Fluevogs!

Imagine for a minute that it's 1995 and you're at Lollapalooza. Hole is playing and there's Courtney Love--stumbling across the stage and yelling something unintelligible into the crowd.

Suddenly *gasp*

She takes a tumble on the stage. She's on her back with her feet awkwardly in the air, undies exposed. Your eyes travel to her feet and you can't believe what you see--the most beautiful shoes you've ever seen in your life.

You know that the only important thing in life is to get a pair of those shoes. You dive for the stage but security shoves you back into the crowd. What do you do? You rip off your wristband and head for the parking lot. You've gotta get yourself those shoes!

Finally, you find out that the shoes are made by a man called "John Fluevog," and he actually makes some of his beautiful shoes vegan!!

Fluevogs are still just as rad' as they were in 1995, and there are still vegan options! Of course, the vegan options sell out fast, so when you see a pair you like, pounce! You can deal with Visa later :)

Here's my favorite out of the current vegan options:

 

Alright, I know they're pricey! But this is the kind of shoe you keep forever. These are shoes you can hand down to your grand children! (Or grand-cats in my case!)

These are the kind of shoes that don't wear out. When they finally start showing some wear, you take them to a cobbler and get them repaired!

Lashing Out With ELF.com

Alright, so most vegan beauties have already heard about E.L.F cosmetics. It's an online vegan beauty brand that offers quality cosmetics for as low as $1.00 per item.

Yup, you read that right--a freaking dollar! :)

As you may or may not know, I was a drag queen in a past life. Even though I'm a girl in this life, I still love my false eye-lashes!! Fake lashes found elsewhere can be made from everything from human hair to cat hair-yikes!!

Luckily, ELF offers the security of being an all-vegan company, plus they sell pairs of realistic looking lashes for $1.00. Again-a friggin' dollar.


I like to buy them in bulk! I always wonder what the person who packs my order thinks when he or she is stuffing 50 pairs of false eyelashes into a box.

I bet he or she thinks I run a half way house for underprivileged drag queens!

You can order yours here: 

 http://www.eyeslipsface.com/elf/eyes/false_lashes/natural_lash_kit_

Stay batty ELF!

Has Hard Candy Gone Soft On Us?

Once upon a time, I loved Hard Candy Cosmetics. They were all vegan, all the time. Their products were pricier then, but they were worth the money because of the high quality and dependable vegan-ness of the products.
Sadly, the vegan blogosphere is abuzz as of late because the once vegan cosmetics line now features definitely non-vegan ingredients--bees wax in my eyeliner? I have enough wax in my ears, thanks. *sigh* This seems to have happened after the brand was sold to Falic Fashion Group and partnered with Wal-Mart.
So, read those Hard Candy labels closely, otherwise you might be smudging crushed baby pandas or god-knows-what-else onto your face.
I've emailed Hard Candy about what items are still vegan and I'll keep you all updated on the response.

Vegan Cookies in Suprising Places

Vegan cookies and almond-milk lattes? There couldn't possibly be a coffee-shop in Fargo, ND with such things, right?


WRONG!!! I wanna tell you all about one of my favorite places in Fargo!  It's the Red Raven Espresso Parlor--a haven for hipsters, artists, locavores, comedians, eco-warriors, coffee lovers, craft-addicts, good-customer-service-demanders, poets, bearded men, bearded women, small children, hippies, the elderly, communists, lovers, the mentally deranged, and service animals.

My coffee is always perfect whether served with a smile or a scowl, and served crazy fast compared to other coffee places in town. It never has that stale/burned/weird corporate coffee taste. If one goes there often, the staff will try to get to know you and some of them can even predict what you will order!! They should probably start their own psychic hotline.

Also, they're incredibly patient with me. No matter how long the line is and how fickle I am, the barista always patiently waits for me to once again give up and order a 16 ounce Americano. Plus, it's a co-op, so they're not just being nice 'cuz their boss makes them, they're just sincerely nice people!

They offer various vegan items on a daily basis, and always have yummy vegan cookies.If you ever find yourself in Fargo, I command you make a pit-stop at:

http://redravenespressoparlor.com/

Bag-It Designs-Affordable Vegan Purses on Etsy!

Ah, Etsy. It's a great treasure trove for vegans! I spend hours trolling the goods and picking out my faves. Every now and then, I buy something that turns out absolutely AMAZING!

Etsy has become my fave for vegan purses because there are so many options. In particular, one of my purses from etsy has lasted over a year.

While that may not be very long to some of you, let me be clear--I beat the crap out of everything. This is a tiny purse that has followed me on Amtrak trips, been my savior in dive-bars, accompanied me to death metal shows (even vomited on by a stranger once while I was in line for the lady's room), traveled with me to farmsteads in the middle of nowhere, and just plain stood up to insane abuse. From the little-known Bagitdesigns on Etsy, this bag is tiny but mighty: 

Honestly, I wasn't expecting it to last very long because of the skinny strap, but it has put up with more than it's fair share of strain! Estimated cost per wear =$0.08.

If you want your own one-of-a-kind all-purpose lil' vegan purse, you should check out the storefront here:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/BagItDesigns?ref=seller_info

Hey There Kitten! My Favorite Foundation and Me.

Around 5 years ago, I was a slave to Bare Minerals makeup. While it's a great line of mineral makeup in it's own right, the price was just too much for a poor college student like I was.

Rather than give up on college and starting my career as an exotic dancer, I started looking for a new foundation. I found this:

It's Meow Cosmetics' AMAZING line of vegan mineral foundation. I fell in love, and I've never looked back! It comes in a cray-cray rainbow of 86 shades and even gives you choices for undertones and coverage level. I'm an Inquisitive Sphinx! To take the risk-factor out of buying foundation online they offer samples of every shade for only $1 each, so you can find your perfect shade before you commit!

I order 2 of the largest foundations in (Inquisitive Sphinx in the Flawless Feline Coverage Level) every month for an approximate cost per use of $0.27 with heavy daily use. I didn't count touch-ups in this estimate.

Besides being an awesome vegan product, the company is also ran by a group of women who seem super rad. In 5 years of wearing their foundation, I've never had a customer service issue. Whoa, right?

Break free from your corporate beauty overlords by going to their website and ordering samples immediately!!

http://meowcosmetics.com/index.htm

Urban Decay 24/7 Concealer-Perfect for vegan Albino gals, and Me!

"What's wrong with your face? Are you sick?" my sister's concerned SO once asked me. "I'm not wearing concealer" I replied.

Like a lot of ladies, I have major hereditary dark circles. When I don't wear concealer, I literally look like I'm either terminally ill or a heroin addict. Oh yeah, and I'm also the palest non-Albino person I have ever met. Thanks Mom!


To make things worse for myself, I also chug black coffee religiously and love cheap beer! Both of these habits can give even the genetically blessed some mayjah black circles, so you can guess what they do to me!

Luckily, Urban Decay is rad enough to make this product: The 24/7 Concealer in CIA.

It's vegan, comes in a variety of skin tones (compared to other concealers) and one $18 pencil lasts me around 5 months of heavy use, making the cost-per-wear approximately $0.12. It lasts all day and I find a rarely need touch-ups, yay!

The only downside I find with this concealer is that it can dry out my under-eye area, but I prevent that with a super-secret skin cream recipe I invented. :)