let's talk about face masks.

At one point or another you've (probably) tried a face mask. I'm willing to bet one of two things happened, you either loved it or you hated it. Well, I'm in that boat with you. The first time I tried a mask I had a horrible chemical reaction and my face burned for hours. Fast forward a few years and I've finally figured out which ones work for me and which ones don't. For starters, always always ALWAYS read what's in the mask and do a patch test on your inner elbow. I've found that Freeman Beauty's line of masks work A-OK with my skin, minus the evil banana and oatmeal one (which come to find out I'm allergic to oatmeal when it touches my skin.) In today's post and video, I'll go over a few of my favorite masks. FYI: I have combo to normal skin; aka: I'm oily on most of face and not in others, so most of these masks are made for combo to normal skin types.

quick and easy purple & brown eye look

Keep on reading to see the finished look.

My Cruelty Free Journey and why I'll never look back.

June Favorites video is live!

Soooo, I just published my very first youtube video. It's a combo of June favorites and a intro to me and my purpose here on Living Life Cruelty Free. I really hope you guys like it, thumbs up if you enjoyed it and subscribe it you feel like my videos are something you'll like to see.

Dry, frizzled, and damaged hair?! Here's a top 3 cruelty free showdown.

Do you have damaged hair? If so, hello I'm Sam and we meet on Mondays. But seriously, damaged hair sounds more scary than it really is; and honestly, not that hard to overcome. Have you bleached your hair, or over bleach it; constantly applying box color over more boxed color? Have no fear - here's some cruelty free options that I love!

A higher price point doesn't always mean that the quality point matches. My first tried and true is from Dollar Tree of all places. About a year ago I was in Tallahassee visiting my sister, when I needed to kill some time and found myself in the biggest Dollar Tree that I've ever seen in my whole life. No, I'm not kidding, it was HUGE; with the largest selection of name brand items in any Dollar Tree that I have ever been in. This wonder product is Salon Selectives - 3-Minute Hair Therapy Conditioning Treatment . This little pink jar is full of magical hair goodness, and at $1 for 4 ounces, it's the cheapest treatment that actually works. I have extremely dry and damaged hair, let's just say the term "over bleaching"and "double processes" meant nothing to me - or the straw like hair growing from my head. I'm currently a blonde, with pastel purple/silver sections; it's always changing, what can I say - I get bored. My natural hair is around a level 4-ish, so regrowth and roots are something that are always a "present state" verses a "past state", but it's whatever. I've found that with this conditioner, the less is more. I flew through my first jar because I was over using it, since then I've found that for my length hair (mid black) a quarter size is the perfect amount.  In addition to being a super hydrating conditioner, it's a great to turn vivid colors into creamy beautiful pastels. As I mentioned above, I first saw this at a Dollar Tree, since then I've seen it Big Lots (which has a larger selection of the Salon Selectives line.)




The next contender in the top 3 showdown is Hask Oil Deep Conditioning Hair Treatment. On a random TJ Maxx trip, I found a holiday gift pack on clearance, that included two 1.75 ounce packets as well as a travel size finishing oil. I do know that Walmart, Cvs and Walgreens all carry Hask, although at different price points - $3-$5 range. Anytime I'm doing any process on my hair, I always without fail, finish with this treatment. After shampooing and rinsing your hair completely, add this conditioner for 10 minutes - I usually leave it on for about 15-30 minutes. I know that the price point seems a tad bit on the higher side, but I've found that putting the product in travel size bottles and jars, you get more bang for you buck, annnnd, it's way easier to apply when in the shower. The cherry on top for this product is the scent. It's coconut (as the package says), with this being said, it's not an over powering coconut, it's very light and sweet. You'll find yourself smelling your hair, and loving the way it smells.



The last product in this line up is my holy grail of fixing the horrible problems that I make with my hair. I'll be honest, I have some breakage on my left side, it's about three inches from point of break, until where the rest of my tips are. Now I know that three inches sounds like the end of the world (and it most defiantly could be), mine is easily blended into the rest of my lions mane. This two step treatment is from ApHogee, which is a 2-Step Protein Treatment and Balanced Moisturizer. I'll note that this product comes in different sizes, both a single use (which is what I always pick up) and a 16 ounce bottle. The directions states to use about every 4-6 weeks, depending on the condition of your hair; I like to use at around the 5-6 week mark. I cannot stress enough to follow the directions to a fault, otherwise some very sad things can (and will) happen to your hair. Step one is very, very, very, very liquidity, it's insane. I would recommend putting it in a tint bowl or using a squeeze bottle of some sorts. After shampooing your hair, apply step one (in an even distribution) and apply heat until you hair is hard, like rock solid hard. After the hardening of hair, rinse off and apply the step two conditioner. After step two, I always add the Hask Coconut conditioner for at least 30 minutes.


I'm hoping to start filming some videos that will go hand in hand with each blog post. Thanks for stopping by and I hope perhaps some of these products help you with the mess that is damaged hair. Are there any affordable, cruelty free hair products that I don't know about a should? Comment and let me know your favorites.

Until next time,
Sam

The sticky Florida weather and the havoc on my skin.

Hello everyone - hope everyone is doing great!


So I live in Florida, where it's roughly 900 degrees everyday - give or take. With summer around the bend and the use of sunscreen, our skin can get pretty messed up - at least mine does. With this being said, how about we talk about some skincare products that I've been using to the last drop.


First we have Mario Badescu - Acne Facial Cleanser. I can't rave enough about this gem. As someone who wears glasses, sometimes sweat can form between my frames and my face (gross I know, but it happens to the best of us.) Once the weather turns and it becomes 900 degrees outside and the sweat starts flowing, my skin turns into a welcoming home for acne. The texture of this cleanser is light and refreshing and really cleans down the very bottom of every pore. I'm fairly certain this is probably the 10th bottle of this that I've bought in the past couple years.

Second let's look at a product that's on the new-ish side, e.l.f. BB Cream which contains SPF 20 (always apply that SPF!!) I find that for me, more often than not, foundation is too much for my skin and usually results in me breaking out like crazy. In searching for something that will give me a touch of coverage I can across this wonderful BB cream. It gives just the right amount of coverage - not too much and not too little - that it leaves the skin in a even tone all while protecting with SPF 20. The texture of this BB is very light, almost that of a lotion and at around $6, you can't beat it.
I have the two worst problems when it comes to face makeup - I'm both neutral pale and oily. This being said, matte foundations just make me look like cake face, mixed with oiliness doesn't look good - like at all. Lucky for me, and all the pale people out there that like a touch of dewy not oily, Hard Candy came out with Illuminate & Strobing Mix-in Drops, which to me, are not a dupe for Cover FX custom drops, but are very close. I like to add these lightweight drops to whatever it is I'm putting on my face for the day - whether it be just lotion, a BB cream or full on foundation.



Thanks for reading my first post! I'm hoping that in these next few weeks I can get this blog up and running and actually get in the swing of things.