Cruelty That’ll Make You Blush
Makeup brushes are commonly made from squirrel, mink, sable, horse (sometimes called pony or camel), or goat hair. Mink and sable brushes are products of the cruel fur industry. Every year, millions of animals are trapped, drowned, and beaten to death in the wild and strangled, gassed, electrocuted, or skinned alive on fur farms. Horse hair is commonly obtained from horses who are slaughtered for their flesh. Squirrels are hunted or trapped, and goats are shorn like sheep. Workers are often paid by volume, so they shear the goats quickly, which can result in serious injuries.

Many makeup brushes are manufactured in developing countries where there are few or no animal welfare regulations.

Super Synthetics
There’s no reason to use animal-hair brushes when there are so many high-quality synthetic brushes available.

Check out these companies’ luxurious offerings (I have marked the companies whose products I have used and enjoyed… whether it be brushes, makeup, personal care, etc.  I absolutely love The Body Shop and prefer shopping there for most personal care items):

• The Body Shop knows that if you wouldn’t put on makeup using your cat’s tail, you don’t want to use any other animal part, either—its brushes don’t contain animal hair.
• Denise Chaplin n.y.c. makes 16 different shapes and sizes of brushes that stand up to frequent use and washing and fit the needs of professional makeup artists.
• Ecco Bella Botanicals has a range of non-animal brushes that complement its cruelty-free cosmetics.
• Paris Presents’ EcoTools makeup brushes are made with cruelty-free taklon bristles, sustainable bamboo handles, and other natural and recyclable materials to keep you and the Earth looking beautiful. Alicia Silverstone is a celebrity fan of these luxurious-yet-affordable brushes, which can be found in many drugstores.
• Garden Botanika brags that its 100 percent Taklon brushes are actually softer than those made from fur, allowing more makeup to cling to the brush and providing a smoother application.
• Origins Natural Resources brushes look and feel like animal hair, but don’t worry—they’re cruelty-free just like the rest of Origins’ personal-care products.
• Urban Decay Good Karma brushes tickle your face using synthetic Taklon.
• Aveda brushes are also made of Taklon, with a flax-infused, recycled-resin handle. They’re animal- and environment-friendly!
• Hard Candy uses super-soft synthetic hair in its brushes—cruelty-free just like its luxurious cosmetics.
• Sevi Cosmetics‘ 100 percent Taklon brushes are the perfect complement to its vegan makeup. No cruel animal testing and no creepy animal ingredients!
• Valana Minerals knows that “[t]here is no need to sacrifice quality or animals in the pursuit of beauty.” Its six luxurious synthetic makeup brushes are perfect for applying Valana’s cruelty-free and vegan powder, foundation, blush, bronzer, and eye color.
• Afterglow luxe professional cosmetics brushes are uniquely designed to provide a beautiful, flawless finish. Handmade of the highest quality Taklon, they’re super soft and ideal for applying loose mineral makeup evenly.
• Jennifer Campain Cosmetics‘ custom-designed animal-friendly professional makeup brushes feature feather-soft, hand-shaped brown Taklon fiber as well as seemless nickel-plated ferrules and kiln-dried white birch handles.

What You Can Do
Please write to your favorite makeup companies that still use real animal hair in their brushes and ask them to switch to Taklon fibers. E-mail us if your favorite cruelty-free company makes vegan brushes but is missing from our list—we’d love to add it.

I hope to record it. Ian and I bought a digital 8-track recorder some time ago, but neither of us has spent much time learner how to use it, so it’s been sitting in the closet for sometime. I think we’ll break it back out soon. I’d love to record this song and put in out on mySpace or something to see what others think about it. I’m going to start playing at a couple of open mic nights… maybe even try to pickup a regular gig. I was actually offered a regular spot at a little place over on Kirkman, but I just didn’t think I was mentally ready to be on stage at the time.

[[[rant edit]]]

i saw a frog today on my fence/gate and decided i should take some pictures. i came inside and started looking at my close ups and realized this frog only had one leg. ian insisted that i was wrong (like spouses often do) and decided to go outside to catch the frog to “prove me wrong”.

so, a few minutes later ian enters the house with nothing other than a one legged frog. here’s some pictures (links open new window to flickr.com account):

kermit the frog – you ain’t got no leg

kermit the frog – close up

kermit the frog

I updated my flickr photo dump today with some new pictures. You can check it out at christie’s flickr webpage

…72 hours. woo-friggin-hoo.

okay, so i don’t know who of you keeps up with the ufc, but i’m about to boycott them. they trumped up last night’s fight like it was the biggest fight night ever. for months there has been this “biggest rivals” match on commercial after commercial. shamrock vs. ortiz. well, i really wanted ortiz to when, but last night he won like a friggin jerk. $40 to watch the ref call the fight 1 minute and 18 seconds in, claiming that shamrock was not “intelligently” defending himself only after being hit in the head about five times.

the reason that this is trumped up is because a couple of fights earlier joe stevenson was literally wiping the may with yves. they were in a submission in a large smear of blood. the separated them to clean up the wound and yves had blood all over the back of his head… YET THEY DIDN’T CALL THE FIGHT until later.

here’s a picture of yves getting stomped: bloody pulp 1