Finding a Valentine’s Day gift can be stressful. Making the switch to cruelty-free makeup is difficult for those who can’t find brands that meet their standards, especially in South Africa. There is a wide range of drugstore, cruelty-free makeup brands but not enough high-end ones. I aimed to find one high-end brand that would have all of the products you would need to make a Valentine’s Day look, or that would be a perfect gift.

all about Urban Decay

Urban Decay is a high-end makeup brand. All of their products are cruelty-free and they have a vegan collection (no animal by-products). Many YouTubers like Safiya Nygaard and influencers like Aisha Baker have recommended Urban Decay products in their posts.

Urban Decay has a wide range of makeup products from primers to liquid lipsticks. I teamed up with Yavishta Mooloo, a professional makeup artist and Urban Decay consultant, to make a date night look and to find the best gifts for Valentine’s Day. Yavishta created a date night look for Valentine’s Day using only Urban Decay products.

List of products:

• Urban Decay Quick Fix Hydra Charged Complexion Prep Priming Spray
• Chill Makeup Setting Spray
• Eyeshadow Primer Potion
• Perversion Mascara
• Naked Weightless Ultra Definition Liquid Makeup (Shade 6.0)
• Demolition Razor Sharp Liquid Eyeliner (Dark brown)
• All Nighter Setting Powder
• Self-Adjusting Complexion Primer
• Naked Flushed palette in Streak
• Heavy Metal Glitter Eyeliner
• Vice Lipstick in the shade 1993
• Naked Heat Eyeshadow Palette
• Naked Illuminated Shimmering Powder (Aura)
• Naked Skin Highlighting Fluid

I loved the whole look. Each product felt light on my skin and lasted for hours. After my consultation, I walked around Sandton, walked in the rain to the train station and ate spicy food. It’s safe to say that the makeup is rain and sweat proof!

Valentine’s Day Gift Ideas

We swatched some lipsticks that would be ideal Valentine’s Day colours and gifts. We swatched a combination of reds, oranges, nudes and plum shades. Most of the lipsticks we tried were cream and sheer. The lipstick I wore (‘1993’ Vice Lipstick) was cream based and lasted for hours – even after eating and drinking. It did not bleed or transfer.

Other great products to get for Valentine’s Day are eyeshadow palettes. The Naked Heat Palette has great warm shades that are fitting for Valentine’s Day. The On The Run Mini Eyeshadow Palettes  are smaller versions of the popular Born To Run Eyeshadow Palette. Each palette has different matte and glitter shades that would suit any colour and taste.

If you want to make the switch to high-end, cruelty-free makeup then Urban Decay is the best brand to start with. After my trial I learned that you can definitely have a ‘facebeat’ by using cruelty-free makeup.

– Kayla Shivana

Follow my cruelty-free and sustainable journey on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter.