It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of animals. I don’t eat them and I love to snuggle with them every chance I get. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I am against the testing of products on animals…especially beauty products. That being said I do my absolute best to research brands before I buy them to determine whether they are cruelty free or not, because it’s not always as easy as looking for the little white bunny on the back of packaging (If you do see that little cruelty free bunny on the packaging, it means that the product you are buying was not tested on animals. Yay!). One of my very favorite resources for determining whether or not a product is “safe” is a website, My Beauty Bunny. On the site there is a huge list of brands that are cruelty free, and it also has indications whether the brands are owned by larger companies who do still test on animals. In the recent past, many companies have lost their cruelty free title in search of more money. You see, in China the products they sell are REQUIRED to be tested on animals. Stupid, stupid, stupid!!! These once applauded companies are ditching their “morals” so they can sell their products in this (sadly enough) rapidly growing market. My Beauty Bunny keeps the public up to date with these companies, because they obviously try to be as discreet about these changes as they possibly can be. Seriously though, it is not one bit necessary to test my favorite lip color or mascara on a sad, scared little bunny rabbit. *Steps down from soapbox.* I’ve tried tons and tons of products, but these are just some of my currently owned items that happen to be cruelty free and budget friendly. This isn’t an all inclusive list by any means!
Milani is one of my very favorite drugstore brands, they have quality products that aren’t expensive at all.
1. Easybrow – probably my favorite product right now (introduced to me by my favorite beauty blogger, Glow of Grace). It makes eyebrow defining super easy, and looks really natural.
2. Easyliner for Eyes – another staple for my makeup bag. A perfect retractable eye liner pencil.
ELF is probably the biggest rockstar in the cruelty free budget beauty industry. Cheap, kind, and 100% awesome!
3. Under Eye Concealer & Highlighter – the concealer works great and the highlighter adds just a bit of sparkle.
4. Eyelid Primer – if I’m wearing eyeshadow, this eyelid primer is a MUST.
5. High Definition Powder – I don’t use this every day, but is a cheap and fabulous alternative to the Makeup Forever HD Powder (which isn’t cruelty free!!!).
6. Brightening Eye Color – these aren’t my favorite, because they aren’t very pigmented and take a lot of build intense color. But the colors are pretty, there are a lot to choose from and they are small and travel friendly.
7. Makeup Mist & Set – just did your makeup and it’s looking kind of cakey? Give it a mist of this stuff and magic will happen.
NYX is fairly new to me, but I’ve got a few of their products on my wish list for my next trip to ULTA (a trip I am purposely avoiding).
8. HD Photogenic Concealer – the coverage and blendability of this stuff is perfect. I bought green to try to battle some redness but I haven’t quite figured out how to not look green when I use it. Next time I will just stick to skin tones 
.
Physicians Formula has been a part of my beauty routine for YEARS, even before I knew they were cruelty free. So it was great to not have to change at least one staple in my makeup bag.
9. Mineral Wear Loose Powder – has enough coverage that I will usually wear this alone, no foundation needed!
10. Mineral Airbrushing Bronzer – I love this bronzer. It looks really natural and has SPF 30.
NYC was a last thought addition in here. There are a lot of mixed reviews out there on whether or not they are cruelty free, so that’s probably not a good sign but I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt here and add in the one product of theirs I own.
11. Individual Eyes created for Blue Eyes – these colors are surprisingly pigmented and really make blue eyes pop. They have similar sets for all eye colors.
I wasn’t going to include this but I couldn’t resist. This particular product is definitely not a “budget” buy, but it is made by my favorite makeup brand… Urban Decay!!!
BONUS! Naked Palette – so many colors, so little time! There are endless options to mix and match with these shadows and they are all so beautiful on. If you have a little extra to invest in a palette I highly recommend buying one from Urban Decay, because they rock!
I hope you all enjoyed this post as much as I enjoyed writing it. My main goal here is for everyone to understand that there is great affordable makeup brands out there that don’t test on animals. If you have makeup in your bag that’s been tested on animals, I’m not going to hold it against you because I do too! But I am consciously making the effort to get away from all of those items because I do not want to support those companies anymore unless they make a change. How about you? Does the testing of your beauty products on animals bother you enough to make a change? What are some of your favorite cruelty free products?
***Disclaimer: All of the mentioned products were purchased by myself and these are all my own opinions. I am by no means a beauty blogger or expert, just a girl who appreciates animals and makeup!***
. Anyways, back to my point! Staten Island Yankees probably play in the most beautiful minor league stadium ever, it sits right on the Hudson and your outfield view is the NYC skyline. It’s the kind of place that will give you chills. The first time I went to visit him I was in awe of this whole atmosphere! I had gone on this trip with his family, and his mom and I like to get to the games early…really early! We got there right when the gates opened up and we were basically the only ones there besides the people who worked there. All the guys were out in left field stretching in a circle, so we walked down that way to get a better view of our cutie. His mom had walked into the bathroom and I was just standing there above all of the seats when Addison waved at me. I was shocked that he did that because there is usually zero communication between us when he is on the field (it’s only been a rule since day one!!), so I got a little flustered but I waved back. All of a sudden every one of those baseball players standing in that circle waved at me!! Let me preface this next part of my story by telling you that I’m a pretty shy person who definitely tries to avoid attracting a lot of attention to myself, add that in with the fact that I was already a little bit surprised from the wave that my darling gave me and you get the following results…I ducked my head and ran away, into the bathroom to his mommy. It was there where I realize what I had just done. I was mortified!! Why couldn’t I have been a normal person and just kept on smiling and waving??! The whole game I beat myself up over this, because all I could think about was what a weird first impression all of his teammates would have of me. After the game was over we had a conversation about that fateful event…Addison thought it was “cute” (forever proving to me that he really does love me) and all of the guys just thought it was funny. So it wasn’t as bad as my brain over-thought it to be after all. Now I’m on the bandwagon and I’m happy to say that I can now laugh at myself over this one. As with a lot of things to do with the baseball life, my very first experience with pro ball was quite memorable, I’m just glad that I don’t have any more embarrassing memories (to do with baseball of course) to share with the world!