lifestyle

The Best 4 Natural Deodorants

/ Vamp It Up Mcr (Chrissie) / Leave a comment

Our bodies need to sweat so we can cool down, rather than passing out. Usually we don’t need to sweat excessively, unless we are pushing ourselves physically or we’re in a hot climate and we certainly don’t need pong, yes even with natural deodorant!

Ohii Pure Stick Deodorant in Rose or Citrus Tea 72g £10

This very chubby stick uses charcoal to absorb sweat and treat odours. I recommend the Citrus Tea scent to Male you smell as fresh as a mountain top. Don’t use this if you are wearing a black bra or top as it can leave white marks if you spread it on your body very thickly.

Amphora Aromatics Roll-on Deodorant in Grapefruit & Cedarwood 50ml £4.90

There are three scents available but I find this unisex scent so sexy that I bought a vegan perfume which smells exactly like it! It doesn’t contain any aluminium, synthetic perfume or alcohol.

Your Nature Life Stick Deodorant in Sandalwood & Bergamot £7.95

A stick with oils and butters to nourish skin and arrow root powder to absorb sweat, this push up deodorant stick is packaged in cardboard only. Available in six scents, I love the sexy warmth of the Sandalwood & Bergamot scent.

Ku.tis Natural Deodorant £6.59 55g

This vegan deodorant is made with sunflower oil, rather than beeswax and comes in a biodegradable or recyclable cardboard tube. Available in five very mild scents, this little stick is really handy to pop in your handbag.

_____________________

All of these deodorants are cruelty free and work reasonably well but do need reapplying toward the end of the afternoon/early evening. I’ve not found any of them to block my pores or irritate in anyway. Another big plus I’ve noticed is that after a night out, even though I’ve been sweating, my top still smell great. I hope I’ve made your natural deodorant journey easier, lovely people!

🖤✨Chrissie✨🖤

The Ultimate Film List Challenge

/ Vamp It Up Mcr (Chrissie) / 5 Comments

Put an emoji against each film you’ve seen, count them up and see how you did!

I got 162 out of 225

The Revenant 🙋🏻‍♀️

Rocky Horror Picture Show 🙋🏻‍♀️

Grease 🙋🏻‍♀️

Pirates of the Caribbean franchise 🙋🏻‍♀️

Harold Lloyd Safety Last 🙋🏻‍♀️

Footloose

Fight Club 🙋🏻‍♀️

Parasite

Maze Runner franchise🙋🏻‍♀️

The Great Gatsby 🙋🏻‍♀️

Neverending Story

Blazing Saddles

Airplane 🙋🏻‍♀️

The Princess Bride 🙋🏻‍♀️

Anchorman 🙋🏻‍♀️

Crazy Rich Asians

A Few Goodmen🙋🏻‍♀️

In The Line of Fire🙋🏻‍♀️

How to Train Your Dragon films 🙋🏻‍♀️

Napoleon Dynamite 🙋🏻‍♀️

Labyrinth 🙋🏻‍♀️

Saw

Step Brothers 🙋🏻‍♀️

White Noise 🙋🏻‍♀️

Some Like It Hot🙋🏻‍♀️

50 First Dates

The Princess Diaries 🙋🏻‍♀️

The Nightmare Before Christmas 🙋🏻‍♀️

Scream franchise 🙋🏻‍♀️

The Dark Crystal🙋🏻‍♀️

Ginger Snaps🙋🏻‍♀️

Edward Scissor Hands🙋🏻‍♀️

Superbad 🙋🏻‍♀️

Million Dollar Baby 🙋🏻‍♀️

Harry Potter franchise 🙋🏻‍♀️

Resident Evil 🙋🏻‍♀️

The Wedding Singer 🙋🏻‍♀️

Lilo & Stitch 🙋🏻‍♀️

Finding Nemo 🙋🏻‍♀️

Finding Neverland 🙋🏻‍♀️

Jurassic Park films 🙋🏻‍♀️

Signs 🙋🏻‍♀️

My Neighbour Totoro 🙋🏻‍♀️

Coralline 😱

White Chicks 🙋🏻‍♀️

Butterfly Effect 🙋🏻‍♀️

13 Going on 30

iRobot 🙋🏻‍♀️

AI🙋🏻‍♀️

Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story 🙋🏻‍♀️

Universal Soldier🙋🏻‍♀️

Lemony Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events 🙋🏻‍♀️

The Devil Wears Prada 🙋🏻‍♀️

Deep Impact! 🙋🏻‍♀️

The Gridiron Gang 🙋🏻‍♀️

Never Been Kissed 🙋🏻‍♀️

Meet The Parents 🙋🏻‍♀️

10 Things I Hate About You🙋🏻‍♀️

Mean Girls 🙋🏻‍♀️

A Knights Tale🙋🏻‍♀️

KING KONG

The Terminal 🙋🏻‍♀️

The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants🙋🏻‍♀️

Baby Driver

Dumb & Dumber 🙋🏻‍♀️

Final Destination franchise 🙋🏻‍♀️

Halloween🙋🏻‍♀️

The Ring

Bad Santa🙋🏻‍♀️

Hitchcock’s Rear Window

Mrs Doubtfire 🙋🏻‍♀️

Rock of Ages🙋🏻‍♀️

Practical Magic 🙋🏻‍♀️

Chicago 🙋🏻‍♀️

Ghost Ship 🙋🏻‍♀️

From Hell 🙋🏻‍♀️

Hellboy🙋🏻‍♀️

Secret Window 🙋🏻‍♀️

I Am Sam 🙋🏻‍♀️

The Truman Show🙋🏻‍♀️

The Day After Tomorrow 🙋🏻‍♀️

Hunger Games franchise🙋🏻‍♀️

Child’s Play

Seed of Chucky

Bride of Chucky 🙋🏻‍♀️

P.S. I Love You🙋🏻‍♀️

Just Married 🙋🏻‍♀️

Gothika

Sixteen Candles

Coach Carter 🙋🏻‍♀️

The Grudge

The Mask 🙋🏻‍♀️

Bad Boys franchise 🙋🏻‍♀️

Joy Ride

Lucky Number Slevin

Avatar🙋🏻‍♀️

Alien Franchise 🙋🏻‍♀️

Ocean’s Eleven 🙋🏻‍♀️

Ocean’s Twelve🙋🏻‍♀️

Ocean’s Thirteen🙋🏻‍♀️

Howls Moving Castle🙋🏻‍♀️

Bourne franchise🙋🏻‍♀️

Bond franchise (new)🙋🏻‍♀️

Black Swan 🙋🏻‍♀️

Kingsman: The Secret Service 🙋🏻‍♀️

The Princess and the Frog (Disney)🙋🏻‍♀️

The Mummy franchise 🙋🏻‍♀️

Predator franchise 🙋🏻‍♀️

The Fog 🙋🏻‍♀️

Ice Age franchise 🙋🏻‍♀️

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel🙋🏻‍♀️

Independence Day 🙋🏻‍♀️

Cujo

A Bronx Tale

Darkness Falls

Christine 🙋🏻‍♀️

ET 💗

Children of the Corn

Leon 🙋🏻‍♀️

Maid in Manhattan 🙋🏻‍♀️

War of the Worlds 🙋🏻‍♀️

Rush Hour franchise 🙋🏻‍♀️

The Best Bet

How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days 🙋🏻‍♀️

She’s All That 🙋🏻‍♀️

Calendar Girls

Sideways 🙋🏻‍♀️

Mars Attacks 🙋🏻‍♀️

Event Horizon

Ever After

Wizard of Oz (original)🙋🏻‍♀️

Forrest Gump 🙋🏻‍♀️

Big Trouble in Little China 🙋🏻‍♀️

The Terminator franchise 🙋🏻‍♀️

Ant Man 🙋🏻‍♀️

Ant Man and the Wasp🙋🏻‍♀️

Die Hard franchise🙋🏻‍♀️

Spider Man franchise🙋🏻‍♀️

Batman franchise🙋🏻‍♀️

Blade Runner🙋🏻‍♀️

Jeepers Creepers

Jeepers Creepers 2

Catch Me If You Can 🙋🏻‍♀️

The Little Mermaid 🙋🏻‍♀️

Freaky Friday 🙋🏻‍♀️

Reign of Fire

The Skulls

Cruel Intentions 🙋🏻‍♀️

Burlesque🙋🏻‍♀️

Shrek️ franchise🙋🏻‍♀️

Swimfan

Miracle on 34th Street 🙋🏻‍♀️

Old School

The Notebook 🙋🏻‍♀️

K-Pax🙋🏻‍♀️

Krippendorf’s Tribe

A Walk to Remember

Kidulthood films 🙋🏻‍♀️

Boogeyman

The 40-year-old Virgin

Little Miss Sunshine🙋🏻‍♀️

Lord of the Rings franchise 🙋🏻‍♀️

Indiana Jones franchise🙋🏻‍♀️

Basketball Diaries🙋🏻‍♀️

Hostel

Do the Right Thing 🙋🏻‍♀️

House of 1000 Corpses

Devils Reject

Elf 🙋🏻‍♀️

Highlander🙋🏻‍♀️

Mothman Prophecies️

American History X🙋🏻‍♀️

The Jacket

Kung Fu Hustle

Shaolin Soccer

Night Watch

Monsters Inc 🙋🏻‍♀️

Titanic 🙋🏻‍♀️

Monty Python and the Holy Grail 🙋🏻‍♀️

Shaun Of the Dead 🙋🏻‍♀️

Legally Blonde🙋🏻‍♀️

High Tension

Club Dread

Hulk 🙋🏻‍♀️

Dawn Of the Dead 🙋🏻‍♀️

Hook 🙋🏻‍♀️

Mad Max (old or new)🙋🏻‍♀️

28 days later 🙋🏻‍♀️

Ghostbusters franchise🙋🏻‍♀️

Phantasm

Water World 🤣

Kill Bill Vol 1 🙋🏻‍♀️

Kill Bill Vol 2 🙋🏻‍♀️

Mortal Kombat

Wolf Creek

Kingdom of Heaven 🙋🏻‍♀️

The Hills Have Eyes

Miss Congeniality 🙋🏻‍♀️

The Last House on the Left

Re-Animator

Army of Darkness

Star Wars franchise

Joker

The Irishman

The Matrix franchise🙋🏻‍♀️

Evil Dead1

Evil Dead 2

Team America: World Police

Red Dragon 🙋🏻‍♀️

Silence of the Lambs 🙋🏻‍♀️

Hannibal 🙋🏻‍♀️

The Breakfast Club 🙋🏻‍♀️

Fast Times at Ridgemont High

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off 🙋🏻‍♀️

Grown Ups

Dazed and confused

Natural Born Killers🙋🏻‍♀️

Pretty in Pink 🙋🏻‍♀️

Sweet Charity 🙋🏻‍♀️

Polar Express 🙋🏻‍♀️

American Werewolf in London 🙋🏻‍♀️

Fantastic Four 🙋🏻‍♀️

Leprechaun

The Blindside 🙋🏻‍♀️

Inside Out

How did you do?

Let me know your score and what you want (or don’t want) to watch! I’ve got The Irishman, Joker and Inside Out on my watch list. I have no intention to watch any horror films – ever.

🖤✨Chrissie✨🖤

Discovering – Little Soap Company

/ Vamp It Up Mcr (Chrissie) / Leave a comment

One good thing about all of the big brands selling out is that smaller, independent brands get chosen by shoppers instead. I found a soap from the Little Soap Company for sensitive skin which my face and body love!

Little Soap Company was created ten years ago by Emma Heathcote-James who wanted natural, organic and cruelty free soap to be available to everyone when doing their normal weekly food shop. Her soap is available at Tesco, Waitrose, Ocado, Whole Foods and Sainsbury’s.

Their products are recognised as Vegan, Cruelty Free and organic are free from:

  • Detergents
  • SLS
  • Alcohol
  • Parabens
  • Sorbates
  • Silicones
  • Sulphates
  • Synthetic fragrances
  • Synthetic preservatives

The companies products include:

  • Bar soap
  • Liquid soap
  • Soy candles
  • Shampoo and conditioner
  • Gift sets
  • Pet shampoo
  • A Mum and baby range
  • A range especially for men

  • This has come at the perfect time for me as I want a British, independent brand where I can shop online for simple blocks of soap and natural shampoo and conditioner that are reasonably priced.

    What’s one of your favourite natural skincare/haircare brands?

    🖤✨Chrissie✨🖤

    Consider Chronically Ill & Disabled Neighbours & Friends Too!

    / Vamp It Up Mcr (Chrissie) / 4 Comments
    Please check on your disabled or chronically ill neighbours and friends (even ones you’ve not spoken to for ages) to see if they need anything. Even if its just a text or a chat through the letter box.
    Supermarket delivery slots are all booked up for 3 weeks and due to health issues it can be impossible for us to even get to our corner shop.
    If I didn’t have my bloke to do some shopping for me at a big ASDA (scarily empty shelves) and two local shops, I would’ve only had this to eat.

    Pom Bear Crisps

    1 ready meal
    Half a bag of pasta (no sauce)
    3 hazelnut milk
    1 soup
    Box of crackers (nothing to put on them)
    2 mini Cheesecakes!?

    Plus, some of us will have allergies/food intolerances too!

    Thank you lovely people xx

    🖤✨Chrissie✨🖤

    Can You Make a Cheese & Ham Sandwich Gluten Free & Vegan?

    / Vamp It Up Mcr (Chrissie) / 6 Comments

    I used to love the cheese, ham and English mustard or pickled onion butties my Mum used to make me for my packed lunches at school and even work if I was running late. As a lot of you will know, now I have a gluten and dairy free diet and I’m veggie, I try most of the time to be vegan because it’s the kind thing to do and I’m nearly there anyway.

    Here’s what I used

    Genius Seaded Loaf

    Vitalite Vegan Spread

    Violife Flavour Ham Slices

    Violife Epic Mature Cheddar Flavour Block

    Colman’s Mustard (a teeny bit)

    Verdict on the Ingredients

    The ham had some decent flavour and the texture wasn’t too bad, just a little soft. The last ham substitute I tried had the texture of a damp flannel, so this was an improvement.

    The block was, almost aggressively, cheese flavoured. It tasted more cheesy than cheesy puffs, Wotsits and Mini Cheddars put together and I have to admit that I liked it!

    OMG I do not remember English mustard being blow-your-head-off kind of strong. Whew!

    I love all kinds of Genius bread because it really is THE best gf bread you will find.

    Vitalite do one of the best dairy free spreads. It doesn’t taste strongly of olive oil (like some) and it’s not as wish-washy as others.

    The Result

    The ‘ham’ and ‘cheese‘ tasted unexpectedly similar and the textures were identical. I should have cut the cheese chunkier but then the flavour would have been overwhelming. The ‘ham’ and the mustard where perfect together so I just stuck to that for the next sandwiches I made. Ive been eating the cheese on crackers with different sandwich pickles or in a toasty with fresh spring onions.

    Can you make a ham & cheese sandwich gluten free and vegan?

    Nope!

    Hope you enjoyed my little experiment. At least now you know what products are good for other things.

    What are your suggestions for gf vegan sandwiches?

    🖤✨Chrissie✨🖤

    Have You Ever… Blog Tag

    / Vamp It Up Mcr (Chrissie) / 6 Comments
    A bit of geeky, PG fun in this time of craziness.
    Have you ever…?

    🏎 Driven or been driven at 100 miles an hour – No but that sounds fun!

    ⚔️ Learned a possibly deadly skill – Axe throwing?

    🚁 Ridden in a helicopter- Yes for my 21st but it was a bit boring
    🙀 Gone zip lining – No because it was closed! *sob*

    🏈 🏒 Been to an NFL game or Ice Hockey – Yes (Manchester Storm)

    👽 Watched Dr Who – Yes, because Peter Capaldi was the Dr

    🍁 Been to Canada – No but I’d like to live there
    🏰 Visited Disney – Nah

    🗝 Visited an actual castle – Many times on holidays in Wales

    🎲 Visited Vegas – No
    🍽 Eaten alone at a restaurant – No, unless you count cafes

    🎹 Played an instrument – Saxophone (badly), Electric Guitar (a bit better)

    🏍 Ridden a motorcycle – No, sadly
    🏇 Ridden a horse – Do Blackpool donkeys count?
    💉 Donated blood – Not yet. My blood pressure is all over the place because I get tachycardia easily.
    🏂⛷ Been skiing/snow boarding – Not but I’d love to try snowboarding

    🏕 Gone camping – Once, it was cozy.

    👩‍🎤 Gone to a festival – Beatherder. The 1st time, we won The Golden ticket and got in for free and got £100 beer money and free merch and it was warm and sunny. The 2nd time was a total, freezing mud bath.

    🚗 Driven a stick shift -Yes, 3 lessons, never again! My instructor who I got on brilliantly with asked me to reconsider driving!
    🚓 Ridden in a police car? – Taken me home a few times
    🚤 Driven a boat – I was on a boat and we rescued another little boat that was sinking.
    🐌 Eaten Escargot – No!
    🚢 Been on a cruise – No
    🎥 Been on TV – No

    📰 Been in a paper/book/magazine – A few times, winning competitions. I got to ask actress Saroise Ronnan and (my idol at the time) Juliette Lewis questions. I also won a huge goodie bag (the middle shelf of Cosmopolitan magazines beauty cupboard) for best outfit. I got the below photo published in Festival Annual (and therefor got a free copy of it).

    🍣 Eaten Sushi- Yes all the time (avocado)
    🌌 Seen a UFO – Maybe?
    🏗 Been Bungie jumping – OH HELL NO!

    🦔 Rescued an animal – A hedgehog outside a theme park. Everyone was just staring and photographing it so I picked it up with my hoodie and put it in some bushes across the motorway (where it was heading).

    🤩 Met someone rather famous – Erm, Eddie Izzard, Hurley from Lost, Craig Charles

    ___________________

    Okay, your turn, just copy and paste the questions and include a link to the blog where you found it.

    ___________________

    Hello lovely people, I can’t wait to read your answers!

    🖤✨Chrissie✨🖤

    What’s your ‘Core Aesthetic’ on Pinterest?

    / Vamp It Up Mcr (Chrissie) / 3 Comments

    I got this term ‘core aesthetic’ stuck in my head and couldn’t remember why or where I’d gotten it from. Then I remembered it had something to do with letting Pinterest find your specific look. I typed ‘Chrissie core aesthetic’.

    Here’s what it came up with for me…

    Alternative and urban things like neon signs, a skull, tough but feminine style, a little bit of bling and even a bee – the symbol of Manchester.

    Pinterest has well got me sussed!

    I’d love to know what you get and if you agree?

    🖤✨Chrissie✨🖤

    Monthly Life Update – February

    / Vamp It Up Mcr (Chrissie) / 2 Comments

    I’ve broken my record for often being ten minutes late by being ten days late as I thought I’d already posted this. Here’s everything I’ve been doing and reviewing!

    Sorry I’m a bit grainy. Manchester doesn’t get much daylight in February.

    Lifestyle

    I created a list post called Self Imposed Ban on Buying and wrote down everything I have a lot of, the reason why I have a lot of it and why I shouldn’t buy any more of it. It’s a lot easier to realise what’s going on and to harden your resolve when you can see it in black and white.

    I reposted Spring Cleaning My Beauty Cupboard from last year because I’ve done so well with keeping it ordered and thinking thoroughly about my purchases, that I’ve not needed to do it again this year.

    Food and Dinning Out

    Me and the Bloke have decided we are going to take it in turns to choose where we want to eat out for the evening (and who pays), at least once a month. The bloke chose Sai Spice an Indian place in Chorlton.

    We ordered the veggie starter platter to share and four smaller curries. One spinach and dumpling based, one chickpea dahl, a nutty yoghurt based one and a spicy but not too hot Kolhapuri. Everything tasted amazing! It’s a brightly lit, affordable, family style place and I think Lilly’s would have some competition if they were closer to each other. Couldn’t resist grabbing a kulfi to go.

    Here’s my review of Vertigo, the plant based restaurant at First Street, Manchester, which was my choice. I’d been wanting to go for a while but waited until I heard some good reviews as I’m not exactly rolling in cash.

    I bought some ‘facon’ in the form of Coconut Bacon by Pimp my Salad, which I’m throwing on pretty much everything or just eating straight from the jar.

    We made English Gluten Free Pancakes for pancake day or Shrove Tuesday as they call it.

    I sampled one of Clive’s Tarts which I realised tasted lovely chilled or heated up. I was surprised it was both dairy and gluten free.

    I’ve finally discover how wonderful Tika is! Tika panner, Tika broccoli (Yeah, I wasn’t expecting to come across that one either) and tika mock chicken. I reviewed two very different Tika Masala Veggie Readymeals, one from Tesco and one from Asda.

    Skincare and Makeup

    On my never ending quest to find a base that makes me look all glowy and healthy, rather than matte and a bit sallow, I bought Pixi Beauty Balm. Did it do the trick? You’ll have to click!

    I’m trying to reduce my carbon footprint bit by bit, so I was pleased to find Zao essence of nature, a natural beauty brand that uses refillable bamboo packaging. I bought the essentials: Concealer and Mascara.

    Thank you lovely people, for catching up with me.

    🖤✨Chrissie✨🖤

    Crazy Crafty Chick Club Pin

    / Vamp It Up Mcr (Chrissie) / 2 Comments

    I came across Crazy Crafty Chick Club on Etsy when this awesome badge (£10.64) leapt out at me. Everyone I showed it to laughed and said it was perfect for me – in a good way!

    It arrived fairly quickly considering it came from Canada and was packaged in a funky bubble wrap envelope and a cute cardboard box.

    I know it’s hard to tell in these photographs but it’s actually made from a dark silver metal and big enough to need two pins. It really makes a statement!

    Crazy Crafty Chick Club also sell other pins, stickers, iron on patches, jewellery and totes with feminist, geek or alternative style sentiments.

    ____________

    I’d love to know, who else still adds pastel-goth influences to their style?

    🖤✨Chrissie✨🖤

    Clive’s Vegan Tart, Tomato and Olive Provancale

    / Vamp It Up Mcr (Chrissie) / 2 Comments

    Clive’s Vegan Tart, Tomato and Olive Provancale is gluten free and obviously dairy free as it’s vegan. It has such a thick, almost creamy filling, that I thought I must be eating dairy by mistake!

    I either eat this tart hot and just in its own for a warming breakfast or I have it chilled (like quiche) with salad for dinner. I’ve not found a way to eat it for my tea yet as it doesn’t go with gravy. Any ideas lovely people?

    Rating 5/5

    🖤✨Chrissie✨🖤