16 Things I've Learnt at 16!

I've decided to share 16 life lessons that I have leant so far..


1. Listen to your parents because 97% of the time the things they're telling you to do/not to do are right or for good reason. Obviously I've learnt this one the hard way from being stubborn, but at the end of the day you're parents (or mine anyway) only want the best for you and don't want anything bad to happen. For example the time I was told not to pierce my own ears because it will get infected, what happened? They all got infected. Or when my mum would tell me not to be friends with someone because they're bad news, she's been right every single time!

2. Don't wait around for people. If that person really wants to be your friend you shouldn't have to be stressing about when they're going to reply or if they're going to reply. This brings me on to my next realisation.

3. Your true friends mean everything. You should really value then and take them into consideration because when all else fails, they're going to be the ones who love and support you!

4. No matter what you do and how good you think it is, there's always going to be atleast one person who will disagree with you and have something bad to say, but that's just life.

5. It's okay to be sad, it's okay to cry. Just make sure afterwards you're back up on your feet and living your life to the fullest. Everyone is sad at some point in their lives and crying is not you being weak.

6. Do not let social media take over your full life. It's a nice hobby, a good way for keeping in touch with your friends and keeping up with celebs and latest trends but don't let your self get addicted to it! Turn your phone off and go out or read a book.

7. Confidence is key. Even if you're not confident just pretend you are and it will come because people look for weaknesses in you and if you put on a confident front then more people will want to be around you etc.

8. Treat your body right! Don't engage in harmful activities, exercise and make sure you get enough sleep. Your body will love you for it. After all, your body is the thing that supports you 100% of the time and is always there for you and does amazing things. It heals you, fights off illnesses, assists you everywhere you go. Don't abuse it.

9. Eat right, fill your body with good whole foods. Eat enough and regularly and make sure you're eating enough carbs. It's okay to have take aways and rich fatty foods but don't do that all the time as you'll feel lethargic and sluggish and won't want to do anything. Make sure you're drinking enough water as well.

10. School isn't the be all end all. If you're popular at school it doesn't secure you a job or a good future, same as your grades. Good grades don't always mean success, as long as you're doing what you love and keeping up with it then good things will come to you no matter what happens.

11. Get rid of negative people from your life. All they do is bring you down and their negativity rubs off on you. If people are being negative online, block them. If they're negative around you just try to phase them out your life because they're not doing you any good. Same as if people are making you feel negative and constantly putting you down just remove them from your life. Also if you find yourself being negative towards someone else, just stop and think if you'd like the same thing to happen to you!

12. Find the difference between being inspired by someone and being jealous of someone. When you're inspired you feel happy about looking at that person whereas jealousy is when you're comparing yourself to that person wishing you were them or you could have their body and it makes you sad. If it makes you sad scrolling through someones instagram just unfollow them because it's only going to impact your life negatively.

13. Coconut oil is everything. Dry skin, dry hair, toothpaste, cooking, cleaning coconut oil does the lot. You need coconut oil in your life.

14. Make sure you moisturise. Your skin will thank you! Do your face, body, hands and feet regularly as it's getting warmer your skin dries up. It's just as important in the colder months as well as the cold can really harm your skin.

15. Don't follow the crowd if you don't agree. Don't pretend to like/dislike someone or something just because everyone else does, be your own person and more importantly be honest to yourself.

16. Finally, do whatever makes you happy! At the end of the day it's your life and you only need to make yourself happy, not that boy you like, not the girls who always look down on you. Just you, if you feel happy and confident with what you're doing then carry on doing it because that's all that matters!

Thanks for reading!

Q and A!

I've decided to answer some frequently asked and just general questions about me, my life and veganism.

Why am I a vegan?

This question is honestly the most frequently asked question I receive, however you will find the answer to it on my blog posts "My Transition to Veganism" and "Vegan Rant". It's takes nothing away from a human to show kindness and compassion to an animal. 

What is your usual breakfast?

My usual breakfast changes depending on what time I wake up, I'll either have a bagel at home or at school if I hardly have any time, but if I have time to spare I'll make a smoothie (either acai with bluebs and nana or a mango, pineapple, nana and spinach/kale).

Favourite food?

Simple, mango!

What's it like being a vegan at school?

To be honest it's not that bad, obviously I get questioned on it and a lot of people have negative things to say, but I never really get stuck for food as my bag is usually 50% full with fruit and nakd bars anyway! Also, the sixth form canteen sometimes has meals or snacks I can have anyway!

Where do you get your protein from?

There's protein in absolutely everything. It's incredibly difficult to be protein deficient, if you are then you're not eating enough or the right things. The only vitamin lacking from a vegan diet is B12 which is found in soil and is injected into meat, however I only take my B12 supplement when I feel like I need it which is rare.

How did you convince your parents to let you go vegan?

Initially they weren't too happy with it but they knew I was very passionate about it, obviously they still worry that I'm not getting enough vitamins and minerals like iron (even though I am). I just showed them that I was serious about it, I educated myself by watching documentaries like Earthlings and Cowspiracy I also watched The Best Speech Ever on youtube (101 reasons to go vegan) and after that I knew I never wanted to consume animal products again! If you show you're parents you're passionate and educate them as well, prove to them that this lifestyle will work for you and that you're doing it for the right reasons, any reasonable parents would let you try it out. At first getting all the things can be expensive however you don't need to buy fancy stuff like acai you can just get that staples, it all works and is actually cheaper than shopping for meat and dairy anyway.

Why do you still have MAC?

Easy answer, I bought it before I was even a vegetarian and the damage is done when you buy the product not buy using it. It's more wasteful to throw it out then it is to use it so I'm trying to use it all up as fast as I can and only have things from cruelty free brands.

What do you do when people eat meat around you?

Try not to look or say anything and carry on with whatever I was doing at the time.

How do you deal with hate?

Block them. I don't have room for any negativity or negative people in my life. Remember that you should never have to justify yourself or your opinions to anyone and just carry on doing what you love. In person it's different, I usually ignore the people rather than reacting unless I've got really worked up then I'll shout a bit and they soon stop. It's not worth letting a few people get you down, especially if you enjoy what you're doing.

What colours have you had in your hair? 

Bleach blonde, red, pink, purple, burgundy, chocolate, chestnut, blonde ombre, black brown, mahogany, and at the moment its just dark brown with lighter brown highlights on the underneath section and some on the ends.

Skin care routine

I'll do a separate blog post but basically I was my face every morning and night with face wash, exfoliate every other night, in the morning I use a light moisturiser and eye cream and at the night time I use a heavier moisturiser, a serum and eye cream. And I used a face mask once a week. 

How do you do your eyes?

Also going to do a separate post but I either use tape, a card or concealer to clean up the edges and just make sure I blend everything out, it's hard to explain.

How do you do your lips?

I have naturally big lips so I don't really over line them, I just put the lipliner on the white line before your lips turn into your face (it's slightly outside your lips most girls will know what I mean).

Do you workout? 

I wouldn't say I have workout routine but I take my dog out for at least 40 minutes every day, I sometimes jog or do HIIT training and I also do body strength exercises like squats, donkey kicks, crunches, planks, that one where you lay on your back and lift your pelvis up and down, russian twists and lunges. 

What's your dog called and what breed is it?

My dog's called Oscar and he's a greyhound. 

What's your favourite song?

Rihanna - work or Drake - One Dance. 

My Opinion on Vegetarians!

If vegetarian is your final goal, to be quite honest it's well and truly pointless. I understand vegetarian as a step to vegan, that I totally support as I did that myself. But if you're really going to stop at vegetarian you're still contributing to pain, you're still contributing to suffering and you're still contributing to death. It's also better for your body to give up dairy rather than meat if you're going to give up one thing. As for pescatarians, that's also a no, unless it's a step to veganism. Fish are full of harmful chemicals, such as mercury, from the sea as they come from polluted water. Fish is not "clean" at all. In all honesty you're just destroying your body by filling it with harmful carcinogens and poison.

Meanwhile vegetarians are still contributing to global warming, cow farming is the main contributor to global warming. Dairy cows are artificially inseminated (raped) and then forced into labour and less then 24 hours later have their new born baby taken away from them so humans can have the baby for veal if it's a boy or another dairy or meat cow if its a girl then drink it's milk. Dairy cows live a life of torture and exploitation. We drink their milk which isn't even meant for our species and wear their skin which once again isn't meant for our species. Being vegetarian is not humane in anyway shape or form and I only support vegetarians who wish to end up a vegan and remain a vegan. 

"I want to go vegan but I can't imagine life without dairy" "I can't give up cheese" "Oh but I need cheese to survive". Dairy has additives in it TO MAKE BABY COWS WANT TO DRINK IT SO THEY BECOME 400BLS ANIMALS. After the first week or so, your body will detoxify itself from the toxins in the dairy and you won't crave it anymore. I never had this problem as I only used to have milk in a cup of tea and even for the past year and a half I've been using soy/almond milk cause I can't stand the taste, texture or smell of milk and cheese. 

Paleo is just as bad. It's a low carb dairy free diet consisting of meat, fish, fruit and vegetables excluding legumes. This is an exceptionally bad way of living. Low carb diets make your weight decrease so much but it's only water weight. Your body uses carbs as energy and when it has no energy your body goes into starvation mode and uses your glycogen stores essentially making you lose water weight, but guess what? The moment you start eating properly again the weight will pile back on.

Veganism is the best, healthiest, cheapest most sustainable diet on the planet. I appreciate some people need steps to get there, I was a meat eater once, I understand. It's best to try and fail than it is not to try at all, I didn't manage it first time around either! I know the struggles, but once you're submerged into this life style you truly understand the wonders of it! Change the world, save the animals and go vegan! 

April Favourites!

I've decided to do a post on my favourite/ most used things of the month.

1) My Frank Body body scrub in coconut has been my go to exfoliator. I love this so much, it's all natural and vegan ingredients and the brand is cruelty free! Would highly recommend this scrub to anyone who loves getting rough and dirty in the shower. The smell of this scrub reminds me of tropical islands, I also enjoyed my cacao scrub too. However, the coconut one is my ultimate favourite, however, my parents will not agree as the bathroom also ends up so messy. (So totally worth it though).

 2) In the colder month my hair tends to get dry and by about this time I'm always searching for a hair mask to sort this out. My Botanical Edition hair mask from Oh Hello Hair has done the job. I've used this twice and my hair is thicker, fuller and shinier than ever. Once again this is a vegan cruelty free brand all the way from Australia! This smells of heaven and really sorts your hair out!

3) On to make up now, recently I've been loving glitter. I rediscovered my silver Barry M fine glitter dust. The pigmentation on this is bomb and it really compliments my blue-green eyes. They have a lot of lovely colours to suit everyone and it's an inexpensive dupe for the MAC pigments which I have a few of and I have to say I prefer my Barry M one.

4) Lorac where kind enough to send me a set of brushes and I have fallen in love with the domed face brush for applying my foundation. It applies my make up so flawlessly and as it's so dense it's literally an effortless application!

5) Sticking with the beauty theme, my go to perfume has been my Chanel Mademoiselle. It has the most gorgeous smell and the perfume itself is pink which makes it 100 times better. It's rather expensive but it's so worth the price I've had mine since christmas and it's still got a third of the bottle left.

6) Moving on to fashion I've been seriously digging my new Sunglasses from Mango. My grandparents got me these from a Mango store in Spain on their travels and I literally wear these every day! The kitten frame really suits my face shape (I have a heart shaped face) and they're not too heavy either. Also being black they match pretty much every single outfit I own.

7) Another fashion item I have been loving is my beautiful Dress Stress "The Black Cropped Top". I've worn this a few times and I have gotten a lot of compliments on it! Dress Stress also do the same top but in a camel brown shade which is also beautiful. This has 100% been my go to top.

8) My go to breakfast has been a basic Acai bowl. I've been using one frozen banana, one cup of frozen berries, one teaspoon of acai powder and a handful of greens, then filling the small cup of my nutribullet until the max line and blending it together topping it with chia, flax, fresh fruit and goji berries. So delicious and quick to whip up in a morning.

9) A snack I have been finding myself going to a lot has been the Deliciously Ella Energy Balls, I make these in bulk then have them to snack on and they're full of goodness and taste amazing! http://deliciouslyella.com/video-how-to-make-energy-bites/

10) And finally my favourite album has been Rihanna ANTI. Every song on there is fire, but my overall favourites are Work, Love on the Brain and Kiss it Better.

Vegan Rant (WARNING GRAPHIC)

One thing that frustrates me more than people consuming animal products is the people that consume animal products and have a problem with people being vegan? When you're a vegan or you at least eat a plant based diet, you're living a cruelty free life style of abundance and endless choices. Also, people who are against China and places like that for eating dog, or were disgusted by the horse meat scandal irritate me. You'd eat their friends but think eating them is disgusting, why? It's exactly the same concept. By eating any meat, you're supporting murder. By consuming dairy, you're supporting rape. By wearing animals and using them for sport, entertainment and money, you're supporting exploitation. If you don't find the picture below mouth watering and appetising, chances are you're not meant to be consuming meat.

Problem with the industries :

MEAT:
Poultry have it worst, they've been genetically modified so much that sometimes their breasts get so large they end up crippled and disabled as their tiny legs can't support their weight. Forced to eat and sleep in their own excrement while they live a horrible life of torture for 8 months before they go to slaughter where they're hung upside side down, have their throats slit then are dragged through scalding water to get rid of their feathers, this is a small fragment of their life as for example the average chicken lives for about 10 years but some have even lived over 20! Why would anyone want to cut this life short? No one in the right mind set condones murder of 8 month old babies, 8 month old dogs, 8 month old bunnies so why are chickens any different? Don't be fooled by free range either, to be free range the chickens only need a certain amount of space, this could still be in a shed. These "happy" free range birds may never set foot outside in their short horrible life. The chicks are debeaked with no anaesthetic, male chicks either dropped straight into a grinder alive, suffocated or boiled. This is not acceptable.

Cattle also live a life of immense pain and torture. Some cows are bread to be killed, other cows have been dairy cows which are sent to slaughter after they can't produce enough milk anymore. The average life of a meat cow is 5 years, this is a fifth of their average natural life (25 years). These poor cows are beaten, electrocuted and abused in their mere 5 years of life. Then they're sent of to slaughter. And just because something is Kosher doesn't mean to say it is. Undercover investigations at Kosher farms have found that these animals are not killed Kosher, they're killed just the same as any other cow at any other slaughter house.

Pigs also have a horrendous life. Stored in metal cages which aren't big enough for them to turn around in, once again these pigs are left to sleep and eat in their own excrement. These farms are full of diseases and infection. The "useless" animals are just killed there and then. These poor pigs can hardly walk, these pigs live from 4 months - 1 year depending on what meat they're intended for. The average pig lives about 10 years. These poor pigs have their tails clipped and private parts ripped off once again with no anaesthetic. How anyone can think this is acceptable?

Sheep, lambs and goats live a tough life too. Babies ripped away from their mothers within weeks purely so humans can consume them with a roast dinner. How can anyone want to eat another mothers baby? You would't eat a human baby and you wouldn't eat a puppy so why would you eat a lamb?

Before anyone says "But humans are top of the food chain", are we hell! Have you seen a lions teeth? Can your teeth rip in to the flesh of a live animal? Can you chew and fully digest raw flesh dripping with blood? Can you chase down your desired meal, catch it and eat it with out the use of transport, weapons or cutlery? No you can't.  Humans aren't made for meat consumption, our intestines are 6 times as long as our bodies while lion's intestines are only the length of their body. Why do you think obesity levels around the world are rising? You don't see obese lions in the wild, this is because lions are eating what they're meant to. Humans are not meant to eat animal products, our bodies find it hard to digest and the saturated fat clogs up our arteries. Who's ever heard of an obese vegan or a vegan who suffered a heart attack??

DAIRY:
The dairy cows are mistreated so badly. First the female cows are artificially inseminated (raped) multiple times. Then within 12 hours of the mother cow giving birth her baby is stolen from her (kidnapped) just so we can drink their milk. Baring in mind this milk contains so many hormones and pus, which is what the baby cow needs to help it grown into a huge 400lbs cow. Obviously by consuming this it's going to make you fat too, thats what dairy does. What does breast milk do for babies? It makes them grown. You wouldn't make a human woman pregnant multiple times, take her baby away and then drink her milk so why do you need to do it to cows? And the fait of the calf is dependant on sex. If the cow is female then when its 6 months old the rape and kidnapping life for this cow begins, it has to survive 5 years of constant pregnancy until it's deemed "dry" and sent off for slaughter. The male calf's have it much worse, they live a pathetic 3 months before they're slaughtered for veal.

EGGS:
The chickens are debeaked when they're chicks, locked up in tiny sheds where they may never see daylight and forced to lay eggs, while in cramped conditions often sat on top or below other chickens majority of the time in wire cages, when they stop they're either sent to slaughter or killed by having their necks snapped. As you can imagine sometimes this doesn't work so the poor chickens are left half dead with a half broken neck, on the floor to die. Also the fact that eggs are periods, they're the unfertilised egg released by a chicken in their menstrual cycle. It's obviously not normal in society to eat your own period let alone your friends so why then would you want to eat another animals period?

It well and truly baffles me how anyone can say that being vegan is "extreme" and "ridiculous" because in reality vegans are saving the planet every day. Cow farming contributes to around 70% of global warming. If we reduced transport global warming would decrease by less than 0.5%.

Also by not consuming animals world hunger would be solved as well as the worlds water shortage. Live stock consume tonnes and tonnes of grains which could be consumed by the starving people who have no food, put it this way to obtain one lb of beef it take 25 gallons of water, which once again would be much more appreciated by an extremely thirsty human living with no water. It's stupid.

May I add that protein is not a problem, or iron or any other macro other than b12 which can only be obtained by consuming meat, however it doesn't derive from meat, it comes from the soil which the meat animals eat and can be taken as a supplement and is also found in nutritional yeast.

I had to put all of this out there as everyday I get stick for being a vegan, usually from extremely uneducated meat eaters who have turned a blind eye to this, or even ones who know about it and claim to support animal rights. Don't support animal rights and be against animal testing if you're going to carry on eating them, it's the most hypercritical nonsense I have ever heard. Watch Earthings, 101 Reasons to be Vegan (aka The best speech you will ever hear), Forks over Knifes, Cowspiracy, Veducated. All these documentaries will make any human will feelings reconsider their life choices. Don't be one to contributing to this cruelty and suffering and go vegan!!

My Fake Tan Routine!

My friends often ask me how I'm so bronzed and beachy all year round, my secret is fake tan! I have a natural olive complexion and as I go abroad 4 or 5 times a year I'm usually lovely and bronzey, however in those times when I need topping up I do use fake tan. My go to fake tan has to be my St Moriz Instant Self Tanning Mouse in shade Dark. I've used this for nearly a year now and it has never let me down! I have used various applicators to apply my tanner, the best one being my St Tropez Self Tanning Mitt. These two together are the dream combo!

How I apply my tan:

Skin Preparation
This step is vital, if your skin isn't silky smooth enough the tan will end up patchy, which is never a good look! I shave my legs first because this creates a smooth surface to start off with and if you shave first you don't end up with shaving lines in your tan!! (However don't cut yourself like I manage to do every time)

Then I exfoliate my skin with my trusty Frank Body body scrub (I would highly recommend checking them out on insta @frank_bod as they are a lovely vegan skin care brand!!). When I'm in the bath I scrub my whole body and face with this as this removes old tan as well as dead skin cells and other dirt, Frank Body recommend you to leave the scrub on for at least 5 minuets so your body can absorb all the coffee goodness.

I then wash this off, it usually does a really good job, but to double check I use my exfoliating gloves from Superdrug and just go over my body again getting all the hard to reach/ more sensitive places that need extra care. I don't moisturise my skin before I tan as I find the tan stays better on fresh skin and doesn't stick in random places.

Application
When my body is completely dry and clean I put 2 pumps of tan onto my mitt, starting at my feet I rub the tan in circular motions all over my body under a bright light so I can see if there's any places I've missed. I then move onto my belly and back then my arms. For each section I find 2-3 pumps of tan is enough.  Finally I tan my neck up to my jawline using the left over tan on my mitt, this way it gradually fades from my face colour (which is a lot lighter than my body) to my body, this also makes it easier to blend your foundation into your neck line making it look more natural! I then sleep with my tan on and shower it off the next morning. When I shower it off I just let the water pour over me until it runs clear, I don't rub or scrub my body as this can make your tan patchy. (In this case I had a bath because our shower is broken.)

Maintenance
To keep my tan fresh looking and beachy I moisturise using my bodyshop coconut body butter every other day. I'm very lucky as I don't have any dry skin on my body so moisturising every other day is enough for me. If you have dryer skin you may find you need to moisturise every day and those with oily skin may find they need to use a tanning moisturiser as this will help the tan remain for the longest time possible keeping the colour of it which could be lost due to your skin being oily.

How I remove my tan:

Removal
After about 2 and a half weeks my tan will start to fade and go patchy, this is when you know you need to take it off. I wash my body with my normal shower gel at the time. Then I just scrub my body very roughly with Frank Body and my exfoliating gloves. This usually gets it all off as by this point the tan is ready to be taken off. For any tough parts I use coconut oil on my exfoliating gloves and this gets it off instantly and it's all natural!

Aftercare
I usually give my skin a breather for a day or two when I've removed my tan. I usually remove it on a night time and after I've removed it I don't apply any creams or moisturisers until the next morning to let my skin air and calm down from the scrubbing. Then when I'm ready to apply my fake tan again I start this whole process again!

Normally I start fake tanning in October and end in about May because by then I've usually had a sufficient amount of sun to make me tanned enough! Through out summer my tan is always a natural one (I do use tanning oil and sometimes moisturiser with tan in it to get my tan started), I don't like tanning all year round because everyone skin needs a rest from products. There is a down side from fake tanning though, the fake tan I buy makes me a lovely bronze colour but when I tan naturally I tan more browny so I have about 5 different foundations to match me all year round which is a bit annoying but it's all worth it for the end results!! I hope this helped everyone who was wondering how I remain bronzed all year round! Thanks for reading.

What I Eat in a Day (Vegan)

The first thing I do when I wake up is drink 500ml of water from my glass jar. After that I go downstairs to make breakfast. I refill my jar and sip on it while I'm making my food. Today I had Rude Health Porridge The Oatmeal. I made this in a pan. I used half a cup of oats to half a cup of Good Hemp hemp milk and half a cup of water and stirred until creamy. While this was cooking I made myself a black coffee. I went back to my porridge pan and added a tablespoon of Agave Syrup. Then when it was cooked I topped it with a tablespoon of goji berries, a teaspoon of shelled hemp, a teaspoon of chia seeds, a teaspoon of ground flax and 2 diced strawberries. This was approx 342 calories.

I drank another 500ml of water before my dinner which was a blueberry Coconut Collaborative Yogurt, 3 strawberries and a passion fruit. This was approx 211 calories. After this I drank a big mug of green tea.

As a little snack I had a1/3 cup of wasabi peas, this was approx 84 calories. I had another 500ml of water.

For tea I actually ended up have two because I made too much bulgar wheat and didn't want any to go to waste. I made a 1/3 cup of bulgar wheat with 4 diced brown chestnut mushrooms, clove of garlic, teaspoon of lemon juice and a teaspoon of coconut oil. I split the burglar wheat in half and put half inside half a yellow salad pepper and baked it in the oven, while this was cooking I used the rest of the bulgar wheat and ate it with baby gem lettuce leaves like mini burritos. By the time I had finished, my stuffed pepper was ready so I ate that. This was approx 253 calories. While I was eating I drank another 500ml of water and then 30 mins after I had a matcha green tea with hot water.