The vegetarian baby

Here's a video you may see a lot lately on the web

In Portuguese (Brazil) with English subtitles

I want to adopt him!

Hey Giovanni !



It's been a while since I wanted to try Giovanni's products.

 

I had heard very positive comments about it by Tashina from Logical Harmony.

She only uses vegan products (that are also cruelty-free of course!).

 

 

The product

 

So I bought the shampoo + conditioner 2chic from the ultrasleek line.

Suitable for all hair types.

Vegan product and of course cruelty-free.

 

Each tube cost me $ 9.99 at Loblaws, but it is also available at Tau.

I'm pretty sure it will not be long before we also see it in drugstores.

 

It's 250 ml size (same as John Frieda)

 

The shampoo foams a lot and smells divine.

Smells like vanilla or maybe like a cake!

 

The conditioner is very creamy and gets easily into the hair.

These products are pleasant to use.

 

And what to say about the results ? Silky and shiny hair for the whole day !

 

 

My verdict

 

I must say I thought I had found THE shampoo when I bought the Mistik one.

But now, I don't know anymore ! I stay still very attached to it.

 

I've never been very loyal to shampoos ... I need variety !

 

Seriously, it is good to vary shampoos (confirmed by my hairdresser)

So I'll definitely buy Giovanni again (not to forget my Mistik)

 

Giovanni is officially in charge of my hair for the days when I want my hair to be particularly impeccable! (such as a day where I have an important meeting!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leaping bunny approved

 

 

 

 

 

Natracare - No bunnies blood!

I have never been so looking forward to my periods!
Well, not that much.

Maybe you don't know about this, but Always and StayFree are on PETA's DO test list...

That's why I'm also suspicious of other brands.



So when I saw that Natracare is available in Quebec + approved by PETA, do I need to say I was happy ?

The brand is also Vegetarian Society approved.

 

 

The product

I found Natracare at Loblaws.
I got it at 3.99$. I think the regular price is 5.99$

 

 

 

 

 

100% bio cotton - biodegradable - without chlore - no plastic - no chemicals

Natracare shows off all its patches on the packaging!

Nordic Ecolabel
Soil Association - Organic Standard
Lohas
Ethical Award
Vegetarian Society

Really ethical, unlike most brands.

It's good for you, the environment and animals.

 

My verdict

Natracare have nothing to envy to other brands.
It does the job, the quality is the same.

I don't see why I would buy a brand that tests on animals when a product as good as this one is available and is more ethical in terms of the environment and its respect for life.

Aux Vivres - What a great place!

As part of my quest to have a cruelty-free lifestyle, I also make an effort when it comes to food.

 

I plan to visit vegetarian  / vegan  Montreal restaurants.

 

I wanted to go eat at Aux Vivres for a while now.

I finally went yesterday with two non-vegetarian friends.

 

The restaurant was crowded, even if we went around 2 or 3 pm.

 

 

Despite this, we did not wait long before getting a table.

About 3 minutes.

 

    

We started with ''l'assiette froide''

For 2 to 3 people.

From left to right, you may see :

tofu cream - vegelox - hummus - olive tapenade - veggie paté

It was served with mini pitas.

 

 

 

We finished everything pretty quickly. There was no leftovers at all.

I suspected my friend Christian to want to lick the plate!  ;-)

 

    

 

 We then received our main dishes.

Bol Dragon - Sirocco Wrap - Gyro

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

My friend Christian chose the ''Bol Dragon''.

(shredded beet, carrot, daïkon, lettuce, sprouts, red cabbage, dulse, toasted sesame seeds,

dragon sauce and grilled tofu)

 



 

 

It was served with a sauce that seemed to be peanuts flavored.

My friend emptied his plate and was very satisfied.

I tasted it and liked it a lot.

 

 

 

My other friend Paolo chose the Sirocco sandwich.

This is what made him the less afraid. Eggplant and olives reminded him of Italian cuisine,

(grilled eggplant, hummus, roasted red peppers, lettuce and olive tapenade)

 

 

 

The serving is HUGE!!

I suggest you share this plate with someone else.

Paolo liked it, and Christian finished the plate for him :)

 

 

 

 

And I chose the Gyro

(souvlaki-style seitan, tzatziki, tomato, lettuce)

 

I absolutely loved it.

My friends knew nothing about seitan, so I gave them some bites.

They were surprised by it and both told me it was good.

Paolo came with his 4 year old son with us and the little boy loved it.

He kept on asking for seitan.

 

My Gyro was generous enough for me to be able to give away many bites and have enough for me!

The tzatziki sauce was so good!

It is definitively a meal to get again!

 

    

After our meal, we went to the Aux Vivres grocery section.

There are some dishes ready to go, vegan mayonnaise, sauces, cakes and desserts.

 

 

If I lived nearby, I would always buy some stuff for home.

And I'd eat there often.

 

 

I had a very good experience with that restaurant :)



Naturally fresh deodorant crystal

Ok, I know it ain't super glamorous to talk about deodorant, but it's not super glamorous to go without either !

I bought the Naturally fresh deodorant crystal which I found at Tau.

I chose the roll-on version which cost me $ 3.99 but there is also the 120 g stick that costs, if I remember correctly, $ 6.99.
This may sound expensive, but let's not forget that most of deodorants are available in 48 to 70g sticks.

Coming back to Naturally Fresh, it is a vegan and cruelty-free product.
PETA approved.

There is no aluminum (metal bad for us!)
And fits sensitive skins.

The product is available in many fragrances including Ocean breeze, Lavender, Tropical breeze, Papaya fusion + there's the fragrance free one.





Also, you can see the pink ribbon on the bottle.


It's their way to show they care about making products free of toxins.


Naturally Fresh campaigns to make sure we are realizing that detecting the problem sooner is the best way women have to fight breast cancer.




This is all well and good, but is it doing its job?

The first day, around dinner time, it seemed to let go of its protection.

I work at a computer all day, I do not do incredible physical exercises , I should not want to hide under my desk after a few hours.

The next day, I decided to apply a greater amount of product and I have had no problems.

It is as effective as any other product you may find in a drugstore.


It is I, I suppose, who must have misapplied it the first day.

After all, I get up at 5 in the morning.
I probably was still sleeping.

At the end of the day, I would say that this product ain't expensive, is vegan, is cruelty-free and does what we expect it to do.
(plus supports a good cause)



I have no negative comments about it besides saying the picture on the packaging is not very interesting...
For those who can't see it on the picture, it is a couple putting deodorant...

Matt & Nat

Vegan bags

At Matt & Nat, no leather! Only vegan products.

It doesn't stop them from making bags that look like it.

In addition, they use environmentally friendly and recycled materials as much as they can.
For instance, they use recycled plastic bottles for the linings of their bags.

Their creations have already found takers among people such as Nathalie Portman, Olivia Wilde, Charlize Theron, Eva Mendes et Emily Deschanel to name only a few.

What bag do I choose now?




From left to right : Cara (125$) - Alter (145$) - Jack (175$)




Top : Trip (68$) - Bottom : Dl (60$)

Kiss My Face

I bought a Kiss My Face product at Loblaws few days ago.

I must say that initially I was not sure whether it was a makeup remover or facial cleanser.

On the packaging, it says ''facewash''.
But it is translated to French as ''démaquillant'' which means ''makeup remover''.

Since it is an American brand, I decided to rely on the description in English.


As a cleaner, it's okay.

It smells good, foams well and cleans.
In addition it is vegan and not tested on animals.

One thing however:
It's indicated (in both languages) that it's exfoliating.

But I must object!

No exfoliating beads or pellets at all!
I have not felt  my skin exfoliated at all.  :-(

It disappoints me greatly.
I'm used to be satisfied by Kiss My Face.

But hey, it happens to the best ...

Have you already tried this cleanser / makeup remover / exfoliator ?


I am curious to know what you think about it.
















        

Nouveau Vegan

This year, I also want to share with you some blogs that I read.
I started with Mokajo in January, and I still recommend it to you. (It's in French)

The reason why I want to share those blogs is the same one that made me write my own blog.

There is plenty of cruelty free blogs out there, but most of them are Europeans or Americans.
Don't get me wrong, I think they're really nice to read.
But when comes the time to find the products they talk about in Quebec, it's not always available.

That's why I think it's interesting to share the Quebec blogs in order to help people from here that want to have a cruelty free lifestyle.

The blog I want to share is different than mine since it is mostly about food, but is as cruelty free as mine.

Simon shares with us his vegan lifestyle on Nouveau Vegan (in French)

He gives us his impressions about the products he buys.
He talks about recipes he tries, restaurants he gets to and even talked about a book he read lately.

He also writes often, so each time you visit his page, you know for sure you'll find a new post.
I like that!

I read his blog religiously!

I hope you will like it.
If later you look for his blog, it is included in my blog roll that you may find at the top of my blog.

Tested on me!

Since it is not possible to verify ourselves if a cosmetic brand does animal testing or not, we have no other choice than trust its word.

Unfortunately, it is difficult to know if a brand is being honest and this leaves a possibility that we buy animal tested products even if we don't want to.


That's why I'm suggesting this homemade scrub today.


Since you are the one making it with simple ingredients, you are sure it is cruelty free.

I have modified the classical honey-brown sugar since I wanted a vegan scrub.
For those of you who'd like to know why, you may click here.

I used agave syrup which is more liquid than honey.

As for the quantities, we go as we do it.
We mix the 2 ingredients until it has the aspect we're looking for.

Then, you just have to use!


The sugar exfoliates well and agave syrup binds it all.
Obviously, it's a little sticky but not too much.

The exfoliating effect is as good as the one you would get with the store-bought product and much more economical.



Let me know how you like it!

Are you Mistik ?

I discovered, while shopping at Tau, a brand that I now love!

It is quite by chance that I found Mistik Source products.
Since I did not know the brand, I looked at the back of the beautiful green bottles in the hope of finding the information I always want to see, ie products that are not tested on animals.


I was more than satisfied:

You can see the trusted logo of Choose Cruelty Free.

(to see a bunny does not guarantee that there are no tests, that is why I want to see a logo of an independent organization such as CCF, PETA or Leaping Bunny)

We can also see that the product is vegan.
So in addition to not torturing animals in a laboratory, there is no animal ingredients.

So I bought two products:
Volumizing mist and a daily shampoo.

Once at home, I took a look at their website to realize that this company is Canadian.
It's always nice to encourage business from here!

Mistik source presents like this on their home page:

 

''The word mistik means tree in Cree. The Cree people have lived in Canada for tens of thousands years, notably in Northern Quebec.  

The word mistik symbolizes our company's philosophy on holistic and environmentally friendly personal care products.''

We can also see that the products are environmentally friendly because they are 100% biodegradable and there is nothing synthetic in their composition.

All that being said, let's get serious!

Volumizing mist

 The bottle cost me $ 12.99



Volumizing Mist

It has become one of my favorite products instantly!

I keep it with me day and night in my bag.

My hair is heavy.
Despite this, I get more volume when using this product.
I like the result.

It should not be forgotten that the product smells divinely good!
It is made with orchids.

I consider my money is well spent!







Daily shampoo

The bottle cost me 13.99$




Daily Shampoo

There is no other shampoo that smells as good as this one.
Smells kinda like candies.

Must be the blueberries.

However, this shampoo isn't foaming as much as other brands.
But foams enough to let you wash all your hair.

The result is beautiful soft hair, shiny and clean.
24 hours later, the hair is still beautiful.

It is not all shampoos that can brag about that.





I love the products Mistik Source, I will continue to buy them!

 

MokaJo

I have discovered lately a really interesting blog ''made in Quebec''.

That website talks about the animal condition into our society.
It goes from animal testing to vegetarian restaurants without forgetting rescues and a lot more.



http://mokajo.blogspot.ca/

In fact, 
MokaJo presents a cruelty free lifestyle!

The blog is in french.

Going through the blog, we get to know its author is vegan.

I am vegetarian for more than 3 years now, but I wanna go vegan in 2013.


This blog will for sure help me.


For those of you who want to lower their participation in animal suffering, this blog will provide you with a lot of good information and inspiration. At every level.


I invite you to have a look at it, it's worth it!
There is not so many blogs as well written as hers.