How to Get a Totally CRUELTY-FREE Formal Look!

This past weekend, I attended the Liz Awards, which is basically an end-of-the-year awards celebration for all the wonderful people from the DePaul Writing Center. Everyone dresses formally for this event. At a time of year when lots of people are going to prom or college formals, it's sometimes difficult to find a way to dress fancy without using any animal products or products tested on animals.

So, I decided to give some recommendations based on the cruelty-free items I used to get myself dressed up last Saturday!

Hair:

Getting big, beautiful curly hair involves using the right products. Thankfully, I've been able to finally replace all of my hair products with cruelty-free ones. And in the process, I've actually found things I like better! In the past, I always just bought whatever was cheapest. But having to look for cruelty-free products forced me to look more closely at each product and decide what's best.

In this post, I detailed the shampoo, conditioner, and hair milk I'm using right now: all products from Shea Moisture. I recently added Miss Jessie's curl creme to that, and that has made all the difference! Miss Jessie's Quick Curls Creme is NOT tested on animals, and it is the greatest thing that has ever happened to my hair. Fellow women out there with big, curly hair: try this stuff! Your hair will feel the smoothest and have the best defined curl shape it ever has!

Shoes:

So, as I've mentioned before, the shoes I bought for my wedding are my favorite shoes I've ever owned! If you're like me, and have a very bad back that prevents you from ever wearing heels, I'd recommend this style of shoes. I got these from ModCloth and they're made of completely fake leather!

Nail Polish:

My nails were painted purple and gold! I've had a really hard time finding nail polish brands that are completely cruelty-free while also offering a wide variety of colors. So far, my favorite brand is Oh Tiff! I ordered three colors from them online-- purple, gold, and dark green-- and so far I love all of them! They have a great variety.

Lipstick:

Using lipstick is very new for me, since in this post I explained why I never wear make-up. Then in this post, I detailed how I learned make-up so I could do cosplay. In the process, I ended up with some purple lipstick that I love! This lipstick is from BH Cosmetics, a completely cruelty-free company!

Perfume:

I love shopping local! About a block and a half from my apartment is a store called Provisions, which sells a ton of merchandise from fellow Chicago small businesses. They have homemade body products there, and that's where I found Lulu Blossom perfume. Their perfume comes in a solid wax type thing, kind of like Vaseline or something, and you rub it on. I love their perfume called Androgyne! Best of all, none of their products are tested on animals! Supporting a small business AND a cruelty-free product is a win-win!

Bag:

So, I got a wonderful bag from a company called 88 Handbags a few months ago. They make all their bags with vegan leather (which means it's not really leather at all) but they look so nice! Unfortunately, their website doesn't seem to be live anymore. Does anyone know, have they gone out of business sometime in the past year? If so, that's a shame! It also means I'll be looking for recommendations for more vegan bags.

Hope these tips are helpful! If anyone out there has other great cruelty-free products to recommend, please let me know! I'm always looking to try new things!

Love,
Savy