Giovanni purifying facial mask

Giovanni purifying facial mask
D:tox system

Hey! Long time no talk. Sorry I've been gone for some time. I just started college classes, picking up more shifts at work and other life odds and bits. I hope you had a fantastic end to 2013 and an even more wonderful start to 2014! How are you doing on those resolutions? ;)

So today I wanted to talk about Giovanni purifying facial mask (if that wasn't obvious, haha). What a great one to talk about for my first post of the new year? The word purifying, it makes me think of refreshing, clean and new. And it should make me think of that. Everyone (or almost everyone) starts the new year with intention of a clean slate, starting over and change. For some it's little things like, smile more and for some it's huge things like, over coming a fear. For me one of my resolutions is to love and take care of myself. I don't take a lot of time for myself, I don't know why. But in the past few months I've been learning how to "listen" to my body. Sounds a bit...hippy, right? Well whether it is or isn't shouldn't really matter. It's good to learn how to "listen" to your body. Learn what foods work for you, what make up and facial cleansers work, etc. For me I've learned many things my body does NOT appreciate. Many things I have been eating, drinking or using for many years but that is a topic for another day and another blog post. So onto what THIS post is about.

So if you have read any of my older posts you may know that I have sensitive skin. And it's beyond picky. What I mean is, I can't use many popular face washes (which I don't mind because many test on animals) I can't use liquid foundation or I will break out. And other things. So I am very weary of a lot of products. Also I like to use organic or close to natural as possible. And it has to be cruelty free.Well I have heard many wonderful things about Giovanni from bloggers and The Leaping Bunny. The thing that caught my eye was that they are cruelty free, that right there got all my attention. So for a few months I had been looking at reviews and posts about them, going on their website and such. I came to the conclusion that I wanted to try some of their products and lo and behold I couldn't find any of their things. That's not the companies fault, I could order online, but I'm far too impatient for that :) Anyways the stores I had gone to didn't have their things or if they carried it didn't have it in stock, which I have a few issues with stores not caring adequate amounts of cruelty free products. But I'm not upset by that, I understand. So a few days ago I went to TJMaxx (If you haven't been to TJMaxx before I suggest you go, it's also called TKMaxx in other countries, right?) Anyways I went to their hair and body section and they had many brands that I can't ever seem to find and I saw the Giovanni face mask and I thought: "well well well...I'm going to try this! It's here and I better get it before it's gone." So this was a few days ago. I love face mask, but my luck with them has been so so. It's my skin. Face masks will make my skin feel soft and smooth and clean and then I break out the next day. I don't know why. It's happened with LUSH face masks. So I thought I can't make a blog post the day after trying this to give a real review I need to wait a few days to see how my skin reacts. And the outcome was...

I did not break out! Not one bump and red spot, nothing, nada, zip! I think we can say that this product was blessed by the face gods. It's been 3 days since I used it and not a single zit. It's grey in color and there are no beads on scrubiness to it. I am indifferent on the smell, it's not bad but not amazing. It's the typical face mask smell. My favorite thing about it is that it contains acai and goji berry both very powerful antioxidant superfoods. It's a mask you put on for 20 minutes and gently wash off. When I washed it off my skin felt smooth but it did make it feel dry, I don't know if it was the product that caused it or just the fact that I live in Arizona. This product is certified by Leaping Bunny.

Oh just me looking like an alien with the mask on.

I hope you enjoyed this review! Leave a comment below if you have tried any Giovanni's other products, I would love to hear what you think! Bye! 

How to start becoming cruelty free part 1

The cruelty-free life

This post isn't to shove my views down your throat. This post is explaining what my life style is and what is really happening behind factory doors

Why did I choose to become cruelty free? I used to have a bunny. Her name was Snickers.

Isn't she a cutie?
She actually passed away recently. But she was one of the soul reasons why I decided to go cruelty free.
I had conscious knowledge that there was possibly testing happening. I didn't really look into it though. Plus I thought testing, probably wasn't that bad. I'm sure we all have had that same thought. Then when I was on tumblr I had seen a post (given that the source was so incorrect) it was a girl showing what it was like for animals to be tested on. Of course they weren't actually hurting her in the same way they do to animals but it is quite graphic. Then in 2012 I had discovered Lush. You know, that lovely bubble and bath place. And they told me that they were the ones who had done the campaign I had just mentioned. Lush is completely cruelty free. They don't test, parent company doesn't test or third party company doesn't test. They are the goddess...god of being cruelty free.

Why does testing happen? It happens because companies want to make sure that the chemicals they use aren't going to cause an issue to a human who will use it. Or if it does cause an issue, they can put a warning. Can we think about this for a second? It's 2013...by this point we should be developed enough as a civilization that we should know what can and cannot be put on us and we should have other methods of testing on not a living creature. Plus, if they have a need to test their products, what does that say about their ingredients?

Who is victim?

Mice, rats, rabbits, guinea pigs and many other animals. There are products (maybe not cosmetics) that are tested on dogs and monkeys. Animals we see as companions are being subject to cruel treatment. They are forced to have chemicals in their eyes, nose, ears and mouths. These animals are tested on and then carelessly tossed. 

There are many companies that claim the leaping bunny seal of approval. Therefore, research is highly required. What I mean by "they claim" is that their parent company tests or a third party tests. If the parent company or third party is testing, then the product isn't cruelty free.

There are many companies that test, many that you may purchase from currently. L'oreal, Maybelline, Covergirl, Garnier, Bobbi Brown, Smashbox, Estee Lauder and a lot more!

This website has a good list. 

What companies could possibly be cruelty free in that massive list?
The leaping bunny has a very reliable list, go check it out! There are many budget friendly brands out there that are 100% cruelty free. The website does put icons by some companies about whether or not they have a parent or third party that tests. 

Some helpful websites that you can look at are:
Leaping bunny

Peta (I personally don't use them as a resource)
Google

Apps:
Buycott 

(Though out time I will continue to add to these lists, if you know of any, leave them in a comment)

I plan on making a few more posts about cruelty free things. I plan on putting lists of budget friendly companies and high end companies.
I also plan on finding websites and resources on how to help and make a difference.