Tofurky Tempeh Smoky Bacon Maple Style Soy Rashers

So far all my reviews have been pretty favourable. This had to come to an end sometime! Enter Tofurky.

I've often heard people mention that they couldn't possibly go veggie/vegan as they would miss bacon so much (bacon tho). I am lucky in that in all my 22 years of of being vegan so far I haven't actually missed anything. I did spend a while searching out a good cheese replacement, which these days is easy enough as there are lots to choose from - back then there wasn't really much around. I've tried several bacon substitutes, but have yet to find one that matches both texture and taste. It doesn't bother me at all, as I generally don't use meat substitutes and prefer recipes that don't call for them.

On to the review!

Price: £3.65 from Simply V in Cardiff.

Packaging: Vacuum packed in plastic then popped in a cardboard box.

First Impression: Smaller amount than I expected! Weirdly sliced pieces in thickish but small strips. Smells rather nice though. Can smell smokiness and sweetness. 

Taste: Oh dear god. What have I just eaten? How to describe? Well, tastes kind of..seaweedy..I don't even know how to explain it. I feel quite sick!

Texture: Slimy when uncooked, slightly less slimy after cooking for suggested time. Do not want. Maybe I should have nuked it? Possibly from orbit?

Overall View: Never again. Well, maybe once more, after cooking it for a lot longer, just to see if it was my preparation of it that was bad. 

Would I Buy Again? I highly doubt it! 

Score: 1/10 - 1 for the smell! 

Earth Balance Vegan Aged White Cheddar Flavour Popcorn

I will start by saying I am not a popcorn fan. However, the only popcorn I have ever tried has been of the sweet variety, so I thought I would give this a go.

I was given this as a gift by someone who had just got back from Canada, so did not buy this myself. Apparently this product used to be available in Tesco, but I can’t see it listed any more so they may have stopped stocking it. Doing a quick search online I can only find it available in bulk to buy in the UK. If you are desperate to try it you can always ask your local health food store to see if their supplier carries the product and ask them to order some in if so.

On to the review!

Ingredients: Popcorn, expeller pressed sunflower oil, maltodextrin, salt, onion powder, sugar, garlic powder, lactic acid, citric acid, yeast extract, natural flavour.

Packaging: One of those hard to open packages that you start off pulling gently and end up yanking and getting covered in the contents of bag. At least I know they’re fresh!

First Impression: Smells cheesy! Expected popcorn to be covered in flavour powder like cheesy corn puffs are, but it was surprisingly nude! This may mean it doesn’t have much flavour. Let’s give it a go!

Taste: Wow. Hang on, let me just have another to check. Yup. Third time lucky! Mmmm. Just one more just to make sure…Nice strong cheese flavour not unlike Quavers. I could actually eat this. Pretty moreish actually!

Texture: Bearing in mind the bag that I tried had been open and placed in a tupperware box, and I didn’t actually get around to trying them for a day or two, the product tasted fresh and had not softened, but obviously did not have the crunch that covering them in toffee/sugar coating would give. I thought the texture went quite well with the taste.

Overall View: Pretty good product. If you like popcorn and cheese you’re onto a winner!

Would I Buy Again? No, probably not. If it was between this and a bag of crisps the crisps would win hands down.

Score: 7/10

Superdrug Pear Drop Limited Edition Conditioner

Saw this by chance on my Superdrug visit this week. It was clearly marked vegan and on the bargain half price offer of 99p, usual price £1.99. Get in my basket!

Price: £1.99 full price but often on offer.

Packaging: Nice retro design on bottle. Sturdy flip top. Looks good on the bathroom shelf.

Scent: It didn’t smell like Pear Drops at all to me! Boyfriend disagreed and said it did indeed smell like sweets to him. Nice scent regardless. Just smelled like a sweet conditioner to me.

Look, Texture And Feel During Use: Pearlised finish, not too thin, but a slightly runny consistency. Due to it feeling quite thin and viscous I didn’t expect it to spread well through hair and suspected I’d need a lot. Pleasantly surprised to discover it spread easily and I didn’t need very much at all! Good slip too. I’m impressed!

Result: Did not expect much from this due to the price. More than chuffed to find it left my (coarse, curly and bleached to death!) hair shiny, soft and frizz free, which is more than far more pricey conditioners have in the past! Didn’t weigh down my curls either. I am loving this. Considering I have a good 3/4 head full of bleach under the current dark wash out colour, the shine is outstanding!

Overall Thoughts: Amazing value for money. Did not expect such good results from this. I will probably need to use a more conditioning product once in a while, but I am more than happy to add this product to my routine and will be doing so. I will be checking out the rest of their range.

Would You Buy Again? Absolutely! Star buy!

Rating: 10/10 – can’t fault it!

B. Radiant Foundation Review

B. is a completely vegan range of makeup available in Superdrug. As they had a promotion on their foundation and it was down to £4.99 from £10.99 when I visited the shop this week, I decided to try it out.

I decided to go for their Radiant foundation, as it supposedly has 8 hour transfer resistant wear and a medium coverage as well as a natural radiant finish.

Price: Usually £10.99. Look out for offers.

Packaging: Solid glass bottle with plastic pump. Hygienic and easy to use. I used 1.5 pumps to cover face. I like that you can see how full it is too.

Shade: Lightest shade Linen appears a little orange, but once blended matches my pale but yellow toned skin just fine.

Coverage: Although it states it is a medium coverage, I would say it is more light. It does cover small imperfections and evens out skintone though. Slight amount of coverage build when I dabbed extra on areas that needed more cover.

Application: Blended in seamlessly. Didn’t cling to dry patches or highlight pores. Didn’t settle in lines or creases. No glitter particles which some radiance foundations have – thank goodness. As my skin is oily and this was not a matt foundation it went on pretty shiny, powdering gave it a lovely velvety finish. Impressed so far!

Daily Wear: Due to my job as a Fitness Instructor, I don’t expect foundations to last the day. This one did not separate, curdle (oily skin problems!) or cling to certain patches while disappearing off others, and looked fine at the end of the day, if slightly less opaque. Wear was the same all over, and would be easy to touch up. Skin became oily the same amount of time as usual, so didn’t make it any oilier, despite not being tailored for oily skin. However, for my skin the transfer resistance did not work, but as my skin is super oily I didn’t expect it to anyway.

Long Term Wear: I have now worn this foundation every day for 4 days. So far it hasn’t caused any problems. No break outs or allergic reactions.

Would I buy it Again? Yes. Only on offer though!

Score: 8/10

UPDATE 28/09/2015 - Been using this almost every day and still no break outs!

Oko Bay and Jollyum Non Dairy Ice Cream Review

I am always on the lookout for a non dairy dessert that somehow manages to beat the incredible standards that Swedish Glace have set.

It is now 10.04 on a Monday morning, so what better time to try the latest batch I managed to source at Holland and Barrett.

First up we have Oko Bay, in both coconut and chocolate.

   

I was very excited when I found these – mainly because H&B had run out of Swedish Glace again. 
First the chocolate flavour.

Ingredients: coconut milk 42%, water, cane sugar, chicory root fibre, cocoa powder 3%, coconut oil 2%, stabiliser (guar gum, locust bean gum, xanthan gum), natural flavouring.

First Impression: Solid! You need to leave it out of freezer before you can scoop. Or get an ice pick if you just can’t wait. Smells suitably chocolatey.

Taste: First hit I get caramel, followed by chocolate, followed by a tang of coconut. Rather nice.

Texture: Once slightly thawed becomes easy to scoop. Turns into a mousse like consistency in mouth. Reminds me of the nougat part of a Mars bar. Are they still called Mars? I am so not down with the kids.

Score: 8/10.

Coconut next!

Ingredients: coconut milk 42%, water, cane sugar, chicory root fibre, coconut oil 2%, stabiliser (guar gum, locust bean gum, xanthan gum), natural flavouring.

First Impression: Kind of smells like cream cheese!

Taste: Hmm. Not a huge fan of this. Tastes like coconut water, which is great if you’re a fan of coconut water. Sadly I’m not. If you are, you are going to love it. Has a strange hit of almond at the end. Maybe that’s just me.

Texture: Doesn’t have the fluffy texture the chocolate does. Becomes more liquid.

Score: 5/10

Bonus Round: Pop a spoonful of each in your mouth at the same time to make your very own Bounty non dairy ice! Genius!

Next up, Jollyum Non-Dairy Indulgence



Ingredients: Soya extract (water, skinned soya beans), unrefined sugar, sunflower oil, cocoa (3%), chocolate (2%)(cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, emulsifier:sunflower lecithin), emulsifier:soya lecithin, stabiliser:xanthan gum, sea salt

First Impression: Another solid until defrosted for 5 mins job. Smells like chocolate. I think I can see chocolate chips in it. This excites me.

Taste: Chocolatey, and does indeed have chocolate chips in it. Flavour a little watery. Nice enough though. 

Texture: Disappointingly watery and a little powdery. Saving grace is the chocolate chips.

Score: 7/10 Still no match for Swedish Glace!

There we go. I do all this so you don’t have to. Just call me St Dawn