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Confidence, self care & vegan/cruelty free beauty

Sometimes you just have to make time. Run to your favorite beauty store or boutique and allow yourself to browse around. Smell all of the yummy scents, carefully choose your new favorite vegan and cruelty free products and read the ingredients.

Confidence and self-care, while different concepts, stem from the same place. Imagine you plant a small little seed into some well fertilized dirt, give it plenty of love and attention, and before you know it an incredibly beautiful flower will bloom! That “love and attention” is just like the “confidence and care” you need to bloom; they go hand in hand, and you can’t achieve one without the other. 

We as students, parents, and workers can find it really difficult to find the time to care for ourselves. When I have a chance, I like to blow dry my hair, do a skin mask, and put on a fresh face of makeup, because I feel even just a little more pampered and special that day and by doing that – more confident! It may seem like you don’t have any time in your day, but don’t forget that taking care of yourself and loving yourself the way you need to is the only way to bloom! 

The one big trait I’ve developed since becoming vegan is to read the ingredients to make sure I’m not having any of that extra junk my skin doesn’t need, because if you’re like me you want to make sure those products won’t harm not only your skin, but the skin of any animals either! A good rule of thumb is to do your research on what’s in your beauty products – if you can’t pronounce it or don’t know what it is, then your skin will probably be fine without it. 

Personally, I actually love making my own products if and when I can. You know exactly what goes into that product, you get to customize and personalize based on your preference of color or scent, and its honestly just super fun to pretend you’re a scientist concocting you’re on secret formula! Something I make pretty often is a lip balm, because who in the world doesn’t need lip balm!? Under your favorite matte lipstick, it keeps your lips moisturized, in the winter months it helps them stay soft and smooth, and even as just a quick sheen on your lips for a “get up and go” kind of day, lip balm always comes in handy. My personal recipe that I use is pretty simple, try it out for yourself and let the lip balm speak for itself: 

You need – 

-½ cup of Candelilla wax (beeswax alternative you can buy in bulk on Amazon for pretty cheap!)
-2 Tbsp of coconut oil
-1 tsp almond extract or oil (or your favorite essential oil)
-A clear container to it in
-Preferably a double boiler 

Instructions –
-Combined wax and coconut oil, melt down together
-Add almond extract/oil or essential oil and mix
-Carefully pour into your container and let it set

Voila! All done! Incredibly simple ingredients that are healthy for you, completely vegan and didn’t need to be tested on animals, and it works super well. 

Whether you purchase or make your own vegan/cruelty free products, light some candles, put on your current favorite summer playlist, and pamper yourself! You’ll sleep like a baby and wake up feeling refreshed and ready to take on the day!  Remember to love yourself a little more every day, because self-care is self-confidence!