Vegan Cosmetics
Virtuous Bread, Friday 14 October 2011
Having made the shift from Banker to Baker does pose certain challenges as you now know.
The benefits are many and various concerns have been not knowing how to dress for my new identity which includes some meetings, some baking, some teaching, and some consulting (ok, I have that covered). Winning the makeover with Alice Treanor (also from SW London) who runs Dress With Confidence has been an eye opener. Alice reviewed my wardrobe with me and, aghast at the amount of grey and white in it, took me shopping in order to introduce me to shops that I can afford such as Zara, Uniqlo, and Monsoon, and to inject some colour into my wardrobe. Where once there was only grey and white, now there is pink (my pink) and blue (my blue) and red (my red) and green (my green). I never knew there were so many colours out there – and so many different shades. Grey and white are nice and safe! I could never have done this without Alice and, you know what, I do love wearing colour! People say I look like I have lost weight and that I ‘just look well’. That’s always nice to hear!
If that was not enough, Jenny Jones, a friend of Alice’s and a representative for Arbonne cosmetics (vegan cosmetics – yes you read that right – vegan cosmetics) came over the other day and did make up for me. Three different looks: one for teaching baking (a clean and wholesome look); one for day time meetings (a professional look) and one for night time (I am sure you get the picture). I had no idea it was so easy to switch from one look to another in about 1 minute or less, nor that I would be happy wearing make up at all (I am from puritanical Ontario where we wear our boyfriend’s hockey sweater, a woolly touque, mukluks and thank goodness we are warm), but I am. The looks are nice and Jenny is sympathetic and did not push my boundaries any further than they could stretch.
What is going to put all this to the test is that I have been shortlisted for two awards in the Red Magazine Hot Women awards! The Community award and the Rose Grey Food Pioneer award. If I win something I am going to have to go to an award ceremony and if I go to an award ceremony I will have to dress with confidence. Thank goodness for Alice and her gang!
Virtuous Bread is an SW London transplant from Canada. A former partner in a strategy consulting firm, she has become a baker, a writer, and a social entrepreneur, founder of Virtuous Bread.
