I said in one of my first blogposts of the year that I would do more to help others. There's too much pressure to make it a New Year's Resolution but I really am trying to think of other people this year - and if you follow me on Twitter, you might have seen that a couple of weeks ago, on my birthday, I donated my time to volunteer at Oxfam. It’s not much but I’m going to stick to my word.
After a bit of thought, I've realised that it’s not too much of a stretch for me to make a small monthly donation to a campaign through fundraising websites like Leetchi.com, it’s easy and secure, and takes less than 5 minutes of my time. I can pick a different one each month and in turn, learn about what they do and how the contribution will help. This month, I will be supporting Lucy Watson’s Leetchi campaign to raise money for PETA UK.
Raising Funds For PETA
It's only in the past 8 years that I've felt a more emotional connection to animals and that's all thanks to our pets, Oscar and Bonnie (I mean, just look at them!!). As much as I begged and begged for a family pet when I was little, living in the premise next to my parent's takeaway, we were never allowed animals. The residential side was attached to the takeaway and there is no partition to on the ground floor between the house and shop, so pets were a definite no-no. But this changed when we moved to a new house and I couldn't imagine life without Oscar and Bonnie and the joy they've brought to the family!
Without passing judgement upon others, I have started to make my own choices that may help make an impact on animals and the environment. I recently started a vegan-friendly beauty section of my blog and through this, I have been keeping myself informed and educated on this as much as I can. As a blogger, I feel a sense of responsibility, and admittedly, I have a long way to go but one of the easiest starting point for me is beauty and taking a look at the brands I buy.
I’ve learned a lot in the past about cruelty-free and eco-friendly brands. When big brands declare themselves as completely cruelty free, it is such a triumphant step forward. Although there are some that can not commit to this due to laws in other countries *cough China cough*, I think that we all hope that in the future, along with the support of the public, organisations such as PETA will be successful in continuously putting pressure on to stamp out the issue of animal testing. It’s so unnecessary in this day and age to still test products on animals when they can be ethically tested by other methods.
I am excited to tell you all about the cruelty free and vegan-friendly beauty products that I've been testing lately in an upcoming blogpost (sneak peek in the pic above!). Thankfully, animal testing is banned in the EU, but some of those brands still test for the China consumer market, so it's really obvious to me as to which ones can't 100% have that declaration. One of the first questions I ask PRs now when they get in touch to introduce their new releases is 'Is it cruelty free?', and it is a joy to learn that 99% of them actually are.
So many of my favourite brands such as Too Faced, Charlotte Tilbury, Kat Von D, NARS, Pixi, Zoeva, Urban Decay, Illamasqua, Marc Jacobs, and are already leading the way with their no testing on animals policy, and in an ideal world, the others would follow their lead. And with hope, one day they will.
For now, the help we can provide is to be aware of it and to support those who campaign endlessly for animal rights. If you’d like to donate to the cause (even if it’s £1), you can find all the information on Leetchi.com, and you can hear Lucy talk about it here.
Don't worry if you can't donate because you can still help by spreading the word and share this link on social media. Plus, when you share the link using hashtag #LWfundraiser, you will be in with a chance to win on of the lipstick from Lucy Watson’s cruelty-free make-up brand, Basic Bitch.
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