Is Cruelty Free really a big deal?

In short, yes. Often, 'Cruelty Free' goes hand in hand with 'Vegan' and sometimes even 'Organic', but these terms mean totally different things, and legally there's no strict guidance on how they are used. Therefore, companies can describe a product as Vegan because it has no animal bits in it, but if you were to assume that also meant it hadn't been tested on animals, then you'd be wrong.

Unless a company specifies that it's products are cruelty free, it's safe to assume they're not. You can contact your favourite company to find out, but sometimes a multitude of sins can be hidden by parent companies, and different trading names.

We specify that ALL of our products are vegan, cruelty free, and as natural as they can be, with no nasties. But companies as transparent as us are few and far between. If you search for Cruelty Free companies in your country you'll probably find a lovely helpful blogger has put a list together for you - these lists are ever changing - as they add new companies, and maybe (sadly) remove some. So if you find a good updated list that's relevant for you, bookmark it, and check it regularly. And if there's a company that you think deserves to be on the list, let that lovely blogger know - they can't find every hidden gem.

As well as 'Cruelty Free' being used with abandon, it can also be used in different ways. Some companies use it because that particular product has not been / is no longer tested on animals. But other products by the same company might be - so they lead you into a false sense of security. That's bad news for the conscious shopper.

You probably think that animal testing doesn't exist any more, and you'd be partly right. Animal testing for cosmetics is banned in the EU, and this goes for cosmetics that have been tested outside the EU too - they can't be sold here. This is fantastic news, but it's about time every country followed suit.

We're really proud of the fact that we are totally cruelty free. All our ingredients are cruelty free, and the final products are too. We do of course test products on willing human victims, but only once they've been checked over by our friendly lab technicians first. If you ever want to help us test stuff, keep your eyes peeled on our social media accounts - that will be where we ask for help.

And finally, to answer your question - is cruelty free a big deal? Just look at this face, and tell me it's ok to rub stuff all over it to check for a reaction. Apart from anything else, the last time I checked, my body was pretty different to his, so what exactly does it achieve?

This is Fairycat. He works in our packing department. The tongue is because we told him to get back to work.

xox

Are you ready for this Gel-y?

Bad pun, we know, but we're pretty chuffed with our new gel finish nail varnishes!

They are regular polishes, and they work in exactly the same way - no special top coats or drying techniques. They just happen to have an amazing, shiny finish - just like having gels done in a salon!

They're very hardwearing too, our testers have been wearing them for 1-2 weeks with very minimal chipping, which is what we like to hear!

As you can see, we've gone for some old school primary colours, topped up with a super glossy white and black. They remind us so much of poster paints in primary school, and if you're a bit clever, you could mix and blend these 5 shades to create whichever shade you fancy. The number of shades you can create is limitless!

As ever, each polish is only £3.99, with the gift set of 5 for £15. So you could get all 5, and create your own paintbox!

These shades are all amazing, and really give you a bright, pop of colour. There's two coats on this nail, and you can see the super shiny finish.

The black is lovely and glossy - it's a perfect base for some vampy nail art - let your imagination run wild!

The red is proving popular already, I think it's rare to find a red that suits all skintones, but this one tries pretty hard!

Again, perfect as a base for nail art, this white is solid, glossy and perfect. 

Last but not least, we have the brightest, sunshiney, egg-yolky yellow we've ever seen! It's perfect for summer.

You can finish these shades off with a topcoat, but they don't really need it. They'll keep their shine until you decide to remove them. So, pick which shades you'd like to try, and send us photos of your own paintbox creations!

xox

Focus on - Nooch

First off, how amazing is that name?! In case you didn't know, Nooch is a nickname for Nutritional Yeast. It's normally found in a sort of flaky form, and can be added to most savoury foods to add a je ne sais quoi - a sort of nutty, cheesy flavour. It's used by a lot of vegans to create cheesy sauces (since cheese is off limits to vegans!).

So now we've done the context, now lets talk about the shop. Nooch is based in Wigan, which really isn't that far from us in Chester. They have normal opening hours, but I love the fact that they keep their social media updated with their opening hours, so if something disastrous happens they can let their customers know - it's also handy to check there first if it's a bank holiday.

The shop is absolutely lovely inside too - I just love what they've done with the place! (I've always wanted to say that...) They run lovely workshops also - make sure to check on their social media for updates on when the next one will be. I love the idea of a shop not just being a shop - being more of an interactive experience. I really think that's the future of the British high street.

A workshop at Nooch - photo from their Facebook page

They sell a few of our lines, most notably our lovely nail varnishes, which are on proud display in the shop. If you're local to Wigan you definitely need to pop by and say hello. If you're not - don't worry, still have a mooch at their pages, it'll probably make you want to make a special trip oop north, just to see them in their lovely shop!

Our lovely nail varnishes on display

So do make sure to visit them in real life if you can, or just on Facebook or Twitter. Either way, they're super friendly, and I'm sure you'll enjoy browsing all the lovely things they have for sale. If you do pop in though, you don't have to buy our stuff, but it would be nice. Ta.

xox

Scrub of your life!

Let us tell you ALL about our super amazing Lip Scrub. We probably say that about a lot of our products (we can't help but be a bit biased),but these beauties really do work pretty hard, and they do what they say on the tin. Or jar.

We'd seen lip scrubs around for a while, but when we looked at buying them, we were a bit shocked by the length of the list of ingredients! We didn't understand why it took so many things to make a good scrub.

We decided to start with our ace classic lipbalm recipe, and see what we needed to add. The only ingredient that stood out to us, was humble granulated sugar. The granules are the perfect size, and of course they are lovely and natural.

We tried by making a couple of different batches, and passing the finished product around to see what people thought. They loved it, so we decided to launch it to our amazing customers.

We wanted to follow on from our lipbalm flavours based on cakes and cocktails, so we came up with Peppermint Cream...

We couldn't name this after the famous thin chocolate you eat later than 8pm... but that's exactly what it tastes like. It's fresh, minty and chocolatey all at the same time. In short, it's gorgeous!

We also chose Lemon Drizzle...

This really does taste like a lemon drizzle cake. It's fruity, without being too sweet, and with an undercurrant of vanilla-y goodness. If you like your lips sweet, then this is the one for you.

Finally, we chose Turkish Delight.

We thought this last one would be a bit marmite - not everyone likes Turkish Delight, after all. But it's become a bit of a cult favourite, and is the most popular of the three - so well done for proving us wrong! This smells of roses, with a hint of chocolate.

They're all served up to you in a lovely little 15ml jar, and they're packed with the aforementioned sugar, which is the active ingredient in keeping your lips soft and smooth. We'd advise you to rub a small amount over your lips, moving your fingers in small circles. You can then lick off the sugar (yum yum!) which will leave behind a layer of our balm to soften and smooth your smackers.

You can see the gorgeous sugar in this photo. In short, these little scrubs are a miracle product, and once you've started using one, you'll never look back. xox

The Good Life

I often share photos on social media of my little plant pot garden, and of the things I make with it. So I thought I'd share a little more in depth, and give you my fail safe crumble recipe too. This post isn't related to anything available on our website, but we often talk about Fairypants being a lifestyle choice, so why not!

We've got a nice big garden at Fairypants HQ, but I prefer to grow things in pots, as I find it a lot easier. It means I go though a heck of a lot of bags of compost, but it's all good.

A selection of the things we are growing at the moment

I won't bore you with the details of everything I am growing, but suffice it to say, if you can grow it in the UK, I'm giving it a bash. Most things have been grown from seed this year, but some things, like my grape vines, rhubarb and herbs come back every year - so they're a huge investment, if you use them a lot!

Rhubarb is NOTORIOUS for taking over your garden, I know this to my cost - I had to hack mine up out of the ground to halt its ever increasing march of destruction. I replanted some of it in a large tub, and now it grows quite happily on the patio. 

See? Happy as Larry, whoever he is. I find that Rhubarb grows super fast too, so even once you've harvested, you won't be waiting long for another crop. It's handy having someone around who's practical too - Mr Fairypants built a pretty swish frame for all my fruit plants - and he's pretty pleased with it. It should protect all my berries from the birds. I've also put lots of different bird seed and fat balls out for the birds, so they don't miss my fruit too much. And I don't feel so guilty about keeping the fruit all to myself.

Mr Fairypant's Fruit Frame

He also made me some troughs for my onions out of drainpipes, so he's pretty handy to have around! I'm hoping to plant some more fruit trees soon too, so next year we can enjoy even more of our home grown food. I've got vegetables more than covered, but I only have a plum tree and an elderberry tree at the moment - I'd love my own apple tree! I'm aiming to be a bit more like Tom and Barbara from the Good Life, so the more I can grow, the better!

Lastly - here's what I think you really want to know - how I make my amazing, mouthwatering crumble. Look at it.

Yum.

I have made this recipe for yonks, and over time my measurements have become a little less precise. I have used different sugars, different butters and different fruit, and all in various quantities. It always turns out amazing, which is why I think this recipe truly is fail safe. Give it a go though, and see for yourselves!

You will need

Fruit (about 400g if you can)

Sugar 50g

Plain flour 150g

Caster Sugar 150g

Butter 150g

Rolled Oats 150g

These last four ingredients are for the crumble topping, and I've adapted the quantities to suit my likes. I originally started with half the quantities, but the crumble topping is my favourite part, so I doubled it. Feel free to halve it again if you're not as crumble obsessed as I am.

Heat your (regular) oven to 190. You'll need to change that temperature to suit your oven if you've got something fancy. Cook your chopped fruit over a low heat with the 50g sugar and a little water. If you're using a particularly 'wet' fruit like berries, you may want to use less water. And if you're using a fruit that's naturally quite sweet, like eating apples, you can use less sugar. I normally use cooking apples, so you need all the help you can get.

Mix your crumble ingredients together in a bowl. If you're a vegan, just use your preferred vegan butter - as long as it's suitable for baking. I sometimes switch oil for butter in cakes, but that won't work in this case, you need the stodginess of the butter. And don't worry if you haven't got the right sugar in your cupboard, I've used all kinds and it always turns out lovely.

Use your fingers to squash and press the oaty dough into little 'tiles' of crumble. Place your cooked fruit in a suitable oven proof bowl, and cover completely with the crumble tiles. You'll have some really crumbly bits left that wouldn't press into a tile, so smooth them over the top once you're done.

Pop the whole thing in the middle shelf for around 20 minutes, or until the topping is all golden and exciting.

Take it out, eat it. I find that this crumble will easily last a few days in the fridge, but it doesn't tend to hang around that long in our house. If you've made as much crumble topping as I usually do, try cooking a little extra fruit, and make a mini version too, in a smaller bowl. I usually do that when I need to ingratiate myself with someone. Presenting someone with their own mini crumble in a tiny bowl is a great way to cheer people up!

My last tip is to reheat portions in the microwave for up to a minute before eating - it tastes so much better hot! The best thing about this crumble is you can use whatever fruit you have lying around. The photo above shows rhubarb, apple and pear. The rhubarb needing bulking up, and I happened to have apples and pears in my fruit bowl. I left the skin on the apples and pears because I think the different colours look nicer, but feel free to peel if you prefer. I also usually add a little cinnamon or all spice depending on the fruit used. This time, because of the rhubarb, I used a little ginger - and it was amazing!

Enjoy growing and baking - I'd love to see your photos of Fairypants Crumble! xox

Roses are... pink!

At least in our world they are, not red! We're talking of course about our first ever range of vegan, cruelty free and 5 free nail varnishes, created a year ago.

Rose, our pink pastel nail varnish

We decided to start with a range of 5 colours -so if you're childish like us, you can wear one on every nail ;-). It was spring time, so pastels were the order of the day. We wanted to make them a little bit different, so we thought - why not make them look like little teeny birds eggs? As you do. So we did.

Minty green pastel nail varnish

We made 5 gorgeous pastel shades - pink, blue, yellow, green and lilac. All with the little black specks of glitter in them. If you were worried this glitter would make them hard to remove, don't. It makes them hardy enough to take a bit of a battering, but it still lasts longer than a lot of high street polishes.

Buttercup yellow pastel nail varnish

They're a super bargain too, just £3.99 for 10mls of joy. Which is a pretty nice price, especially if you decide to treat yourself to our amazing gift set - you can get all 5 shades for just £15, which makes them £3 each. And we don't judge, if you decide to keep the lovely set instead of giving it away, we'll turn a blind eye.

Lilac pastel nail varnish

In fact, this range is also the most popular with our various stockists, and that's why we decided it would make sense if they were the first shades we ordered from our lovely manufacturer. We were really excited when they arrived, it was a pretty big step for us to take, but we're very glad we made it!

Bluebell pastel nail varnish

We didn't really know what to expect when we released these shades - we thought they'd be popular for a bit, and then we'd need something new. Which turned out not quite to be the case - you guys love these bad boys all year round! Which is fine by us.

Pastel Gift Set £15.00

xox

Focus on - Teenz Skin

We were so excited when we welcomed this stockist into our little family - they're based over in the Netherlands, so that makes us a business that trades internationally - yeah! We already send our stuff all over the world to individual customers, but this was (and still is) the furthest afield we've sent a bulk order, and so it was a pretty big milestone for us.

Teenz Skin is a lovely company with a wonderful ethos - they're trying to bring natural, ick-free products from around the world to their customers in the Netherlands, and that's how they found us. If we found a Teenz Skin in every country, we'd be laughing, because they're just ace.

They're really active on social media too, which we like - they regularly message us or tag us in photos on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And we love this, because it makes us feel like a bigger part of their relationships with their customers.

If you're local to the Netherlands, make sure you go on their site, and get following them too - links below.

Website - http://teenzskinstore.nl/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/teenzskinstore
Twitter - https://twitter.com/teenzskinstore

Most of the readers of this blog wouldn't actually buy our products from Teenz Skin, but since we're introducing you to all our stockists, we really wanted to have a shout about them in particular. All our stockists and customers mean a lot to us, but a 'first' is always going to be exciting. Especially when it's so far away!

xox