vegan beauty products

My Non Leather Life T-Shirts and Visions of a Vegan Lifestyle Brand

mynonloeatherlife

A dream I have is to have my own vegan lifestyle brand. A la Martha Stewart.

Of course, everything would be animal cruelty free. There would be no leather, wool, suede, rich calfskin linings, fur trimmings etc. Everything would be fake.

One thing I love is the aesthetics of different companies. Some companies want to be all high fashion, and others are inspired by things like old movies.

Some companies are loud and proudly vegan, preferring to shout the truth about what is happening to animals from the rooftops (OlsenHaus comes to mind). Others prefer to simply present a non leather option with a more subtle animal rights message (Good Guys Don’t Wear Leather comes to mind).

What would my imagined company do? I think I would try to make a brand centered around the fabulous lifestyle of the most well equipped vegan ever–by that I mean, a vegan who never needs to hunt on the internet for cool shoes and what not. Oh no, she has it all already. She has every non leather item you could ever want.

What kind of girl is she? She is a very old fashioned, romantic soul. She lives alone, or perhaps she is married, or perhaps she has several BEAUX, who bring her fresh flowers.

She has a vintage car, and she lives on a farm, a vegan farm though. Maybe this farm grows sprouts or micro greens. She has a big greenhouse full of tropical plants which she collects on fabulous plant hunting and preservation vacations. She has a lavish bed full of DOWN-FREE comforters and pillows. A pair of tan non leather driving gloves lies by her bed side table.

She has a closet of non leather shoes. She has a cool fake leather jacket that looks like she found it in a thrift store. She has faux leather pants for when she needs to impress say, Prince.

She has hats, many hats–but with no wool in them. She has floral couches, with no leather trim. Even her car–the seats are upholstered with faux blue leather.

She likes to fashion herself after a gibson girl, lucy honeychurch from a Room With a View,

a pre-raphelite painting. She wears a golden circlet and flowers clipped to all her shoes.

She LIVES…MY NON LEATHER LIFE.

A little fantasy for today.

Oh, and I made t-shirts!! Comment below if you would like to acquire one.

 

The Best Vegan Gift Guide You Will Read This Year– Happy Holidays!

Come gather ye readers round the yuletide log, and open your presents I wrapped for you in leaves and twine.

In other words, it is time for the Holiday Gift Guide!

Now you have all been very naughty. Since none of my lovely readers suggested any vegan gifts via my fascinating facebook page, I guess this gift guide is going to be all about ME.

As a recent vegan, (I used to be just vegetarian) these are the items I truly WOULD want for X-Mas. I know I have probably written about most of them before, but sometimes I get a “collect them all” mentality. I fixate on the same things…and the longer you want something, the more you know you want it, right?

My list, if you please….

1.

These awesome Jcrew-esque vegan mens boots. I have them in black. I splurged, but they are so great I want them in tan. Be warned, these are very UNfunctional boots sadly. They have literally NO traction and if you wear them in the snow you are truly living dangerously, but they look so cool…..HA. Available at Mooshoes.

Worker Boot in tan from Brave Gentleman X Novacas $250

2.

I do not yet own a shoe from the inimitable GOOD GUYS. After doing my Interview with them, I feel like I just want a piece of the company. I now know so much that went into the company, how nice and cool the people behind it are, and the adorable vision for the brand. I like these red desert boots the best. They are so cute.


ayita red desert boots from The Good Guys

3.

I have written about these before as well, but I still want them.  Once I saw this girl wearing a mini dress with over the knee boots, probably not an uncommon occurrence, but I thought it looked amazing. These are from vegan company Cri de Coeur.

Olivia Tall Boot $180

4.

Ok, Allison’s vegan gourmet chocolates look really good. This is a necessity since I’m dying for chocolate. Every time I’m in the store, I look at labels of chocolate hoping to find vegan chocolates–haven’t found any yet! I want the toffee from here.

Vegan Toffee from Allison’s Gourmet.   I can’t look at this anymore…..it looks too good!

5.

A weekend getaway at the Bed and Breakfast Guesthouse at Woodstock Farm Sanctuary. So…I read The Lucky Ones, the creator of the Farm Sanctuary’s Book. I found parts of it quite hilarious, and although the farm is closed to visitors for the winter, if you stay at their cabin, you can spend time with all the animals. I’d love to see for myself what it is like to spend time with rescued farm animals. I’ve always wondered what farm animals are like…never having been lucky enough to get to know one.

A place where you can count sheep to go to sleep? VERY dreamy.

6.

Well, this pink bag is still on my wishlist… I wish I knew the exact shade of pink as screens can be deceiving.

Vegan Pink Bag from Modcloth $54

7.

The last time I went to mooshoes in NYC I was really impressed with the look and quality of this bag from vegan company Matt and Nat. It was beautiful! Better in person.

Matt and Nat Malone bag $135

8.

You can never go wrong with anything from Lush. After reading the incredibl, thrilling and eye opening book Free The Animals by Ingrid Newkirk this year, I realized that it is just as important not to support testing on animals, as it is to not buy leather or wool etc. Animal testing, especially and without a doubt for things like cosmetics, is horrific. Lush is amazing in that they do not even work with any suppliers who support animal testing. So much of their stuff is vegan, and I feel like they were one of the first companies to bring veganism into the mainstream with things like their bestselling VEGANESE conditioner. They also do animal rights demonstrations. They are a really unique cool company. Ok, how about some bath bombs. You can’t go wrong.

Lush Bath bombs. $ 4-10

9.

Ok guys, this one is for the edgier among you. I forget if I posted this on this blog, or my other one, but I think Harnesses are a really cool look to add to your outfits!! Yes, I am talking about wearing these out in public over t-shirts and evening wear… They are very edgy. 1 time I wore one out over a grey worn t-shirt and not only did I feel like the coolest person in the room, and everyone asked me about it…I was the coolest person in the room because of my AUDACITY to wear one of these babies in day. These became pretty mainstream a while ago. Topshop was selling them…but of course in LEATHER. I searched for non leather options….buying mine from the pole dancing wear shop Body Binds. I love mine! However I found these on etsy today–Vegan Harnesses!

Sorry for the nudity in this photo! I think these are mannequins anyway. I recommend wearing over clothes for a XENA warrior princess/Anjelina Jolie in Tomb raider kind of look.

Miss Malwia’s Etsy Store

Also check out Body Binds (made from elastic so definitely vegan).

10.

For the 10th day of Christmas….I would like a print of a photograph by the amazing Jo-Anne McArthur. Her photographs are so beautiful, moving and meaningful. They express so much that can only be felt. She is going to be the subject of a film, The Ghost in Our Machine, that I think is going to possibly change the world.

I will soon be talking more about this as I have an exclusive tell-all interview with the DIRECTOR of the film….hehehehe. You will love it.

Anyway, this is the print I would choose.

This says EVERYTHING about our relationship to animals. “an animal” and a “human” gently touching hands. It is like they understand in this instant how similar they are, and yet their lives are so different–two different fates. One can help the other. Both can help the other. I think animals are one of the most beautiful and mysterious things on earth. It is a gift we get to know them and spend time with them.

That’s what all this gifting and being vegan is about anyway…trying to do what we can for animals. They do so much for us by inspiring wildness and magic in us.

True art.

Jo-Anne McArthur’s prints start at $125 dollars and can be purchased here.

Merry HoLIDAYS, HAppy Chanukah, Festive Solstice to you….

And please, any other gift ideas I have missed…comment below!