Today, we’re gonna talk about cruelty-free skincare! My mom has always expressed to me the importance of washing my face every morning and night as well as always taking off my makeup before I go to sleep. Those are things we’ll be talking about today!
I’d like to preface this post by reminding y’all that everyone has a different skin type, so these reviews may not necessarily be on point for all of my readers. However, since I wanted you guys to join me in my cruelty-free journey, I wanted to continue posting about changes I’ve been making to my beauty routine. I’ve never had an issue with acne, and my skin isn’t oily or anything. Sometimes it gets dry, but otherwise, I got pretty lucky as far as skin is concerned.
What I Was Using: Aveeno Positively Radiant Skin Brightening Daily Scrub
What I’m Using Now: e.l.f. Daily Face Cleanser
I’ve been using this Aveeno scrub for as long as I can remember. It never made me break out and it kept my face clean, as it should have. The microbeads made my face really soft, but microbeads were just banned in New York, so this scrub has been slowly disappearing from stores around here. I figured it was the right time to try something different, especially since I found out that Aveeno tests on animals. Since I’ve been having so much luck with e.l.f products and this Daily Face Cleanser was so cheap, I decided to try it out. It’s been working really well! My face is still soft and I’m not breaking out, so it’s getting the job done. I would definitely recommend this! It smells really nice too.
What I Was Using/Am Continuing to Use: Pond’s Cold Cream
What I Tried: Nature’s Way Unrefined, Vegan, Organic Coconut Oil
I’ve been using Pond’s Cold Cream to take off my makeup forever, and I realized a few years ago that I could use it as a moisturizer. It was working out really well for me, no breakouts and my skin was super soft and hydrated. Then, I found out that Ponds tests on animals as well. I remembered that I had coconut oil in the house, and decided to try it out again. Last semester, I wrote an article about coconut oil (that I adapted into a web article; check it out here!), so I needed to do lots of research. I tried using it as a makeup remover and moisturizer and I really liked it! It made my skin soft and it smelled great. However, I did notice that I was breaking out. I stopped using it, but then I realized that I was getting my period the next week, and I usually break out around that time. This time, I tried coconut oil again nowhere near my period week, and I still broke out all over my chin and under my eyes, and like not even normal breakouts, like huge, painful zits that didn’t go away. It was an amazing moisturizer and got ALL of my makeup off my eyes. People have told me that coconut oil has made them break out before, so it wasn’t a huge surprise. I switched back to my Ponds for now, but if anyone has any recommendations for moisturizer, please let me know! Maybe I’ll see if e.l.f. has some since they have yet to fail me. I would definitely recommend coconut oil either way, but proceed with caution.
If you’re interested in going cruelty-free, check out PETA’s Searchable Database and Cruelty-Free Kitty’s alphabetized list of cruelty-free brands. If you have any cruelty-free recommendations, please comment them below!