Vegan in Koh Lanta

I'm totally in love with the pace of island life! Koh Lanta was our third island stop after Koh Yao Noi, which I loved, and Koh Pu, which was perhaps a little slow paced even for me but we did see a monkey scampering about in the jungle so that was awesome. We booked this pretty but basic 700THB / £14 / $21 fan bungalow at Mook Lanta for four nights and quickly extended it to six. 

Koh Lanta showed immediate promise when we were able to hop off of the boat at Saladan Pier and walk for around two minutes before hitting the first veg friendly spot marked on vegan dining app Happy Cow's map of the island. Catfish Book Cafe is right on the pier itself and there are in fact books and cats everywhere. I assume the fish in question were underneath us and shall ignore their appearance on the menu.

Nick and I both went for variations on the hummus, falafel and salad wrap and mine was build your own which was fun and came with three wraps rather than the two on the ready made plate. I'm slowly learning to remember to flick my phone's camera from photo to square but on this occasion I forgot so you'll have to make do with this Instagram ready snapshot.

Everything about this meal hit the spot after three days of eating either fruit plates or the same fried rice dish for every meal. The salad was especially good as it was flavoured with dill which I adore.

One place both Nick and I become totally obsessed with is the noodle spot with no name. Their wifi network is SUNUNTHA which should give you a clue as to it's whereabouts if you're strolling near the Long Beach 7/11. They also have a tofu food page on the menu - this doesn't indicate vegan or even veggie foods as Thai cuisine is heavy on the fish sauce but if you ask for the stir fried noodles with tofu and vegetables with no fish sauce, no egg and no oyster sauce (in Thai, if you can't remember it all write it down or take a screen shot of google translate on your phone) you'll get a super cheap vegan meal that'll knock your socks off. We ate this almost every day during our eleven day sojourn on the island.

Almost exactly opposite the noodle place is a restaurant that has become know in our minds as The Mango Sticky Rice Place. It's all we've ever ordered there, well that and a big water, and I super love it because the coconut cream comes on the side so you get to decide exactly how much to add. 

A little further south from the mango sticky rice place is Faim De Loup a French bakery and cafe where you can buy bread without egg or milk products which is something of a rarity in Thailand.

Be warned that whilst the wholewheat baguette is vegan the ciabatta contains egg (I don't know what recipe they're following!) and there was a definite language barrier between some of the staff and I (probably because my Thai is still dreadful but I'm getting closer to nailing the pronunciation which is helping me communicate better) and this was the first vegan fuck up of the trip - it happens, ascertaining what's vegan on your home turf is always going to be easier than when you travel and even after nine years of veganism and many trips abroad these things happen and you just need to dust yourself off, move forward and learn to communicate more successfully next time. We ate the WW baguette with the peanut butter and jam we picked up at Lanta Mart which is near the pier in Saladan.

After six noodle fuelled days on Koh Lanta we weren't able to stay at Mook Lanta any longer, we wanted to, they just had no space for us, so we moved next door to the similarly priced but slightly louder Angel Lanta. It's a teeny bit closer the the main road and the windows are just fly screens but there was a hammock for me to read and write in so I was happy.

One of our very favourite spots on the island was Kunda Anti-Pop Cafe. Located around a kilometre south of Lanta Animal Welfare (you checked out the cats and dogs in my last post right?) it's just about walkable from there and you really feel like you've earned the right to lounge on their comfy patio for the rest of the afternoon.

First things first, drinks. Get the mango shake, no sugar added. If the totally bad ass proprietress Lena is in the house get her to whip you up one with added sweet basil. It's not on the menu but it should be. It's mind blowingly good.

Not one to order salad often I relented after I saw Giselle from Mindful Wanderlust's lunch choice one day (what a cool coincidence that these travel blogging vegans were on the island at the same time as us) so I ordered it on my next visit. 

Kunda's carrot salad is mad garlicky and comes with lettuce, black rice and peanuts. Love!

Pasta is a definite Jojo fave and I was pleased to see two delicious options on the menu, pasta pesto and pasta with tomato, garlic and basil.

Both were delicious and I only slightly preferred the tomato pasta because the tomatoes themselves were barely cooked and oh so fresh.

As well as whipping up some of the best food I've ever eaten owner and chef Lena is eccentric, hilarious, only the tiniest bit intimidating and adds sparkle to every visit. This is the place to go if you can spend a little time lingering over your meal in true island style.

The Sanctuary was another Happy Cow recommendation, added to the shortlist long before our trip even started, but after our new vegan buddies Giselle and Cody told me there was a cashew cheese dish on the menu wild horses couldn't have held me back. The mild creamy cashew cheese dip is the centrepiece of a crudités plate that's described on the menu as a salad and comes served with a flatbread described as a naan. We also ordered the Tofu Burger made vegan which was like a huge free form tofu scramble formed into a burger.

I adored the burger, chips are always a winning side, and we thought the whole cashew cheese plate was wonderful (okay, okay, not the snap peas. I hate them raw!), the flatbread was super fresh and slightly warmed and the burger bun was lightly toasted. Unfortunately on our second visit the bread was a little stale (probably because it hadn't been warmed) and the Tofu Burger that we loved was completely different... I think I got a vegetable burger instead.

Like a good food blogger I went back a third time to see what the deal was and the tofu burger was back on form. We also tried the yummy spring rolls and a couple of juices which are freshly pressed and super delicious.

The other great thing about The Sanctuary is that there are dogs and cats all over the shop which is adorable. This is Gizmo who sat on my lap whilst I enjoyed my carrot and orange juice last week. Cute!

Located at the southern end of Long Beach and just a stones throw from where we were staying The Sanctuary have a gorgeous view of the beach, especially at sunset, and if you want somewhere to sit with a cool drink the beach bar's a pretty chilled out spot with some excellently placed deck chairs.

In-between meals and dog walking at Lanta Animal Welfare I enjoyed a whole lot of beach time, my favourites are Long Beach and Relax Bay Beach, both during the day and at sunset. It really is a beautiful place and one that Nick and I are already planning to return to.

Lanta Animal Welfare.

I'm not going to remove this post but it needs an update as Lanta Animal Welfare is no longer the place it was when I visited in January. I just spent a month volunteering there and I no longer recommend Lanta Animal Welfare as a place to financially support. If you're heading to Koh Lanta please check out my more recent post here.

After a brief stop on the beautiful and super quiet northern edge of Koh Pu Nick and I arrived on Koh Lanta last Tuesday and are loving it so much that we've already extended our stay twice. There's great food to be found and beautiful beaches to chill out on but one place that we've really fallen in love with is Lanta Animal Welfare. We'd read about both Lanta Animal Welfare and their partner restaurant / cooking school Time For Lime before we left the UK and were excited to check them out. We decided that we couldn't squeeze a stint volunteering into our travels at this early stage so we were excited to note that you can just rock up and take a tour, cuddle some kitties or walk a dog so we headed down there as soon as we could.

The tours run every hour on the hour but we made sure to arrive early enough that we were able to squeeze in a whole lot of kitten cuddling beforehand. Lanta Animal Welfare have over 20 cats looking for homes right now and every single one of them is beautiful. ACAB!

Jasmine was the friendliest out of this bunch of super affectionate cats and as soon as I sat down in the shade of the van she climbed onto my lap and then up onto my shoulder. She stayed there and snuggled me for a full 30 minutes until the tour began and I sadly had to put her down. 

Despite the fact that the stories of how some of the dogs and cats ended up at Lanta Animal Welfare saddened me to my core I really enjoyed looking around, seeing how the sanctuary is run and hearing about all of the amazing work they do there. They have a wonderful spay & neuter programme which includes a mobile clinic that not only travels around Koh Lanta but has also travelled to the neighbouring islands of Koh Jum, Koh Phi Phi and Koh Lipe. Every animal that passes through the clinic gets a free rabies vaccination which is wonderful; the island hasn't had a single case of rabies in 15 years. Amazing. They also reach out to children with their Education Programme which teaches local kids about the needs of animals through the mediums of interactive games and role playing - it's such a great idea to start teaching compassion from an early age.

If you're considering volunteering with animals this would be a wonderful place to do it, they have some space for volunteers onsite and the shortest amount of time you can sign up for is a month. Nick and I are already working out when we'll be able to come back and do this as it seems like the perfect volunteer opportunity for us. We love the island, we adore cats and I know I'd love to spend some time getting to know dogs better.

One of the ways we were able to get involved during our short stay was by taking dogs for walks either in the morning or afternoon, the dogs like the hot part of the day about as much as I do! The rescue centre is located near Relax Bay beach which is where we took these two cuties.

They wanted to sniff every single thing along the way! 

Pin was the first dog we walked and Nick and I are both a little (a lot) in love with him. If we were nearing the end of our travels we'd have totally offered him a forever home. Look at those ears!

Pin arrived at Lanta Animal Welfare after being hit by a car and then abandoned by his owners but thanks to their help he's now happily walking again - we scamped all over the beach with him! Pin loves chasing crabs (which are thankfully pretty great at making a fast getaway!) and walking in the shallows (no waves though please!) and LAW's description of him on their site is spot on, sweet, playful and affectionate. Please do get in touch with Lanta Animal Welfare if you could offer him or any of the other dogs and cats on their site a home. Thanks to the wonderful Flight Volunteer Programme, where people travelling home from Bangkok or Phuket can accompany an animal friend on the plane on their way to their forever home, the cats and dogs from Lanta Animal Welfare have been able to find homes all over the world.

If you aren't considering a rescue cat or dog as your forever friend you need to. For every animal bought from a breeder, pet store or puppy farm another one dies in a shelter. That's a straight up fact. Not every shelter is no-kill and not every animal gets to find that perfect home before their time runs out. I cannot for one second comprehend how anyone could make the decision to buy an animal when there are literally hundreds of thousands or amazing ones waiting for homes.

If you're visiting Koh Lanta and are unable to take a new friend home with you (like us) then a visit to Time For Lime is probably in order. They do a six course tasting menu every evening and all of their profits go towards helping the animals at Lanta Animal Welfare. They're able to accommodate vegans and even (to a slightly lesser extent) someone with an allergy to peppers! Nick and I dined on spring rolls (the best I've ever eaten), red and green curry (Nick not me!), beautiful fresh mango summer rolls and fresh fruit. It was a really fun experience and it was great to be able to watch the cooking classes taking place just below us. Time For Lime also make excellent cocktails which, if you visit during Happy Hour, you can enjoy from the comfort of a deckchair on the beach for only 99THB / £2 / $3. Get some spring rolls to go with them and I call that a party!

Hill House, Koh Yao Noi

After settling on Koh Yao Noi as our first stop in Thailand we wanted to find somewhere comfortable, convenient and affordable to spend the first week. Our accommodation budget for SE Asia taps out at around 1100THB which works out at around £21 / $32. I'm sure we'll spend less a lot of the time, I'm writing this from a 700THB / £14 / $21 room by the beach in Koh Lanta, and a little more on occasion when we're feeling the need for a fancier bathroom or hear of somewhere spectacular or with great vegan breakfast options. We stumbled upon Hill House during one of many Google / Trip Advisor searches and it sounded perfect and just squeezed within the confines of the budget.

It was exactly as beautiful as it looked online. Oh how I love it when that happens! We stayed in Bungalow Lek 1 which is located right at the top of the hill meaning it has truly amazing views out across the bay. I spent a lot of time reading in the hammock on our balcony or just watching the squirrels running, and in some cases flying, in-between the trees.

The room itself is pretty open to the elements with open walls in the bathroom as well as slatted windows and sliding doors. We loved this after we got over the initial five minutes of mosquito / bug panic. The bed was huge and comfortable despite being quite hard and the mosquito net they provide is great and more like a tent than a regular mozzie net. We liked that there were curtains across the back of the room separating the bathroom and wardrobe area from the rest of the space which meant that you could get dressed without worrying about shutting all of the other windows, doors and curtains.

Breakfast isn't included in the room rate but it is available for 160THB / £3 / $4.50 and for vegans it includes fresh fruit, mango sticky rice and unlimited tea or coffee.

Sadly all of the bread on the island (and almost everywhere else in Thailand so far) seems to have eggs, milk or honey so there was no toast for us. We only partook in breakfast a couple of times because as non coffee / tea drinkers (I tried that first day as you can see in the picture!) it worked out a little better for us to buy fruit in town. The mango sticky rice was totally delicious though and these breakfasts definitely sparked a new love affair for me.

The view from the cafe area is ridiculously beautiful whether the tide is in or out. In this photo the tide is in but sometimes it goes all the way out to the little island you can see in the middle of the picture.

One thing I read over and over in guidebooks and on websites before visiting Koh Yao Noi was that the beaches aren't that great. We thought they were pretty epic especially the one right outside Hill House, yes sometimes you had to walk quite far to reach the sea but it's all sand and not stone or rocks like on some of Koh Yao Noi's other beaches so it's totally walkable and I had one of the most serene and breathtaking moments ever when I floated out there in the shallows with Nick at dusk one evening. The sea was super still and there was just something amazing about the light and the way that it illuminated the limestone karsts that dotted the horizon. It was almost unbelievably beautiful. You'll have to go and check it out for yourself one day.

The lovely people at Hill House were also happy to rent us a scooter for 200THB / £4 / $6 a day despite seeing Nick get off to a pretty shaky start trying to ride the thing. I braved getting on the back and aside from some minor incidents (You totally cannot put your feet down to stop when travelling at speed on a scooter, it is not like a bicycle! Dirt tracks are dangerously bumpy! ) it wasn't too terrifying and it made getting around the island super easy. Koh Yao Noi is actually a great place to learn to ride a scooter because it's relatively quiet and there aren't that many other new-to-scootering tourists haring about the place. Here's Nick getting gas...

One day they also organised for us to borrow a kayak for a super reasonable 500THB / £9 / $15 for the whole day. 

We set off around 9am and kayaked both into the wind and against the tide for a couple of hours before stopping at a secluded beach which also happened to be a- totally empty and b- a nature reserve. It was covered in crabs, big and small, and it was so fun to watch them scurrying about doing whatever it is that crabs do. 

After a quick dip in the sea to cool off we were off to the next beach which was just around the corner and again it was not only mind blowingly beautiful but almost totally empty. There was one other couple at the far end of the beach but we couldn't even see them from where we were sitting. It was the perfect place to enjoy the lunch our hosts had made us. They totally understood our request for a strict vegetarian meal with no egg, fish sauce, oyster sauce or shrimp and clarified that soy was okay. This simple looking veggie fried rice dish was super delicious, seasoned with white pepper and lime juice it's one of the best things we've eaten on the trip so far.

It was so good that we decided to eat dinner at the Hill House cafe one night, they do food to order but you need to let them know what you'd like for dinner at breakfast or lunch if you want dinner that day and at dinner time if you'd like lunch the next day. The menu is in the pink folder under the desk in reception. We wished we'd eaten dinner there sooner because the veggie fried rice and veganised Pad See Ew meal we shared was wonderful and I could have happily eaten there night after night.

As you can tell I really loved Hill House, our stay there was the perfect welcome to Thailand and we'd love to return one day. If you'd like to read more about our experiences in Koh Yao Noi you can check out my earlier blog post here.

Koh Yao Noi, Thailand

I made it! Everything I own is in storage, there are officially people living in mine & Nick's house (which totally feels weird!) and for the next four months I'll be exploring SE Asia!!! The jet lag has subsided and given away to a cold but what better place to have a cold than in the hammock of a gorgeous bungalow on a beautiful island? No complaints here!

Despite the plan for the majority of this part of the trip being There is No Plan Nick and I spent a fairly decent amount of time researching our first stop. As well as wanting to strike the right balance between having some infrastructure (a hospital!) and not being overdeveloped (full of teenage backpackers!) we wanted pretty beaches and some shops where we'd be fairly certain we could stock up on snacks. Thanks 7/11! Koh Yao Noi really seemed like it would hit that sweet spot and we haven't been disappointed. Just in case you haven't heard of it (I had a lot of blank looks when I was telling people where we were headed first) Koh Yao Noi (or Ko Yao Noi as Lonely Planet would have it) is a small island off of the Andaman Coast closet to Phuket and not too far from Ao Nang and Krabi. We arrived by boat from Phuket's Bang Rong Pier which you can get to by taking a taxi ride (around 600THB / £12 / $18) from Phuket airport. The boat thankfully only costs 200THB / £4 / $6.

The island's population is mostly muslim meaning that a lot of the stores don't sell alcohol and there's no real nightlife to speak of - perfect for us! It also means that you need to dress conservatively away from the beaches which is something some of our fellow travellers seem to be having issues with - seeing people wandering around the town centre topless or in short shorts and bikini tops when the majority of the locals are covered from head to toe or at least shoulder to ankle is pretty icky to say the least. We've heard from locals and people living here a long time that the island's much busier than it used to be and you can see that it's rapidly changing just because of the amount of construction happening on the west coast but it does't seem busy at all. We've spent most of our time on deserted beaches and the roads were even quiet enough for Nick to brave learning to ride a scooter (I don't have a driving licence) and for me to give in and just hop on the back despite my fears / abject terror after seeing him try to stop once already...let's just say we got off to a wobbly start & now I only think we're going to crash into the bushes once a day!

Despite there being no Happy Cow listings for Ko Yao Noi (don't worry, I'm on it!) vegan restaurant eats have been relatively easy to come by although we have become obsessed with the vegan Jay labelled frozen ready meals from 7/11 to the extent that we've actually eaten them all. Not all as in we've tried them all, all as in there are none left on the island. Oops.

We're especially loving the Vegetarian Fried Rice but the mock meat and tofu filled vegetarian Chinese Five Spice Stewed with Rice is also a fun meal. There are a couple of others, including Red Curry and Stir Fried Basil with Vegetarian Protein, but being allergic to chilli means I have to pass on them. They're pretty simple meals but at around 38THB / 80p / $1.20 each they're budget friendly as well as tasty and filling.

Rice Paddy was one of the first restaurants we tried as it had both good reviews and was listed as having veggie options on Trip Advisor. The German owner totally understood both veganism and my allergies and was able to recommend dishes from their vegetarian menu. The veg menu includes both oyster and fish sauce as they're considered veggie here but there's a note at the top of the menu reminding you to specify if you want to avoid fish, oyster or eggs.

We picked the Pad Pak Ruam, vegetable stir fry, which we had stir fried in soy sauce. We also ordered a Sweet & Sour Seafood dish minus the peppers and a couple of sides of rice.

On one visit I also tried the vegetarian lamb which is made from mushrooms rather than wheat gluten. It was peppery and delicious but no good for Nick who may be the world's biggest mushroom hater - this works out well for me though!

The Pad Pak Ruam was our favourite dish overall and I especially loved the freshness of the snap peas and the inclusion of so many kinds of mushroom. The Sweet & Sour Seafood was fun, and I loved the prawns themselves, but I don't think I'll ever be a huge fan of warm cucumber.

A classic vegan treat in Thailand is mango sticky rice that, as far as my research tells me, needs no modifications. I wasn't in love with this version as I found the addition of coconut cream a little cloying but Nick loved it.

If you're on Koh Yao I would definitely recommend Rice Paddy especially as it actually overlooks a rice paddy. We saw water buffalo there one afternoon and on another there were loads of fun birds doing their thang.

We ended up at Italian run spot La Luna for dinner one night mainly because it was the only place with obviously veganisable food within walking distance of where we were staying. It's only around 15 minutes away which at night, as there are no pavements or lights, is about as far as I'd like to venture on foot. The pizza wasn't exceptional, the crust was a little on the thin side and they could have ladled on a little more tomato, but I was pleased that they were pretty generous with the veggie toppings.

One thing we did get excited about was the dessert menu, we assumed we wouldn't be ordering anything but a whole page of it was devoted to homemade, fruit based, vegan ice cream! Now I know that I've ranted about frozen banana not being ice cream in the past, and I do still stand by that, but this raw banana based sorbet / gelato hybrid was totally refreshing and actually quite delicious as well as being unexpected. We tried banana strawberry and banana raspberry and the raspberry was my favourite. No pictures because it was really dark by then and slightly melty fruit doesn't look good after dusk!

Pyramid Bar was another easy but western leaning place to get a vegan meal. Pizza without cheese again as their pasta is made with egg, I preferred the pizza from La Luna because they had more plentiful toppings but we loved the side of chips we ordered (they reminded me of the ones from Voner in Berlin!) and were excited that they were happy to whip us up some garlic bread with olive oil rather than the usual butter.

It was SUPER garlicky, we rode home on the scooter we hired and with the visor of my helmet down I felt like I was in a delicious garlic bubble!

Chaba Cafe and Gallery is a veg friendly spot that we ended up visiting a couple of times after I was originally lured in by the "Vegetarian Food" sign outside!

When we went for lunch earlier I had a big mixed salad with a slice of bread on the side (they make their own) and some fried potatoes with tomatoes and onion. Nick had fried potatoes too as well as some toast with peanut butter.

The salad was epic, I'm not usually a huge salad person but this was so fresh and delicious and totally different to anything else we'd eaten since we arrived. It came with lettuce, shredded red cabbage, grated carrot, cucumber and two types of tomato and I added olives and went with the olive oil mustard balsamic dressing which was perfect. Sadly I think the potatoes were cooked in paprika or maybe even a really mild chilli oil which I can't eat so as soon as I realised I handed them over to Nick. Sadness. They were delicious! I had a little nibble of Nick's PB Toast to make up for it which was really great. I totally miss toast already and I think we'll probably head there for breakfast tomorrow before we leave the island.

Chaba also sell raw energy + protein bars which are actually made on the island and you can grab them to go from the fridge in the little shop onsite.

Unsurprisingly I much preferred the date, cacao, almond and cinnamon to the broccoli, quinoa and chia seed one - I frankly don't know what I was thinking when I picked it! Too healthy for me I think.  Speaking of healthy I've been eating SO MUCH fruit since we got here. I'm in love with mangoes. They taste a million times better here than they do in the UK (duh!) and there's a fruit stall opposite 7/11 where we've been stocking up on bananas, oranges and the aforementioned mangoes daily. I'm yet to be convinced about starfruit though and I feel pretty meh about dragon fruit - it's so pretty but there's something about it that I'm not quite feeling yet.

I'll be back soon with a review of our guesthouse, Hill House, and the vegan food they've been making us as well as some fun pictures from our kayaking excursion.

Gimme Chocolate!

I sat down to write this blog post and ended up in a BABYMETAL You Tube hole so here's one of their songs, Gimme Chocolate, which is a great soundtrack to this post as well as being one of my favourite songs of the moment.

I first discovered Pana Chocolate a week after London Veg Fest (this is not a VegFest endorsement, just a fact) when I went to my friend Justine's house to hang out and play with her kitties. She was kind enough to share a bar of Orange Pana Chocolate with me and "OMG yum" were the first two words out of my mouth after taking a bite. I'm not usually a huge raw chocolate fan, most of it is either too bitter, too coconutty or the texture is off but this chocolate is seriously great. You definitely wouldn't mistake it for regular chocolate, this is new and different and my favourite flavours were texturally reminiscent of the insides of a gooey brownie.

After I was unable to find any Pana Chocolate in my local health food store, Infinity Foods, I contacted Pana Chocolate themselves to see if they'd consider sending me any to review and to my delight they not only said yes but sent me a whole box full with 8 new flavours to try (alongside my favourite orange bar) all the way from Australia.

I decided not to dig into these alone and over the last month I've invited all sorts of people over to try them, vegans, vegetarians, and even a health conscious gluten free omnivore. Across the board people were seriously impressed. Okay, my vegan chocolate obsessed friend Josh wasn't won over but that's only one person out of ten or so people. I'd say if you've liked any raw chocolate in the past or are a dark chocolate fan then you'll love these. As well as being delicious the packaging's gorgeous dontcha think? 

I enjoyed almost all of the flavours (I still hate goji berries!) but Orange and Sour Cherry & Vanilla were definitely my favourites closely followed by Mint and then Raw Cacao which all sit at the 60% cacao mark. The Sour Cherry & Vanilla bar is full of big cherry chunks which I loved and they aren't kidding about the sour part. I could have easily eaten the whole bar in one go. Mint on the other hand packs such an intensely minty punch that one square makes the most perfect after dinner nibble.

Pana Chocolate's motto is "Love Your Insides, Love The Earth" and it's stamped all over their bars, they take the motto seriously and all of their packaging is recycled or recyclable and printed with vegetable inks. Everything they make is vegan and their chocolate bars are made from fair trade certified, raw, organic ingredients with no refined sugars.

Pana Chocolate can be found at Brighton's Sunny Foods and Eastbourne's Pathway Pantry as well as at As Nature Intended and Planet Organic stores in London and all over Australia. I'm really hoping to be able to visit one of the Pana Chocolate stores in Sydney or Melbourne next year especially as I just noticed they make a rose flavour, yum!

The Final Nail, Brighton.

I don't consider myself to be a make up person. I gave up wearing make up years and years ago just to see if I could, and because in summer my allergies are so bad that I'd spend 90% of the time looking like a panda anyway, and I went years without it. Now I occasionally wear a little eye sparkle, mascara or lip colour for fun but it's nice to not feel like I need it y'know. Nail polish is a whole 'nother thing, I don't really even see nail polish as make up, it's just another way to add a pop of colour to my day to day look and I love colours and patterns and glitter! Nail polish is totally one of the things I'm going to miss whilst I'm travelling as those little glass bottles aren't carry-on compatible...I totally stashed a couple of bottles of polish and a box of Superdrug's nail polish removing wipes amongst the extra stuff I'll be taking in the van though and boy was picking those two colours a challenge!

I'm super conscientious when I'm choosing nail products because animal testing was at the forefront of my veganism. For me veganism definitely isn't just about what I'm eating, it's what I'm wearing and where my money's going when I shop too. I actually stopped buying animal tested household, make up & personal care products years before I quit dairy, eggs and honey but I would still say that it's the the most challenging part about being vegan. Why? Because big companies and corporations are shady as hell when it comes to animal testing! They make confusing statements which will insist that they didn't test the product on animals (so, they paid someone else to) or that the final product wasn't tested (read: but we did test the individual ingredients / paid someone else to do so on our behalf) and then there are the parent company issues which mean that even Vegan Society certified products like Original Source aren't actually cruelty free because they're owned by PZ Cuzzons one of the worlds biggest animal testers. Amimals die in horrific ways in laboratories every day and buying products from a company who are owned by someone who tests on animals, like with The Body Shop and L'oreal or Tom's of Maine and Colgate, means that your money is supporting that. Same in the case of companies like Urban Decay who made the decision to sell in China despite knowing it meant that they would need to test on animals, to simplify that decision they basically chose profits over bunnies which isn't cool at all. 

I definitely know vegans who think that these parent company issues don't matter and I think it's up to you as an individual to draw your own line but these issues matter to me and I think I'm showing that it is possible to avoid giving money to these companies if that's what you want to do. I'm not claiming to be perfect (I still haven't found an acceptable alternative to Mitchum's antiperspirant deodorant - update! Yes I have. In love with Lush's Aromaco!) but this is an ideal that I strive towards. To find out more check out this guide from Uncaged or come and chat to the beauty obsessed peep's in The Mall area of The PPK forums.

The reasons I've just laid out are why I was so happy when I got an e-mail from local salon The Final Nail a few days ago letting me know that after 6 months of research and sourcing products they are now the place to go in Brighton if you want a 100% vegan & cruelty free manicure or pedicure. How awesome! I've actually e-mailed many local salons in the last two or three years trying to find someone to fancy up my nails and had come up with nothing, sure there are some places with vegan nail polishes if you're willing to let the cruelty free thing slide or places where yep they know what's in the polishes and they're ok from a cruelty free perspective but they have no idea about polish removers, hand creams etc. The Final Nail is refreshingly different and I could tell after a quick e-mail convo that they knew what they were talking about, excitingly they also use Floss Gloss, a brand I'd been dying to try for a while.

I went in yesterday for a complimentary mani pedi from Alex and Lilli the ladies behind this alternative salon where piercings and coloured hair are a-ok.

We started with the manicure and after Alex put on the Orly base coat I picked Floss Gloss's Con Limon which I luuurve. It's SO BRIGHT which is getting me extra excited about it only being six days until I'll be lying on a beach in the sun. It was topped off with Seche Vite's topcoat which is what I use at home thanks to my make up loving buddy Sal's expert recommendation. 

Tofu 4 Lyfe

Having a pedicure was just as lovely as getting a manicure and I chose Floss Gloss's Wet which just so happens to match the flowers I have tattooed on my feet. Perfect.

Despite having wanted to give having a mani pedi a go for a while I was a little nervous about the whole experience but Alex and Lilli were ridiculously easy to talk to and soon an hour and a half had whizzed by and my nails had been all fancied up!

The Final Nail is located below PORTA at 4 Bond Street which is wonderfully close to all sorts of vegan friendly eateries including Infinity Foods Kitchen, Larder, and Gelato Gusto. Vegan manicures start at £25 and they also do vegan and cruelty free Gelicure manicures and nail art. You can find The Final Nail on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.