OOTD - Shoebou Heels

I was recently offered a pair of shoes from Shoebou, an online shoe shop that offers a wide range of styles at affordable prices. There were so many gorgeous pairs of shoes to choose from, and the great thing is, they are all made of cruelty-free materials such as faux-leather and faux-suede! I eventually decided on this leopard print satin pair.

I wore them on a recent night out when some friends and I ventured into the big city (Truro!). Despite having a heel height of 6 inches, they weren't that bad to walk in, except when on the street as Truro is all cobbles! I did a lot of dancing and my feet didn't ache too much.

I wore my new shoes with a black dress that I picked up in the sales in New Look, and teamed them with my faux-leather clutch that I found in the sales in Peacocks.

I am really impressed that all the shoes from Shoebou appear to be cruelty-free, so I will definitely be ordering from them in the future! 

My First Vegan Food Swap

This month I took part in my first UK vegan food swap. You sign up and get paired with two people, one who will send you a parcel, and one you will send a parcel to. You buy vegan goodies to the value of £10 that you think your partner will enjoy. I was really excited to join in as I love sending and receiving parcels!

I was assigned to send some goodies to the lovely Els of Cookie Von Stir. I decided to send a couple of Cornish items, which were a peppermint flavoured raw choc pie, and a jar of organic raw almond butter made by Carley's.  I also included a pack of Moo Free chocolate buttons, a bar of Seed & Bean mandarin and ginger dark chocolate, and some lentil chips (which are absolutely amazing!)

I couldn't wait to receive my parcel as I am loving trying new food. My parcel came from Heather, (who does not currently have a blog). I was thrilled with everything that Heather included, and she even added a dairy free guide which has some great recipes. Here is what I got:

Firstly were a few bags of alternatives to crisps. I absolutely love crisps and similar things so I was really happy that I had some new ones to try. I have only tried the Llama's so far but they were amazing! They taste just like bbq cheddars which I used to love. The other ones were some popped corn chips and some crisp thins.

Heather sent me a few packs of sweeties and sprinkles for putting on cupcakes. I ate half of the Love Hearts last night though as I had a busy day at work then was up late decorating a 100th birthday cake and needed something sugary to keep me going!

The finished cake!

I also got a jar of Mexican chilli bean sandwich filler which I am looking forward to trying. Heather says it is great on toast too (I much prefer toast to sandwiches). I was really pleased to find a bottle of agave nectar, which is a vegan alternative to honey, in my parcel. I have been wanting to try this for ages, and Heather suggested using it in cupcakes so I will have to give those a go soon. Also for baking was a pack of silken tofu. In the 8 years I have been veggie and few months that I have been vegan I think I have only had tofu twice, and never the silken kind! I am planning to make chocolate brownies and a cheesecake with this :)

The other goodies were of the chocolate kind: white chocolate buttons, Co-op mint chocolate creams, and a box of strawberry creams. I have tried the buttons and the Co-op creams before and I love both of them, but I was really excited to try the strawberry creams, and they certainly didn't disappoint! They melt in your mouth and taste exactly like the well known strawberry creams you get in boxes of milk chocolates! I hope I can find some of these near me, they are so yummy.

I really enjoyed taking part in the vegan food swap and I can't wait for next month's!

The Old Church House Inn, Torbryan

Last week I stayed at the Old Church House Inn in Torbryan, Devon. My boyfriend Jamie was coming down from Birmingham with a few people from uni on a little research trip, and we thought it was stupid for him to come so close to home without seeing each other, so I booked in to stay for 2 nights too :)

Before I arranged everything, I asked the hotel whether they would be able to cater for vegans. It is always a worry when going away whether you will be able to have decent meals! Luckily they said they were able to cater for vegans with notice.

The evening meals I had at the Inn were absolutely amazing, so delicious! The staff were really helpful and friendly, even checking labels on things and advising that the chips might not be suitable as they were cooked in the same frier as the scampi. I went there expecting to be given whatever they decided to make for me, but I was really impressed when they gave me a few choices! Usually when you ask for a vegan meal in restaurants you get what you are given, or at least that is what I have found so far. The dinner was three courses, which again I was not expecting, and I thoroughly enjoyed everything I ate. Here is what I had:

Ratatouille Tacos

Thai Vegetable Curry

Grilled Oranges

Stuffed Mushrooms

Stuffed Peppers, New Potatoes & Salad

Oranges & Cherries in a Brandy Snap Basket

The Inn itself is very old fashioned and cosy, with copper plates and horse brasses hanging all over the walls. I had to sleep with the light on though as the Inn has been on Most Haunted! Although I was scared I love the paranormal, but apart from hearing the floorboards creaking at night, we didn't spot anything!

Our Room

Cosy Bar Area

Holy Trinity Church (opposite the Inn)

We went exploring the local areas around Dartmoor. We even got to feed the wild ponies some carrots :)

Remains of Longstone Manor

Burrator Reservoir

Grave of Bertram Fletcher Robinson, who was a regular at the Inn. It is believed that he was the true author of Hound of the Baskervilles, and that Arthur Conan Doyle stole the story and poisoned his friend!

We had a lovely relaxing break, and would highly recommend the Old Church House Inn. It is dog-friendly too, so we would love to go back and take Jack with us.

What I've Been Eating Lately

I've been taking a lot of pictures of all the yummy food that I've been eating and putting them on Facebook to show that vegan food isn't boring, so I thought I'd put them on here too! Here are some things that I have made recently.

Victoria Sponge

Mushroom, Green Bean & Pea Risotto

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Creamy Mushroom Pasty

Inside of Pasty

Pasta Bolognese

Bakewell Biscuits

Cornish Heavy Cake

Date & Apricot Slices

Battenburg Cake

Hello Kitty Birthday Cake

Have you made anything nice lately?

Hybrid Fashion

Hybrid is a renowned global fashion brand that offer a range of affordable and luxurious dresses, tops and skirts, including work wear, party dresses and evening gowns. Hybrid is loved by many celebrities including Billie Faiers, Kerry Katona, Amy Childs, Katie Piper and Louisa Lytton.

I was recently introduced to their range and was pleased to see that they offer cruelty-free fashion; satin (the cruelty-free alternative to silk) is a key feature in many of their pieces, and they also use faux-leather.

Here are some of my favourite items:

Bev Sweetheart Neckline Satin Detail Dress, £45

Jailhouse Dress with Black Button and Belt Detail, £45

Petra Faux Leather Panel Dress, £36

Toulouse One Shoulder Satin Contrast Dress, £57.50

Layla Keyhole Neck Dress, £42.50

Florence Deep V Neckline Satin Dress, £87.50

Hybrid have kindly given me an exclusive discount code for my readers - just enter CRUELTYFREE20 at the checkout to get 20% off! (expires 01.03.13, excludes sale items)

What do you think of Hybrid's range? Let me know if you buy anything nice!

PHB Ethical Beauty Review

I have been wanting to try out PHB (Pure Halal Beauty) ever since I discovered them a few months ago; they are BUAV approved, Vegan Society registered and use natural ingredients - a perfect cosmetics company! You can buy their products online, but when I discovered they had a little shop in Birmingham, I decided I would visit in person during my recent trip there.

As tempting as it was to buy a whole range of products, I wanted to only pick up the items that I actually needed. First up was a mascara. There is only one mascara in PHB's range, the Mineral Miracles™ Botanical Mascara that comes in black or brown; I chose black. It retails at £13.95.

I could not wait to try this out, it is only the second vegan mascara I have tried, and I was so impressed with the results! I absolutely love this mascara, and will definitely be buying it again.

Bare Lashes

After 1 Coat

After 2 Coats

The other product I needed was a new lipstick. PHB offer a Mineral Miracles™ Botanical Lipstick in a range of shades at £13.95. I usually wear neutral/pale pink lip colours but I decided to go for someting brighter. The colour I chose was Camilia.

 What I really like about this lipstick is that the colour is quite buildable, so if I'm not feeling brave enough to go out with shocking pink lips one day I can settle for a lighter pink if I prefer (having said that I much prefer wearing brighter colours now)! It smells of oranges too, yummy!

Have you tried PHB yet?

What I Got For Christmas

Firstly, I hope you all had a great Christmas and I'd like to wish you all a Happy New Year! This Christmas was my first as a vegan and I was really looking forward to it. We went round to my brother's house and he cooked for seven of us, with me being the only veggie/vegan. I didn't take any photos of my Christmas dinner but I had a yummy Sainsbury's nut cutlet with roast potatoes, sage and onion stuffing, heaps of vegetables and veggie gravy. I'm lucky that my brother is very understanding of my lifestyle and he even bought some Pure vegan margarine to put on the potatoes and carrot/turnip mash so that I didn't have to miss out. It means a lot when people do little things like that :)
Some shop-bought Christmas puddings are suitable for vegans and some are not, so to make sure I could have some of the delicious festive dessert I bought a Co-Op own brand one and everyone loved it.

My brother also got me some amazing presents this year, including a new food mixer to make lots of cakes with! He got me some vegan cookbooks too, as did my boyfriend Jamie, and I can't wait to try them out.

My lovely vegan goodies!

I also got this book which is written by an ex-farmer who opened his eyes to the cruel farming industry and is now a vegan. It exposes the truth about meat, dairy and eggs and includes chapters on health, weight loss and the environment. I am hoping some friends will want to read it as it's a real eye-opener.

Jamie also bought me some goodies including Ananda's vegan marshmallows (which were so sweet and fluffy!), Plamil chocolate spread and a couple of Moo Free chocolate santas. His mum and dad got me a Plamil chocolate orange bar and a Faith in Nature seaweed shampoo and conditioner gift set.

Enjoying some chocolate spread-dipped marshmallows in my new leopard-print onesie!

These chocolate santas were yummy!

I also bought myself some chocolate as I didn't know that people had got me some, so I picked up a bar of Seed & Bean mandarin and ginger dark chocolate, and a box of Booja Booja champagne truffles, both of which were absolutely delicious! Seed & Bean do loads of different flavours, most of which are vegan, so I will definitely be trying some of these out.

My first taste of Booja Booja! Very rich and luxurious, the ultimate treat!

I'd love to hear what cruelty-free goodies other people got this Christmas!