more realistic (maybe dramatic? People seem to react better to drama than reality), I want you to stop what you are doing right now and follow these instructions. Ladies, take your cosmetic bag out of your purse and read your cosmetics’ labels. Gents, if you are home, run to your bathrooms and look at the products you used this morning. Shampoos, shaving lotions, etc… Now, ladies and gents, besides all the hard-to-pronounce toxic ingredients on the labels, what else do you see? Do you see a pink bunny logo, or words that say “cruelty-free”, “vegan”, or “no animal testing”? If your products show that, you are freakin’ awesome and I love you! Your conscious buying is shaping this world for the better. If your products don’t show that, here’s a reality check. According to research, 60-74% of personal products and 80-95% of household products have been tested on animals. Now, here’s the biggest reality check of all. The word “animals” does not only include rats and mice, but also rabbits, monkeys, birds, DOGS AND CATS. So now that it’s out there, what can we do about it? Nowadays, it’s not enough to love our dogs and cats if every dollar we spend puts the life of other living beings through torture and fear. All animals that go through product testing experiments never get to see the light of day, or step their paws on green grass, or know what a tender genuine touch means. Half of those animals die within 2-3 weeks after being tested on. Sadly, this is the world we live in but the decision to stop it or support it rests on our hands. So please, next time you go shopping read labels carefully and share this knowledge with the ones you love. Compassion should be the only language governing this planet.

With love, Vale.

For info on cruelty-free products, go over my instagram and blog posts. I’ve shared so many already. 

If you would like to read more about animal testing, click here.

Peta.org recently showed the cutest video about beagles being freed from labs and taking their first steps on beautiful green grass. <3 Click here to watch it.