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$) - Bottom : Dl (60$)

Wall of Shame - You might not suspect these brands!

 

Do you see a brand you would not expect here ?

All the brands underneath does animal testing

New stuff from ecotools and physician's formula

Here are two new products that should arrive soon in store, if it is not already the case.



EcoTools, known for its makeup brushes made with synthetic bristles will provide us with fake lashes pretty soon!

They offer 5 different kits already visible online.
They are advertised to $ 5.99

The kits include fake eye lashes made with the same soft bristles we find in their makeup brushes, a tool and a free of chemicals glide-on glue.

Physician's Formula launches trios of nail polishes!

They pre chose for you some color.

For an amount of 13.99$,

you'll may choose between 8 different trios.

 

It is made without :

DBP, Camphor, Toluene,

Formaldehyde, Parabens,

Gluten, Sulfates,

Synthetic Fragrances,

Petrochemicals, Pthalates,

GMOs, Triclosan.

SW 6738, better known as Vegan !

When there's a paint color called Vegan!!

Seen on Instagram!

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.