When I tell people I'm vegan one of the most common responses is "What do you actually eat?" (just behind "What exactly is a vegan again?"). The question can come from vegetarians wanting to make the switch to the politely curious and then there's arseholes who say it whilst screwing up their face.

I already Instagram far too many of my meals (I'm one of those foodies...) but to go along with all that snapping I've decided to start a 'vegan food diary' series. I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to go about this, but I'm thinking I'm going to pick random weeks and write up an honest list of what I ate on the internet to show to people who ask the aforementioned question.

So below is actually what I ate last week starting Monday through to late last night. Please note that I got paid on the Friday so the first five days are my 'making use of what I have food I have' and aren't all that riveting then on the weekend you see it peak with a meal out and some sushi. For future diaries I'll try and mix it up with different financial situations and do ones when I'm at my parents' house in Aberdeenshire (this week contains a weekend in Dundee). I also do most of my eating during the day and when I cook after work most of it becomes the next day's lunch, with a small portion of it being eaten than night (so I've not mentioned what my dinner is on the weekdays).

Anyway, this is (hopefully) everything I ate from Monday 22nd of September until Sunday 28th of September 2014.

Monday

Breakfast
Beans and toast with olive spread. A bowl of porridge made with almond milk. Glass of water.

(Repeated every day this week, and I'm not repeating it all the way down the post)

Lunch
Bagel I baked at the weekend. A wrap with spinach, tomatoes, cucumber, spring onions and Nando's medium hot sauce. Bulgar wheat salad (bulgar wheat, spinach, tomatoes, cucumber, spring onions). Fanta Fruit Twist. Packet of crisps.

Tuesday

Lunch
Mushroom and rosemary risotto. Packet of crisps. Bottle of Oasis. BLT wrap using spinach and fake bacon. Packed of crisps.

Wednesday

Lunch 
Sweet and Sour with chickpeas as the 'substitute' plus rice. Same wrap as Tuesday but without the 'B'. Prawn cocktail crisps and a bottle of Oasis Summer Fruits.

Thursday

Lunch
Gnocchi with green beans, almonds, garlic, mushroom, sliced onions and cashews with sugar and white wine as the marinade.

Friday

Lunch
Mango stir-fty (wheat noodles, spring onions, garlic, peppers and mango) with a peanut sauce (coconut milk, peanut butter and tomato puree) along with some crisps and a bottle of (you guessed it) Oasis.

Dinner
Was through in Dundee so grabbed an Indian vegetarian selection from the city centre Tesco Metro outside the bus station and scoffed it down at my friend's house. Also grabbed a bottle of wine and cider (cider was definitely veggie and I never ended up drinking it, I had to take a guess on the wine).

Drank Morgans and Coke when out that night,

Saturday

Breakfast
Toast. (I was hungover and we were going out for lunch soon, I would never recommend only eating toast for breakfast)

Lunch
Me and my friend stopped by Pheonix in Dundee where I had a veggie burger (naturally, I'll be dedicating a blog post to this). Also a glass of orange juice.

Dinner
This stir-fry which I Instragrammed made by my friend who has said he'll send me the sauces he used. It was lovely :)

Drank Morgans and coke and a few bottles of Blue VS at a gig and our brief trip to a nightclub.

Sunday

Breakfast
Left overs from the Indian selection bought on Friday night. Also toast.

Lunch
Grabbed a falafel and houmous wrap from Tesco on my way to Dundee bus station. And grabbed a pot of tomato and basil soup from the Sainsbury's outside Buchanan Bus Station to eat when I go into my flat.

Dinner
Home made sushi (hummus, tomato, spring onion and cucumber). Some of this will be my lunch today along with a small stir-fry I made last night.


And that's what I ate last week, sans the odd snack.

Morag x

P.s. when I say 'crisps' I probably mean either Haggis & Black Pepper by Mackie's (marked out as vegan) or Prawn Cocktail.

Two weeks ago I was raving about the Pacifica perfumes which I absolutely love (even more that I now know I can sniff them down at Wholefoods rather than rely on website descriptions). Whilst on my Wholefoods shopping trip (watch my haul video here) I picked up some other bits and bobs from their range and today I'm going to review the Solar Mineral Palette (the rest will be done in one post but as this is a palette I felt it needed a more in depth review).

As you can see from the pictures it is a natural and muted palette (though all shades have a gentle shimmer) - the only exception being the Mermaid Aqua eye-shadow which is the middle colour in the bottom row. I mentioned in my perfume review that Pacifica is quite a 'summery' brand and the make-up I've been trying definitely has me thinking this is consistent across the brand.

All the other eyeshadows can be used together to create a natural looking smokey eye. For me personally I have been using Glow over my whole eyelid and Treasure within the crease for my day/work look. However I switch up Glow for either Neptune or Coral on a night out. I've said before that I don't think I suit a dark eye so I haven't been getting too much use out of Sandalwood and will be reserving it for any fancy dress occasions along with Mermaid Aqua.

Another shade I have been using a lot is the Gold Dust highlighter which is at the top left of the palette. This shade is perfect for my skin tone and I've been using it on my brow bone regardless of whether or not its day or night or whatever else is going on with my make-up. The other two pink highlighters I do occasionally use on my cheek bones for some extra shimmer depending on my mood.

As for the two blush/bronzers I don't reach for them too often as they are a bit too dark for my pale skin. On the packaging Flushed looks pink but it's very much a mauve pink/brown shade in real life and doesn't suit me. Bronzed is a typical bronzer shade and is the only matte colour in the palette but isn't up my street. I have used them and they give me quite a 'tawny' look which really isn't my look but it might be yours! If you are pale like me then The Body Shop does a very good bronzer aimed at pale skinned beauts.

On the whole I found the colours to be quite pigmented and I act with caution when applying the eyeshadow and only add a little bit to my brush at any one time and slowly build it up. I don't however find the staying power to be particularly amazing and would very much recommend using an eyelid primer (Too Faced is my favourite) and some kind of setting product (I recommend Urban Decay).

I do like this palette but I wouldn't sing praises about it. For me Urban Decay still do some of the best palettes around so unless you're a really big palette fanatic I might advice you to act on the cautious side.

Have you tried any of the Pacifica make-up? 

Morag x

As some of you may know I used to be Arbonne Consultant, which I'm not anymore but I still use some of their products on a regular basis. They are a Leaping Bunny company and certified by the Vegan Society (the American one anyway) however they are also an expensive brand but whilst I was a consultant I got a whopping 35% discount so I managed to make my way quite far through the range (I don't buy much from them now as without the discount they very fall into the 'treating myself' category).

Even though I stopped being a consultant there are a few products that I still love and would seriously consider re-purchasing. I'm no longer a consultant so can now give my un-bias opinion (which will include another post in the future of products I just can't recommend - there are a few!).

Make-up Primer
I've said it before but this is the best primer I've ever tried. Not much you can really say about a primer but it the one I'd recommend over any other one I've tried.

It's a Long Story Mascara
Arbonne already had two mascaras before this one but they weren't all that. It's a Long Story is one of my favourite mascara out there but there are similar quality ones for slightly cheaper.

SeaSource Detoxifying Rescue Wash
I feel so clean after using this. Squeaky clean. I have not much else to say on the matter.

Perfecting Foundation in Fair
This is of a usual standard for foundations in this price range but this shade is the best match I've ever had for my skintone.

Awaken Bath and Shower Gel
I have a range of shower gels that I like to mix up for different moods. This is the one I use when I haven't had as much snoozy time as I would have liked as it perks me up a wee bitty.

Unwind Bath Salts
The Unwind range is the opposite to the Awaken range mentioned above, and when I use these bath salts I find I go into a complete slumber afterwards. They also smell absolutely gorgeous!

RE9 eye cream
This is from the very popular anti-ageing RE9 collection - shockingly enough I don't use anti-ageing products (I did use the whole range for a bit but it made my already oily skin feel greasy!). But I still use the eye cream day and night and see a genuine brightness in my eye area compared to when I don't use it.

Pure Vibrance Hair Revitalizing Masque
Finding a vegan hair masque isn't the easiest thing in the world. But this one does a stellar job of softening my hair and also smells gorgeous!

Essentials Omega 3 Plus
So....not a make-up product. Whilst these are too expensive (even when I had the discount) for me to buy for everyday use I still felt loads better whilst using them. I'm only a supporter of using supplements if you really can't seem to get that particular nutrient naturally and Omega 3 is one I've always struggled with (even before my veggie days before anyone tells me to go eat some fish!).

Have you ever tried any of these products? Or do you have any other favourites from the Arbonne range?

Morag x

Wow! Archbishop of Centerbury admits doubts about existence of God.

Dundee's Ickle Film Festival started yesterday.

30 photos of untouched butts to remind you of what they look like. (NSFW, clearly)

25 famous women on not having children.

For intersectionality geeks: the intersection between Native Americans and veganism

And in the natural and mineral dog shampoo market we have Scruffy Chops.

Kids being visibly unimpressed by Obama.

Animals who are voting yes in the Scottish Referendum.

I link something from Everyday Feminism every week and I've read plenty of great stuff since my last non-IndyRef Linkables but is too much to list so just go subscribe to the site anyway.

Here's an ethical shopping list from my new favourite blog, Kerry's Nerdy Habitat.

Remember that adoption is best for animals.

Cats with cabbage leaves on their heads.

Amanda Palmer responds to the Daily Mail (not in anyway shape or form safe for work)

Christy has created her map of things to do in Aberdeen.

See me Scotland has created a mental health playlist on Spotify.

Flower of Scotland in British Sign Language.

10 ways to turn your apartment into a cozy fall cabin.

Check out Modern Blitz Girl for some feminist and funky jewellery. She also runs an awesome blog.

Another awesome blog I've found: The Laughing Medusa (tagline 'adventures for urban pixies' - I'll read that)

It's currently Scottish Jewellery Week.

Some ethical footwear: Wills

Look Human has some great t-shirts and cushions, many with feminist undertones.

Seth Green talks about the phone hacking scandel.

Pictures from the national beard and moustache club.

Another great Etsy shop (but for cups) is The Little Vinylsaur.

Container crops to sow in September.

My latest YouTube Channel find is littlecoffeebreak.

And another Etsy find (but this one is British, not like the other two): Aubergine Fox.

I knew about Crafsty but didn't realise they had a gardening section.

A guide to tax and blogging for those of you wanting to earn money through it.

Shockingly enough, fat shaming doesn't encourage weight loss.

Related: let's talk about talking about fat.

Some awesome street art for you to perve over.

A recipe for vegan Bounty bars!

Classic movie changed to not be sexist.

And finallllyyyy, a book on making your cat an internet celebrity.

Morag x