Hi Sarah! Tell us a bit about yourself and your blog.
Well.....where to start!? I'll give you the facts first! I am a 32 year old animal loving woman originally from London now living in Essex. I live with my husband Andy (or 'Mr K' as I like to refer to him online!), our 2 Chihuahua doggies and our 2 cats. We don't have any children but consider our pets as our babies! They mean the world to us. In my spare time I love to blog, spend time with friends, go shopping and interact with others on social media. We also LOVE to travel and are always planning our next trip away. For our honeymoon we were fortunate enough to travel all over Asia for 5 weeks which was an amazing experience and if anything this has made us want to travel more. My favourite destinations are Ibiza (where we got married), Dubai, Miami, Thailand & Bali. One day we hope to set up home in Ibiza and my ultimate dream is to have some land there where I can provide a refuge to animas in need.
2 years ago I made the decision to go fully vegetarian after having been practically veggie for a number of years. I started to feel like an animal loving hypocrite and could see no difference between the pets that I love and the animals who are slaughtered for meat. Last September I began to educate myself more about Veganism and watched a number of films such as Vegetated (Netflix) and Earthlings (YouTube) which really impacted on me to such a degree that I could no longer contribute towards the cruelty of the dairy industry. I began to try to lead a fully cruelty free lifestyle and made the transition over to becoming Vegan. Soon after that my husband also joined me and after being a massive meat eater he too decided to give it up which was a huge step for him but it means we both get to enjoy the same amazing meals!
My blog is called 'The V Nice Life' and it promotes compassionate living. The 'V' in it stands for all things Vegan, Veggie & very nice! I mostly blog about all things Vegan, cruelty free and animal rights. However, I have also started to blog more about myself lately as these posts have proved to be quite popular so occasionally you may see posts from me about my life, things I love, stationery, travel and all sorts.
When did you start blogging and what inspired you to start your own?
I started blogging towards the end of last year and during my transition into Veganism. I found that I really wanted to share my journey with others and also offer people ideas and suggestions on how they can lead a cruelty free lifestyle. I knew from the beginning that I wanted my blog to be about positively promoting Veganism to the masses and in a non preaching or judgemental way. I wanted to be able to make my friends, family and followers see how easy it is and take inspiration from that. I also wanted to try to change peoples perspectives on Vegans who I believe have had a slightly bad reputation for being crazy hippies or slightly militant in the past. I love writing and taking photographs so a blog seemed to be the perfect outlet for this. Since then it has gone from strength to strength and my followers are increasing daily which is amazing to see. With such a huge variety of blogs out there now I really like how mine is very refined in its area of focusing on compassionate living.
What are your favourite cruelty-free products?
Firstly for me if a product is truly cruelty free it has to be Vegan! It's a lot easier shopping for products that are CF only opposed to V & CF.
I have to say that on my journey into living a cruelty free lifestyle that I have been most impressed by Superdrug. I absolutely love how this is a standard high street shop, accessible to everyone, which offers up affordable own brand Vegan & CF products. Now I buy all my essentials from there - deodorant, hairspray, toothpaste, moisturiser, sun cream, wipes etc. It just couldn't be easier! I now tell all my friends and family that if they want to do one thing to help animals then they must buy from there. It's just a no brainer in my opinion!
For make up I adore Elf Cosmetics. I was absolutely gutted when they closed their UK online store though and we're still waiting for confirmation as to when the new one will be reopening. I was fortunate enough to be in the States in May and I therefore made a huge order via their US site and had it delivered to my hotel room! I really stocked up however that supply is already starting to run low so i'm about to start worrying! My other back ups for CF make up are Body Shop, B Cosmetics & Illamasqua, however none of them have worked as well as Elf on me.
For my shower gels and hand washes I love Faith in Nature and frequently make orders from their site. And for my hair care I am a huge fan of Phil Smith's range available at Sainsburys. I am also, like everyone else, partial to a Lush bath bomb & face mask!
What advice would you give to someone who wants to buy cruelty-free?
Go to Superdrug!
What's your favourite part of blogging?
I think blogging has changed my life so much for the better. There are so many great aspects about it from having a creative outlet, to being excited for trying out new products and places to eat, to sharing experiences and meeting new people. But for me my favourite part of blogging has to be the online community who have allowed me to feel less isolated in my journey and who continually show support and encouragement. I feel as though I have an amazing collection of Vegan & CF & blogger friends now, some who i've met face to face which has been awesome! This makes a huge difference especially when very few people around you care as much about this as you do! Social media is a huge part of my blog and promoting my posts and I love the daily interaction I have with people and hearing their kind comments.
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Thank you Sarah for such a brilliant interview! Make sure to also check out my interviews with Emily of The Bell Jar, Morag of mo'adore and Kelly of The Vegan Taff for their thoughts on blogging and buying cruelty-free.
