It’s been a hot minute since i’ve done one of these.  If you asked me if I was really into makeup and related things I would say no, but as I look at my desk (which houses my makeup and hair stuff), I think…maybe I am?  I know I still don’t have a lot of products compared to some people, and I usually keep my makeup really simple.  Like I bought blush for the first time a few months ago, and I still don’t wear it very often.  Pre-vegan all of my makeup was drugstore, and even though i’m on a budget i’d rather own a few things that are good quality than a bunch of crap.  I also need it to last as I am not the type to remember to reapply my makeup during the day.  Boring story more boring, let’s look at makeup!

Beauty Without Cruelty Mascara ($15):  BWC was the second brand of vegan mascara I ever bought (Ecco Bella was the first).  I still have my second tube and even though it should’ve dried out long ago, it hasn’t.  It isn’t too dramatic or too sparse, doesn’t flake, in general i’ve had no problems with it.

Urban Decay Half Baked Eyeshadow ($17):  The only thing I had bought from UD before they came out with the vegan palette was foundation, so I don’t have a lot of experience with their eyeshadows.  But Half Baked is the shit, it’s an intense gold, but gold is still kind of natural so it’s not too scary if you’re inexperienced with makeup.  I also think gold eyeshadow looks good on everyone, no matter what your skin tone.

ELF mineral eyeshadows ($3):  ELF constantly has promotions, and I caught one where if you spent $25, you got ten free mineral eyeshadows.  Between these and my Urban Decay Palette, I literally do not need to buy eyeshadow until it’s time to throw it out because it’s so old.  I got all shimmers, and they are smooth, blend great, and are sparkly as fuck.  They even have an awesome gold (golden) and a coppery gold (celebrity) that I think are just as pretty as Half Baked, if not a little less pigmented.  Also, their standard line of eyeshadows are crap and aren’t worth the bother, even for $1.  I’ve heard that their big palettes, even the studio line ones, aren’t great either.

Manic Panic Eyeshadow, Vampire’s Kiss ($4):  Dude, it’s vegan red eye shadow.  All of Manic Panic’s products are vegan, which is awesome.  The eyeshadow isn’t as pigmented as UD, but it’s still better than your standard drugstore brand in every way.  Also, in the picture below i’m wearing Manic Panic mascara, which is more dramatic than BWC, but I do have problems with it flaking so it’s not my favorite.   but you get a huge tube for $10.

Beauty Without Cruelty Lipstick, Birch($15/$23):  I don’t wear a lot of lipstick, and I kind of lucked out that this was the first color I tried and I love it.  It’s not too far away from my lip color so I don’t feel weird wearing it, and I love the pearlized finish.  Please note that BWC has changed their packaging and the $15 lipstick I bought appears to no longer exists in Birch, it only comes in the $23 tube.  Alternately, I like the ELF basic lipsticks because you can try a shade and if you don’t like it, it was only $1.  And if you do like it, you can find a higher quality lipstick in a similar shade.

Everyday Minerals Sampler ($0/$5):  Everyday Minerals has an awesome deal where you can buy a sample kit of foundations for $5, or FREE if it’s your first time.  You pick from one of seven skin tones, and they’ll send you five jars in different shades and coverage, so you can figure out which ones you like the best without a lot of trial, error, and wasted money.  I’ve had mine for a few months and i’m nowhere near out. If you’re worried about how well mineral foundations covers, I sometimes wear mineral foundation over liquid (right now i’m using Zuzu Luxe) to get maximum coverage.

That’s it for makeup!  If you are just as clueless about what to buy, or are lazy like me and want other people to tell you what’s good and vegan, here are three girls who are dedicated to being our vegan guinea pigs.  I think they’re all worth following if you want to be kept abreast of vegan prettiness, because they each have their pros and cons and there’s not a lot of overlap in content.

Vegan Beauty Review

Sunny is a beauty product junkie, which is awesome for me because she tries out all kinds of stuff and lets me know what’s worth buying!  She also has a really bubbly personality, which you would think my cranky self would find off-putting, but I find it refreshing.  Downside:  She seems to have more money than I do, so some of the stuff she reviews (mainly moisturizers/eye creams) is way out of my price range.

Cruelty-Free Face

Like you don’t know who Melisser is!  Despite the fact that she’s a professional makeup artist, Melisser has taken the time to do several easy tutorials.  I re-learned how to apply makeup with her help, a lot of the tutorials on youtube are either a) too complicated if you just want basics or b) they are probably not using all vegan makeup, so  it doesn’t do me much good if I don’t know a good dupe.  There’s also an extensive list of companies that sell vegan makeup (Veggie Beauty also has a list). Downside:  Melisser is busy moving all over Europe and working, so she hasn’t had time to post much lately.

Veggie Beauty

Kristy made the switch from vegetarian to vegan not that long ago, but she’s been posting youtube videos about cruelty-free beauty products for awhile.  I like the fact that she is on a budget so most of the stuff she reviews is very affordable, and you can buy a lot of it at the drugstore (Wet n’ Wild has lots of vegan stuff!).  I also like the fact that she doesn’t have perfect skin, so she will talk about things that made her break out or have helped her acne (screw you, hormonal acne).  Downside:  Her videos are usually pretty long, at least eight minutes.

With the help of these ladies and some luck, i’ve managed to not have too many disappointing purchases.

Last month, Brian and I went to see The Thermals in St. Louis.  Funny side story, they were opening for Matt and Kim, and Brian and I had no idea that Matt and Kim are super fucking popular until we were eating across from the venue and saw the line wrapped around the block.  I didn’t bother trying to sneak my camera in because it was clear we wouldn’t be getting into the stage area and I was right!

We had some issues getting around town at first, thanks to road construction and dear god, I never want to hear an electronic voice say “Recalculating!” as long as I live.  So we ended up with less time than I had planned, and kind of had to fly through our pre-dinner destinations.

Our first stop was Sweet Art bakery.  They’re all vegetarian and have vegan bakery items daily, and they tweet those selections each day.  I asked the day before what they would have and they told me, so I knew what to ask for.  I was hoping to get a sandwich to tide me over until dinner, but since we were running so late I just decided to loot the bakery.  Unfortuantely,  it wasn’t cupcake happy hour, but I got two cupcakes and a brownie, which I promptly ate and it was big, fudgy, and delicious.

I’m sad that I didn’t get to eat lunch, just a glance at the menu on the wall made me excited.  But the cupcakes were awesome, I ate the vanilla xgfx one with chocolate buttercream after the show,  and the cherry almond one the next day.  The frosting wasn’t too sweet and there wasn’t too much or too little of it.  I am definitely going back every time I go to St. Louis!

After quickly dashing to Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s to look for Field Roast slices for a friend (and failing), we headed over to Pi Pizzeria.  Brian and I tried to eat here when we saw Ted Leo, but the wait was horrendous.  This time we planned ahead and showed up almost two hours before the doors across the street at The Pageant even opened (which made the line around the block even more bizarre).  The wait was still horrendous, and we couldn’t wander too far because we had one of those vibrating ‘your table is ready’ things to hold onto.  It was crowded and loud inside, and I was really hoping we would get a table outside.  I almost had a stroke when a guy showed up, alone, thirty minutes after we had and was almost immediately seated at a two-person table outside.  But I have no idea how they decide who goes where and when, so I kept my stroke to myself for the next 45 minutes that we had to wait.

So was it worth it?  For the ambiance, no.  I felt crowded as fuck and we could barely talk.  For the pizza?  Hells yeah!  Pi has daiya, match meats, and all kinds of toppings.  Their thin crust is vegan, supposedly to get a vegan deep dish you have to call the day before (?) so they can not butter a pan.  I knew this was going to be a pricey pizza, so I resisted the urge to dump fifteen toppings on and went with artichoke, sundried tomato, and roasted garlic.  Brian had mushroom on his half, and the waitress asked if he wanted daiya or dairy cheese on his half (um, ew, they’ll melt together).  Also, since we didn’t get drinks or an appetizer the price wasn’t too crazy, I want to say $20 but I don’t remember for sure.  It’s definitely a treat, but vegan pizza that isn’t just a cheeseless Papa John’s pizza usually is.

I don’t know if they take reservations, but in the future I wouldn’t try to eat there on a weekend or at dinnertime without one (or maybe try one of the other locations that isn’t right across from a huge music venue).  We still ended up missing part of the first band.  P.S.  The Thermals were aweeeeesome.

I’m 30 years old!  I’m so excited that I have a good 6-7 years before someone tells me i’m almost starting a new decade!

With age comes maturity, so.  *fart*

Okay, well, it came with pizza!  Brian came up this weekend and we made pizza that was so loaded down I almost had to eat it with a fork.  It had grilled mushrooms, red peppers, onions, pineapple rings, artichoke hearts, and tempeh sausage.

I also got Brian a bag of Tandoori Chicken flavored Stonewalls.  This is his review:

I did get some fun stuff:  the Scott Pilgrim books, flowers, Chicago Diner cake, the Urban Decay vegan palette, Vegan on the Cheap, a gift certificate to the health food store, and liver pills for my dog (which I did ask for because just those pills are $22 a month).  Now i’m going to sit around in my pjs and watch movies with my friend Andria.  Woo!