New Beginnings...

As I'm sure it has been made clear, I have severely neglected this blog of mine and that is for a myriad of reasons.

I have decided that instead of trying to revamp and bring back to life this blog, I will start a fresh.

Thank you for all those who have read the posts that I've written on this blog but now I'm moving on. I have a better understanding now of what I want to write about and how I want to project myself, which I feel a new blog will help me nurture.

If you want to join me on this journey feel free to head over to:

https://billieastridblog.wordpress.com/

Thanks again!
xx

♡Chloé Perfume♡

There are a few things that I am addicted to in life: dancing, laughter, jewellery, vegan food, spending time with family and friends, music and perfume.

I have always wanted to try and establish a signature scent and I love it when people smell something lovely and go "this reminded me of you!"

I once was on holiday with a group of family and friends and one of the girls who was there had this beautiful fragrance that I absolutely adored and I just HAD to know what her secret was!

One morning she pulled out a small bottle, sprayed the liquid around herself and placed it back down.

This is where my love affair with Chloé started.

Chloé is a fresh, smooth floral fragrance that evokes sublime powdery rose. The effect is chic, comfortable, and entirely addictive. It is one of those scents my nose just craves.

It has top notes of pink peony, freesia, and lychee embody subtle freshness. At its heart are midnotes of magnolia flower, lily of the valley, and rose rise to sublimated femininity. A base of velvety elegance comes to fruition through cedarwood, amber, and honey.

The bottle itself is also beautiful, the curved and grooved glass reflects femininity and the plated-silver top is embossed with the Chloé mark and a hand-tied ribbon.  The fragrance is feminine in a rather non-traditional, not all-out-girly way. Its accords expertly play against each other and they seduce the audience by being both elegant and daring at the same time and the scent lasts forever!

The fragrance is very versatile, it is intended for everyday use and is more than suitable for becoming someone's unique signature scent - I find it quite sexy as well.

This all being said, there is a downside to my favourite perfume and that is, the bottle. Now I know I just spoke about how beautiful the bottle is and the creators RAVE about it but after a while the metal on the bottle tarnishes, turning a brown kind of colour. The chemical change also changes the colour of the bow, which also seems to appaear dirtier after a few months. If the bottle was completely silver this of course wouldn't happen, so it just comes down to poor manufacturing.

With that in mind, I still love the scent and have continued to buy it. It is my favourite perfume that I have come across after all!

xx

♡Why Are You Vegan?♡

I know it hasn't been very long but through the year and a bit that I've been Vegan many differnet people have had many different questions, some rude and some simply curious. When I was Vegetarian for four years previously many people were curious then too but it escalated when I made the switch.

If you yourself were wondering why I made the decision or were even thinking whether to make the plunge, here are some short questions and answers!

What do you eat?

This question for me, is the hardest to answer. Ask me my top 5 favourite movies and I'll forget every single movie I've watched! I can never remember those kinds of things when put on the spot. To firstly clarify, the things that I don't eat are fish, red meat, white meat, any meat, eggs, dairy, gelatin and anything else that has come from an animal! So many people I have met think that this means I just eat salad which couldn't be further from the truth! I eat burritos and tacos, simply without cheese and with lots of avocado instead, I eat curry, stir fry, pizza either with no cheese or a vegan alternative, pasta, veggie burgers, sushi, soup, falafels, salads and there are also many vegan alternatives these days such as vegan cupcakes and biscuits!

Why are you vegan?

There are many many reasons but the main one is that I am majorly concerned about the way animals are farmed and treated. I believe that it is completely uncessary to use and kill animals because we do not actually need animal products in order to live. I also believe it is wrong to take somethings life for ones own benefit.

Public awareness of what animals go through to be slaughtered or used for their products are becoming more known in the general public which means that it is becoming more difficult for people to deny that these horrible kinds of things are happening. These beautiful and intelligent animals (a baby pig is as smart as a three year old) are actually aware of what is going on around them and are often kept in cramped and filthy conditions where they are unable to move. Some animals even die 'naturally' during all of this because they are forced to grow or produce milk or eggs at a rate that their bodies can not physically handle as they are forced to do it at an unnatural rate. Ten billion animals are slaughtered for human consumption each year, while being vegan saves more than 100 animals a year. Also, no matter what an advertisement will tell you, farmed animals are not protected from cruelty under the law and these animals are fed a diet that is tainted with pesticides and antibiotics.

Being Vegan is also better for the environment, as you reduce your eco-footprint and Vegan diets produce less greenhouse gas emissions. The livestock industry is responsible for approximately 18% of global greenhouse gas emissions which is more than the whole transport sector. Plants also require way less land and water than what is needed to produce your typical Western diet. 

"Plant-based diets only require around one third of the land and water needed to produce a typical Western diet. Farmed animals consume much more protein, water and calories than they produce, so far greater quantities of crops and water are needed to produce animal ‘products’ to feed humans than are needed to feed people direct on a plant-based diet. With water and land becoming scarcer globally, world hunger increasing and the planet’s population rising, it is much more sustainable to eat plant foods direct than use up precious resources feeding farmed animals.

Farming animals and growing their feed also contributes to other environmental problems such as deforestation, water pollution and land degradation." - http://www.vegansociety.com/become-a-vegan/why.aspx

Where do you get your protein?

Firstly, I hate being asked this question personally. Most meat-eaters aren't measuring there consumption of protein and what food has what so why are they all of a sudden concerned about how much protein I get? In actual fact meat is not needed to have a protein rich diet and there are a lot more plants that have more protein in it than any given animal.

In developed countries getting enough protein is not a problem since many plant foods are high in protein such as beans, nuts, seeds and grains. This means that foods such as hummus, pasta, bread, tofu, lentil soup, peanut butter and nut milks all have an amazing amount of protein. I am a prime example of this, I don't eat meat and my protein levels are perfect.

Where do you get your calcium?

You actually get a ridiculously healthy amount of calcium from beans, tofu, soy milk and dark green vegetables such as spinach, broccoli and kale.

Also, did you know that the countries that consume the most dairy have the most osteoporosis? The belief that we 'need' dairy makes me feel a bit... ill. Did you know that we didn't consume dairy through evolution? Did you know that humans are the only beings that consume dairy after weaning? Did you know we're the only animals that consume dairy from another animal? (Talk about gross!!).
Eating dairy is fairly new to our species. We've been evolving for millions of years but only consuming dairy for approximately 10,000 years.

Don't you miss eating (insert food here)?
My family are big cheese eaters, so I thought I would MAJORLY miss it. It didn't take long for my body to not want it simply because it didn't need it. Besides, there are vegan alternatives.
When it comes to missing other foods, I don't miss anything. This is either because, again there is a Vegan option or because the thought of consuming something that is the product of another creatures pain is simply not worth the taste on my taste buds.

If you have more questions, feel free to ask and here are some great sites with tons of info!!

http://www.britishmeat.com/49.htm

http://www.veganwolf.com/reasons_to_be_vegan.htm

xx

♡10 Short Steps to Self Care♡

1. If it feels wrong, follow your instinct and don't do it/get out of there

2. Say exactly what you mean, life is too short for "what ifs"

3. Don't be a people pleaser as that way you are not looking after yourself

4. Trust your instincts because pretty much all of the time they will be right

5. Never speak badly about yourself, you're listening

6. Never give up on your dreams

7. Don't be afraid to say yes

8. Don't be afraid to say no

9. Resist the need to always have control

10. Stay away from drama and negativity as much as possible, it will just drag you down

Look after yourself friends!

♡Sugarhigh♡

39. Sugarhigh by billieastrid featuring nine west booties